US pianist Eric Lu wins top prize at Leeds competition

The Guardian: 19th Leeds piano competition was won on Saturday night by Eric Lu, a 20-year-old from Boston in the United States, whose sparkling and supremely confident performance of Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto secured him the top place, and also the Hallé orchestra prize.
The rebooted competition, held every three years, was co-founded 55 years old ago by Dame Fanny Waterman, and rapidly established itself as one of the world’s foremost piano events, launching the careers of musicians including Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Mitsuko Uchida and András Schiff.In recent years, however, fewer finalists have gone on to make their mark as international soloists and, as the event felt increasingly old-fashioned, it was felt that a new approach was needed.
The 95-year-old Waterman stepped down from her role as chairman and artistic director in 2015, and the competition’s new directors, pianist Paul Lewis and Adam Gatehouse, announced an ambitious reboot that touched on every aspect of the competition.
“We want to redefine what a music competition can give to young performers as well as audiences,” said Lewis, who also stressed that the competition needed to nurture its winners in the long term to help them develop lasting careers.
Twenty-four finalists aged between 20 and 29 were chosen from first rounds held in April in Berlin, New York and Singapore. The second round, in Leeds in early September, whittled that number down to 10, from which five finalists were selected, who each performed a concerto with the Hallé orchestra and conductor Edward Gardner in concerts in Leeds town hall on Friday and Saturday night.
Musical rethinks, such as the addition of a chamber music round and contemporary music among the programme requirements, helped ensure that a more rounded and versatile musician was on show; finalists’ communication skills were further tested with the submission of a short written piece about their choice of repertoire.
Masterclasses, talks and school and community visits from jury members and competitors have made the city the pianistic heart of the country these past 10 days. “The reach was crucial to us,” said Gatehouse. “I was in Leeds for 2012 and 2015 and you could be forgiven for not knowing there was a competition taking place here.”