Siqing Lu Violinist
One of the most prominent and influential Chinese violinists today, Siqing Lu performs regularly with major international and Chinese orchestras, in recitals and with the China Trio which he founded in 2011. As the first Asian violinist to win the prestigious International Paganini Violin Competition, Siqing has performed to acclaim in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls worldwide, including the Musikverein in Vienna, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Southam Hall at National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Maison Symphonique and Place des Arts in Montreal, Barbican Centre, Royal Opera House and Wigmore Hall in London, Theatre Des Champs Elysees and Louis XIV Opera House at Palace of Versailles in Paris, the Great Hall in Moscow, Suntory Hall,Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo, Hamer Hall at the Arts Centre in Melbourne, Sydney Opera House, the Esplanade in Singapore, Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing among others.
In 2019, as the first soloist in residence of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), Siqing Lu would perform the Season Opening Gala of MSO. Besides, Siqing Lu would take a worldwide recital tour of more than 30 cities. In addition, Siqing was also invite as guest soloist on tour with the NCPA Orchestra at the Abu Dhabi Music Festival, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra at the Bangkok International Dance and Music Festival, the China National Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, as well as the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra on their historic first ever South America tour.
Siqing appears regularly at many of the top music festivals and prestigious music events around the world. He is the Artistic Director of the National Centre for the Performing Arts May Festival in Beijing, and is on the Jury of several prestigious international competitions such as the Menuhin Competition and the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition. In fall of 2016, he founded the Siqing Lu Shenzhen Futian International String Festival, of which he is the Artistic Director.
Siqing Lu has released more than 20 CDs and video recordings for Philips, Naxos, Marco Polo, and BIS. His five recordings of the Butterfly Lovers violin concerto, the most famous work among the Chinese violin repertoire, has sold millions of copies worldwide. His interpretation of this piece is widely considered the best and he has thrilled audiences in more than 20 countries worldwide performing this violin concerto. His latest recording of the Mendelssohn and Bruch violin concertos as well as TAN Dun's violin concerto Out of Beijing Opera with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was released worldwide by Australia’s ABC Classics to acclaim in March 2018.
Over the past decades, Siqing Lu has received numerous honours worldwide for his outstanding artistic achievement and social contributions, including Honourary Certificate from the United States House of Representatives, New Jersey Outstanding Achievement in Arts Award for Asian, California Senate Honourary Certificate, Honourary Certificate from the California Executive Committee of the House on multiple occasions, the Montblanc Outstanding Artist Award, China Youth Magazine's “The 100 Most Influential Young People of the 21st Century in China” award. On September 16th of 2006, the City of Millbrae, California passed a legislation to have the date proclaimed as “Siqing Lu Day” in honour of Siqing’s achievements.
Siqing Lu was born in 1969 in Qingdao, China. He began to study violin at the age of four. As an eight-year-old child, he became the youngest student ever to be admitted by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as a special talented student and studied with Prof. WANG Zhenshan. At the age of eleven, the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin chose Siqing to study at his school in London. In 1984, he returned to China for advanced studies at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Five years later, he went to the Juilliard School and studied with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang.
Siqing Lu plays the “Miss Crespi” 1699 Stradivari violin, generously loaned to him by Chinese-Australian arts philanthropist Mr. David Li.
SUN Jiayi
SUN Jiayi is a Chinese pianist. She is rated as “one of the most exciting contemporary pianists” by the New York Times. She is awarded the title, “Outstanding Chinese in New York” by the United Nations. She was invited to perform at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. At the age of 14, she won the Gold Award in the “Fourth International Chopin Piano Completion for Children and Youth” held in Moscow, Russia, becoming the first Chinese to win gold in this competition.
In 2018, she was invited to record CCTV "New Year’s Concert", which was broadcast live nationwide. In 2019, she released an album, “A Dialogue between SUN Jiayi and Satie: The Most Beautiful Piano” following a concert that she had given with Maestro Charles Dutoit and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. She was the first Chinese pianist in history to record Satie’s music. She won the “Best Piano Performance Album of the Year” on the Top Ten Record Chart in 2019. In 2020, she served as piano soloist at the national tour concert of “20th Anniversary of Poly Culture - China Philharmonic Orchestra”. In 2021, she worked with Chinese violinist CHEN Xi and cellist SHI Xin in recording an album, “Saint-Saens’ Complete Piano Trios”. This set of works was the first to be recorded and published by Chinese musicians.
She began to learn the piano at four. At the age of five, she started studying with Professor ZHAO Pingguo, a famous Chinese piano educator. She was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music Primary School with the highest mark at nine. She went to the United States to study under famous Chinese pianist YIN Chengzong at 14. When she was 15 years old, she was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music with a full scholarship as the only Chinese student of that year, becoming a student studying under the world-renowned pianist and educator Robert MacDonald and Prof. LIU Mengjie. In 2013, she was admitted to the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and started studying with the world-renowned pianist Elder Nebolsin. Today, she is a student of the contemporary French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s.