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Radu Lupu

About this Artist

RADU LUPU is firmly established as one of the most important musicians of his generation and is widely acknowledged as a leading interpreter of the works of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Schubert. Since winning the 1969 Leeds Piano Competition, Lupu has regularly performed as soloist and recitalist in the musical capitals and major festivals of Europe and the United States. He has appeared many times with the Berlin Philharmonic since his debut with that orchestra at the l978 Salzburg Festival under Herbert von Karajan, and with the Vienna Philharmonic, including the opening concert of the 1986 Salzburg Festival under Riccardo Muti. He is also a frequent visitor to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and all of the major London orchestras.

Radu Lupu's first major American appearances were in 1972 with the Cleveland Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim in New York and with the Chicago Symphony led by Carlo Maria Giulini. Concerts with the New York Philharmonic soon followed and Lupu has since appeared with all of the foremost American orchestras. Highlights of his 2005/06 U.S. tour include recitals in Seattle, Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Kansas City, and Ottawa, and a duo piano recital in Chicago and New York's Carnegie Hall with Daniel Barenboim in a program focused on works of Mozart. In addition, he will play with the orchestras of Houston, Montreal, and Chicago, and with Berlin's Staatskapelle Orchestra conducted by Barenboim in Carnegie Hall.

During the 2004/05 season, Lupu performed the complete cycle of Beethoven piano concertos with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst, which they repeated together in Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra under David Zinman, the National Arts Centre Orchestra with Pinchas Zukerman, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with Thomas Dausgaard. Recent seasons have featured recitals in New York (Carnegie Hall), Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Toronto as well as performances with the Atlanta Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony (at Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall), the Cincinnati Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Saint Louis Symphony.

Lupu has made more than 20 recordings for London/Decca, including the complete Beethoven concertos with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, the complete Mozart violin and piano sonatas with Szymon Goldberg, and numerous solo recordings of Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert. His most recent London/Decca releases are of Schubert's Sonatas, D. 960 and 664, which won a Grammy Award in 1996, and of Schumann's Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and Humoresk, which won an Edison Award in 1995. He has also made two records with pianist Murray Perahia (Sony Classical) and two albums of Schubert Lieder with soprano Barbara Hendricks (EMI). In 1998, for Teldec, he joined Daniel Barenboim for a disc of Schubert works for piano, four hands. In 2001 Decca released a 2-CD set of Schubert's music for violin and piano, featuring Lupu together with Szymon Goldberg.

Born in Romania in l945, Lupu began studying the piano at the age of 6 with Lia Busuioseanu. He made his public debut with a complete program of his own music at l2, continuing his studies for several years with Florica Muzicescu and Cella Delavrance. In l96l he won a scholarship to the Moscow State Conservatory where he studied with Heinrich Neuhaus and his son, Stanislav Neuhaus. During his seven years at the Moscow Conservatory he won first prize in the l966 Van Cliburn, the l967 Enescu International, and the l969 Leeds International competitions. In 1989 he was awarded the prestigious Abbiati prize given by the Italian Critics' Association.