Siqing Lu is one of the foremost and influential Chinese violinists today. As the first Asian violinist to win the esteemed International Paganini Violin Competition, Mr. Lu performs regularly worldwide with major orchestras and leading conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with the China Trio which he founded in 2011 on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.
Highlights of recent years including being honored as Artistic Ambassador of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, as well as being appointed the first Chinese soloist-in-residence of MSO for the 2019-2020 season. Performances as guest soloist with the NCPA Orchestra at the Abu Dhabi Music Festival, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra at the Bangkok International Dance and Music Festival, the China National Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, as well as the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra on their first ever South American tour. In addition, Mr. Lu’s acclaimed recital series, The Legend of Magic Bow: Siqing Lu Violin Recital, has taken him to over a hundred cities throughout China and around the world.
Mr. Lu is the Artistic Director of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) May Festival in Beijing, and the founder/Artistic Director of the Siqing Lu Shenzhen Futian International String Festival. Mr. Lu also serves regularly on the jury of international competitions such as the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition and the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition.
Mr. Lu has more than a dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, for labels such as Philips, Naxos, Marco Polo, BIS and NCPA Classics. His five recordings of “The Butterfly Lovers” Violin Concerto, has sold millions of copies worldwide. His 2018 recording of “Beauty of the Violin”, consists of the Mendelssohn, Bruch and Tan Dun's Violin Concertos with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was released globally by Australia’s ABC Classics to critical acclaim, and soon became the Number One CD album on the Australia’s top 20 classical music album chart.
Appearances regularly with orchestra such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, the NCPA Orchestra and China Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Lu has received numerous honors for his outstanding artistic achievements and social contributions, including New Jersey’s Outstanding Achievement in Arts Award for Asian, California Senate Honorary Certificate, the Montblanc Outstanding Artist Award. The City of Millbrae, California passed a legislation to have September 16th of 2006 proclaimed “Siqing Lu Day” in honor of him.
Mr. Lu was born in 1969 in Qingdao, China. He began studying the violin at the age of four. Mr. Lu became the youngest student ever to be admitted by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing at the age of eight as a special student and studied with Professor Zhenshan Wang. At the age of eleven, Lord Yehudi Menuhin hand-picked him to study at his school (The Yehudi Menuhin School) in London. In 1984, he returned to China for advanced studies at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Five years later, he became a scholarship student at the Juilliard School and studied with Ms. Dorothy DeLay and Mr. Hyo Kang. In 2021, Mr. Lu became the President of the Yehudi Menuhin School Qingdao, a sister school to the Yehudi Menuhin School in the UK.
Mr. Lu performs on the Italian luthier G.B. Guadagnini, Turin, 1777 violin, generously provided by arts patron Mr. David Li AM, Chairman of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.