We are delighted and proud to announce that our 2018 First Prize-winner, Eric Lu, was revealed as one of five recipients of the 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grants in a special hour long programme on WQXR, hosted by Elliott Forrest last night. Eric joins a prestigious list of Grant recipients from the past 45 years including Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn and Yuja Wang. Eric was chosen by a Recommendation Board and Executive Committee who believe he has great potential for a solo career. Watch the virtual ceremony online.
Eric commented: “I wish to thank Deborah Borda and the Executive Committee for awarding me an Avery Fisher Career Grant. In these challenging times it is a huge boost to receive this recognition. We are living in a time when the arts are needed more than ever and the sustained support for young artists epitomised by Avery Fisher’s philanthropical activities in his lifetime and his numerous endowments remain a source of inspiration.”
Eric, now 23, first gained international attention as a prize-winner of the 2015 Chopin International Piano Competition before winning First Prize with us here at The Leeds in 2018. Since then, he has signed with our partners, the leading artist management company Askonas Holt and record label Warner Classics with whom he has released two albums. He has also made his debut at the BBC Proms and became a BBC New Generation Artist (2019–2022) and has made debuts all around the world, performing with leading orchestras and conductors in prestigious concert halls.
The Avery Fisher Career Grants are a long-standing philanthropic tradition started by the late Avery Fisher in 1976. Since then, 161 Career Grants have been awarded to young musicians who are either US citizens or permanent US residents. Other recipients of the Grant this year include cellists Sterling Elliott and Oliver Herbert, and violinists Geneva Lewis and Kevin Zhu.
Read the Press Release in full here.
Eric performs in Stockholm – available to watch until 24 March 2021
Watch Eric’s recent performance in Stockholm, with conductor Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in a long awaited performance of Beethoven, Howell and Weinberg.