Research Summary

During the course of my musical career, I have distinguished myself as a world-class concert pianist, as an active piano clinician and adjudicator, as a pioneering recording artist, and as a member of an up-and-coming piano duo. I also direct two musical festivals: the SummerArts Piano Competition and the University of Utah International Music Academy and The Helen Taylor Johannesen International Piano Competition.

Biography

Chinese/American pianist Ning Lu is a recitalist, chamber-music collaborator, orchestral soloist, educator, and competition adjudicator who has been hailed a “true talent of his generation.” In keeping with the instructional practices characteristic of the Russian piano tradition, to which his teachers added Chinese keyboard techniques, Ning began playing the piano when he was just four years old. At age ten, he continued his musical studies at the middle school attached to Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of Pinguo Zhao, the same instructor who has taught well-known contemporary Chinese pianists Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.

Winner of the China National Piano Competition and The Beijing Central Conservatory of Music Piano Competition in the 80s, Ning Lu has also won many major competitions in the US, including the International Tourgee-Debose Piano Competition in Louisiana; the 29th National Young Artist Competition in Midland-Odessa, Texas; the Kingsville International Young Performer's Competition; and the 2nd Annual Audio-Video Recording International Piano Competition in New York City. He has performed over four hundred recitals in countries throughout the world, including Germany, Austria, Poland, Scotland, the UK, Switzerland, Israel, Japan, Canada, China, and the USA.

Ning Lu has presented master classes/recitals in many universities abroad, including the Frankfurt Conservatory of Music and the Mannheim Conservatory of Music in Germany; the Haydn Conservatory of Music in Eisenstaedt, Austria; Brandon University in Brandon, Canada; and the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo, Japan. In the United States, he has performed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas; the University of California at Santa Barbara; Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; the University of Oklahoma at Norman; the University of Texas at San Antonio; Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana; California State University in Northridge; Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia; the University of Nevada; Brigham Young University in Provo and Hawaii; Utah State University in Logan, Weber State University in Ogden, and Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. In China, Ning Lu has performed and taught in all major conservatories, including Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Wuhan Conservatory of Music, Tianjing Conservatory of Music, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He regularly acts as visiting professor of piano at both the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music and at Nanjing Normal University.

Professor Lu is a highly sought-after piano teacher in both the US and China, an outstanding educator whose students have won major prizes in international and national competitions, many of them have performed with major symphony orchestras.  Here are some of the highlights of my students’ achievements:

            Piano Competition Winners

  • MTNA Stecher and Horowitz Two Piano Competition
  • MTNA Chamber Music Competition
  • MTNA Performance Competition College and precollege divisions
  • UMTA State Concerto Competition College and precollege divisions
  • Olga Kern International Piano Competition
  • San Jose International Piano Competition
  • International Livorno Piano Competition in Italy
  • Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition in NYC
  • American Protégé International Piano Competition in NYC
  • Tourgee DeBose National Piano Competition
  • The Great Composers Competition
  • Steinway Piano National Competition
  • New York Debut Young Musicians Competition
  • International Music Competition ‘Vienna’ Grand Prize Virtuoso
  • ENKOR Int’l Music Competition in Germany
  • Dubois International Piano Competition
  • Seattle International Piano Competition
  • Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition
  • Cleveland International Young Artist Competition
  • Louisiana International Junior Piano Competition
  • Los Angeles Young Musician International Competition
  • The Helen Taylor Johannesen International Piano Competition
  • SummerArts Piano Competition
  • Salute to Youth Concerto Competition
  • Rebecca Marriott Champion Piano Competition

 

Orchestral Engagements

  • Utah Symphony
  • American Fork Symphony Orchestra
  • American West Symphony
  • Salt Lake Symphony
  • Tahoe Orchestra
  • Oquirrh Mountain Symphony
  • Equerry Mountain Symphony
  • Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in Canada
  • Canadian Sinfonietta in Canada
  • San Luis Potosi Symphony Orchestra in Mexico

 

Currently, professor Lu is a full professor, Piano Area Head, and the Director of Keyboard Studies at the School of Music University of Utah.

Courses Taught

  • Piano - Private Lessons
  • Keyboard Skills I & II
  • Class Piano Teaching Seminar
  • Advanced Piano Pedagogy

 

Steinway Artist

A professional recognition granted to me by the world reknown piano maker Steinway and Sons. (http://steinway.com/music-and-artists/solo)