Biography: Shen Lu

Shen Lu, a native of Jiangsu, China, is already an accomplished international performer. According to distinguished pianist John O’Connor, “Shen Lu’s interpretations have great depth, his technique seems effortless, and he communicates wonderfully with his audience”. In addition to concerts at Beijing’s Central Conservatory Music Hall, Culture Center, and City Hall in his native China, he has appeared at Weill Recital Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, Jordan Hall in Boston, Severance Hall in Cleveland, The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, The Country Museum of Art in Los Angeles, Flagey Concert Hall in Brussels, and the Seymour Centre in Sydney among many other major concert halls all over the world. Mr. Shen played Liszt’s Concerto No. 1 and Huang Anlun’s piano concerto “For Gulangyu” with the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Brahms’ Concerto No. 1 with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Chopin’s Concerto No.1 with Spain’s Ferrol Orchestra, in addition to playing with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, and the New England Conservatory Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also played Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie. His performance of the Saint-Saëns second piano concerto with the Central Conservatory of Music Youth Orchestra was broadcast on CCTV, the largest national television network in China. Most recently, Mr. Shen played Beethoven’s “Emperor” piano concerto with the Cleveland Institute of Music Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Jaime Laredo.

Mr. Shen has a special interest in contemporary Chinese repertoire. He has performed works by Zhang Shuai, Chen Peixun, Gao Ping, and Tan Dun. Enjoying collaborative as well as solo performance, he was an official accompanist with the Central Conservatory’s Students Chorus, for both the New England Conservatory and Boston Conservatory.

Mr. Shen is a recipient of the Baogang Scholarship, the YAMAHA scholarship, the Professional scholarship at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the Beneficial Society Scholarship in New England Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music Professional Scholarship, the Women’s Committee Scholarship, the Mildred Drews Gilliam Memorial Scholarship, Carmen Mihalache Dimulescu Piano Scholarship and the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts Scholarship. Mr. Shen has won numerous international piano competitions including the gold medal for the 2014 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, No. 12 Asia Hong Kong Piano Open International Piano Competition. Other events in which he has been a prize winner include New England Conservatory and Cleveland Institute of Music concerto competitions, TOYAMA Piano Competition, Gualangyu piano competition, Jinzhong Competition, CCTV Competition, 59th Wideman International Piano Competition, 4th Campillos International Piano Competition, 2nd Florida International Piano Competition and Iowa International Piano Competition.

Mr. Shen is currently pursuing his Artist Diploma at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Haesun Paik. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing under Wu Ying, and his Master’s and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory in Boston under Alexander Korsantia. Mr. Shen’s other teachers included Li Siying, Huang Tiandong, Chen Zihua and his farther Shen Guofu. He has participated in masterclasses with Lee Kum-Sing, Arie Vardi, Boris Berman, Tamás Ungár, Paul Badura-Skoda, Hung-Kuan Chen, and Stephen Kovacevich, among others. In 2015, Mr. Shen released his first CD recording on the Steinway & Sons label through Arkiv Music.