biogra  Becky Lu began piano studies at the age of 3, and has since been invited to perform at such venues as Jordan Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and the Bard Music Festival to critical acclaim from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The latter, in a review following her performance of Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos, wrote, "it was both poignant and a revelation to hear selections [from Mikrokosmos] performed with technical brilliance and poise by Becky Lu..." She has appeared twice as soloist and chamber musician on the National Public Radio program From the Top, in which she collaborated with pianist Christopher O’Riley and violinist Midori. Other festival appearances have included Meadowmount, Kneisel Hall, Taos, and the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, England. Born in Guangzhou, China, Becky made her debut on Chinese national television at the age of 6, and at the age of 10, had her American debut under the auspices of the Si-Yo Music Society at Kent State University and New York City. She went on to win the concerto competitions of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and the Omaha Area Youth Symphony Orchestra in Nebraska, where she spent most of her pre-college days. As the winner of Nebraska Public Radio’s Young Musician Competition, her performances were broadcast across the state. In 2001, she received the top prize as well as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts nomination at the Art Recognition and Talent Search Program in Miami, Florida, sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Becky earned a B.A. in 2005 from Yale College, where she graduated magna cum laude and received distinctions in the majors of Political Science and Music. She was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma Alpha(National Political Science Honor Society), and received a number of musical, academic, and community service prizes upon graduation. As a student of Peter Frankl, she earned a Master of Music degree and an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and was the recipient of the Luther Noss Award. While at Yale, she was an active performer of new music as well as chamber music. Her violin-piano duo and piano trio swept the top prizes at Yale’s Friends of Music Recital Competition, and she founded a chamber music society that gave frequent performances on campus. In 2007, the Charles Ives Society, based at Yale, invited her to record over sixty songs that Ives quoted in his compositions. Outside of piano performance, Becky's interests are varied. Since high school, she has been an enthusiastic teacher of piano, music theory, and chamber music, and has taught students ranging from six years old to adult. As a participant of Cultures in Harmony, a nonprofit organization that sends musicians around the world to engage in cultural diplomacy, Becky performed and lectured at St. Scholastica’s College in Manila, Philippines. For the spring semester of 2008, the Peking University-Yale University Joint Undergraduate Program appointed her Teaching Fellow in Beijing, China, where she taught music theory, history, and chamber music at Peking University and Central Conservatory. In addition, Becky has worked on a winning U.S. Senate campaign and served as an intern in a congressional office on Capitol Hill. As
a string quartet enthusiast, Becky deeply regrets her inability to play the
viola and is currently working to rectify that situation. Her other passions are all things culinary, travel, Texas Hold'em, tennis, and she has been known to be unforgiving on the badminton court and ultimate frisbee field. Her world views are heavily influenced by the television shows The West Wing and Alias. She made her uncredited Hollywood debut as a pianist in Mao's Last Dancer, a film directed by Bruce Beresford released in 2010. Becky is eternally grateful for the inspiration of her teachers and mentors. Musical and otherwise, they include Peter Frankl, Tung Kwong Kwong, Paul Barnes, Melvin Chen, Ellen Werner, Seymour Lipkin, Ron Copes, Robert McDonald, Claude Frank, Aldo Parisot, Michael Friedmann, Robert Morgan, James Hepokoski, Laurie Smukler, and the late William E. Odom. |