LUO Wei
Pianist LUO Wei, as one of the most promising students of legendary Gary Graffman, was recognized by American classical radio station WQXR as one of the 19 artists to watch in 2019. In August 2019, Wei released her self-titled debut album produced by Grammy awards producer Erica Brenner, under DeccaGold, Universal Music Group. The album was recommended and featured by the Gramophone online as one of the most exciting new releases in July, 2019. Soon after the release on various online platforms, it was featured as front page on both Apple Music and Amazon Music (classical) . Spotify alone reached around 30,000 listeners. San Diego Union Tribune describes: “This recording reveals a dazzling artist with an astonishing range of colours at her disposal, put to the service of a confident young soul whose musicality suggests the experience of someone two decades older.”
Wei received the Gilmore Young Artist Award at age 17 in 2018, and was the winner and recipient of the “Salon de Virtuosi” Career Grant in New York at age 16. “Philadelphia Inquirer” describes her performance “Equally intriguing were those odd moments when she took you so far inside the music that your ears left behind previous points of reference, partly because she immerses herself in the music with an intensity that borders on madness.”
Wei made her orchestra debut at age 11 with the Shanghai Philharmonic where, along with artistic director TANG Muhai, and they opened the 2011 season by performing Prokofiev Concerto No. 3 at the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre
Recently during Pandemic, Wei gave solo recitals in major cities, and performed with Maestro YU Long at Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra closing season concert—Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff), as well as Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra with Maestro YANG Yang, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra with Maestro ZHANG Guoyong, Yellow River Concerto with Qingdao Symphony at its closing season concert, and Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven) with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. For World Sleep Day 2021, LUO Wei recorded and released Nocturne by Grammy winning composer Christopher Tin as a part of Universal Music Group project, which invited 20 leading musicians around the world to release 18 singles on this day. Starting May, Wei’s solo concert tour “The Song of Ice and Fire” visited major cities throughout China, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Changsha, Guiyang, Chongqing and etc. Same month, she was invited as curator by Universal Music China, to perform for the “Yellow Lounge” Event in Shanghai, a worldwide concert series originated from the label Deutsche Grammophon. In June, Wei performed the Yellow River Concerto in the People’s Hall of Shijizhuang, Hebei with Maestro ZHANG Guoyong. In July, she performs with Maestro YU Long and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra for the opening concert of MISA-Shanghai Summer Music Festival. In August, Wei makes her debut with China NCPA Orchestra in Beijing, performing Piano Concerto No. 3 (Prokofiev) with Maestro LI Xincao.
Prior to the Pandemic, Wei makes her debut with San Diego Symphony, with Jahja Ling as well as the China Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gilbert Varga. In the past seasons, she has performed Piano Concerto No. 3(Rachmaninoff) with Quad City Symphony, Piano Concerto No. 3(Prokofiev) with Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern, and Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor(Mendelssohn) with the Denver Philharmonic. She was featured soloist with the Denver Young Artists Orchestra, Kunming Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony, conducted by David Allen Miller performing Piano Concerto No. 24(Mozart). Wei has made her solo recital debuts and performances in major cities and music festivals, including Lucerne Switzerland, New York City (Mostly Mozart Festival, Lincoln Centre David Geffen Hall, NY International keyboard Festival, Steinway Hall), San Francisco (Herbst Theatre) , Napa Valley Music Festival, San Diego, Santa Fe, Michigan (Gilmore Keyboard Festival), etc.
Wei has recorded many short pieces for STEINWAY & SONS Spirio piano. Her recitals have been featured and broadcasted nationwide, including WHYY Pennsylvania, Minnesota Public Radio, Michigan WCMU, Texas Rio Grande, North Carolina The Classical Station WCPE among others.
Born in Shenzhen, China, she showed great interest in music and began piano lessons at age five. She gave her debut recital in China Hong Kong at age six. Winner of numerous competitions in China, Wei also claimed first prize in the 11th Chopin International Competition for Young Pianists in Poland and the 2nd Rachmaninov International Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Frankfurt, both in 2010.
In 2012, at age thirteen, Wei was accepted to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she studies with Gary Graffman and Robert McDonald. Before that, Wei entered the Shenzhen Arts school with the highest score at age eight, as well as to the middle school of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with TANG Zhe at age nine. Wei is pursuing her Bachelor Degree at The Curtis Institute of Music.
Wei is an avid performer of contemporary music. The Poems, a set of short pieces that Wei commissioned, written by American contemporary composer and pianist Marc Neikrug, was premiered in summer 2019.
Wei has always enjoyed performing in unconventional venues and doing charity concerts. She played recitals in the City Pavilion during Expo Shanghai 2010. She has also visited and given charity performances in nursing houses, kindergartens, hospitals, churches , and scientific research institutions, during her concert travels to Indiana, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Denver, New Jersey.