Biography

One of the most active violinist today, SIQING LU is the first Asian violinist to win the First Prize at the prestigious Paganini International Violin Competition in Italy. Hailed by Strad as "a rare talent", SIQING LU is acknowledge one of the most outstanding Chinese violinists. He has performed to acclaim in more than thirty countries throughout Asia, Europe, South and North America, including concerts at Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Great Hall of People in Beijing.

Renowned orchestras have presented SIQING LU as a featured soloist: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Genoa Opera House, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Chinese Chamber Orchestra, New Philharmonic Orchestra of Portugal, Bilbao Symphony, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Los Angeles Bowl Orchestra, Russia National Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, among others. He has headlined festival concerts at Montreux–Vevey, Ascona, Savolinna, Hong Kong, Macao, Curaçao and Aspen.

SIQING LU records exclusively for HNH Marco Polo / Naxos International (Far East). His interpretation of the famous Chinese violin concerto "Butterfly lovers" has been widely considered the best among the available. The compact disc "Traumerei – Romantic Violin Favorites" was awarded CD of the month by All Music Magazine and China Times in Taiwan and was voted among the best 100 CDs of 1997 by Sound Symposium. His recent release of Vivaldi's Four Seasons in which SIQING LU used six different violins by Stradivari, Guarneri and Amati received brilliant reviews.

SIQING LU has also made more than a dozen CD and Video recordings for other labels in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. His performances have been broadcasted on China's National Television CCTV, Boston's WGBH, New York's Sinovision and WQXR, Chicago's WFMT, Canada's CBC, Germany's WDR, Japan's NTV, among many others.

SIQING LU was born in 1969 in Qingdao, China and began to study the violin with his father. As an eight-years-old he was accepted by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as a special student and studied with Zhenshan Wang. At eleven, Lord Yehudi Menuhin chose SIQING LU to study at his school in London. In 1989 he went to the United States where he studied with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang at the Juilliard School of Music.

In addition to the Paganini prize, SIQING LU has been a winner in numerous international violin competitions in Beijing, England and the U.S. SIQING LU currently holds the post of Director of the Violin Department at the Naxos International Music Center, Hong Kong. He uses a 1635-40 Niccolo Amati that is generously loaned by the Stradivari Society in Chicago.