… the instrument. The whole balance, the line, the tone, is perceived and controlled by the head.” Radu Lupu Plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19 in F Major, K. 459 Radu Lupu was born in Galați, Romania on 30 November 1945. He was the only child of Meyer Lupu, a lawyer, and Ana nee Gabor, a French teacher. He had his first piano lessons at the age of six with Lia Busuioceanu, and he performed his public debut in 1957 featuring his own compositions. Lupu remembered “from the very beginning, I regarded myself as a composer. I …

… a household name when I was growing up in the 1970s. My parents were keen concert-goers who heard all these pianists – and other now-legendary musicians – live in concert and their names were familiar to me from an early age. I don’t remember if I ever heard Radu Lupu live as a child, but I certainly heard his recordings. But it was not until 2014 that I was afforded the privilege of hearing him live, performing music by Franz Schubert, a composer with whom Lupu had a longstanding association. Everything I had read or heard about him …

… Years Toward the end of her life, many of the great musicians she had befriended over the course of her long career banded together to organise a pension for her. Contributors included Martha Argerich, Yehudi Menuhin, and Radu Lupu. Yours Guller died on New Year’s Eve in 1980, at the age of 85. Even though there is still much to learn about her life, one thing is clear: she was one of the most extraordinary musical survivors of her generation. For more of the best in classical music, sign up for our E-Newsletter Youra Guller Plays …

… undeniable? Well, it could be a self-affirmation in the face of impending demise, a delusional triumph against his fate, an imagined joy that didn’t belong to him – or a joy that finally belonged to him, but in another world. For more of the best in classical music, sign up for our E-Newsletter Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960 - IV. Allegro ma non troppo (Radu Lupu, piano)

… to another world tour in 1973 with the same soloists and Andrew Davis. The ensemble is dedicated to touring around the world, expanding their repertoire while maintaining their size. The performances on tour with stellar guest artists read like a ‘who’s who’ of musicians—Maxim Vengerov, Radu Lupu, Itzhak Perlman, Hilary Hahn, Sarah Chang, and Pinchas Zukerman. In 1968, they performed in both South America and the USA and embarked on their first coast-to-coast tour of the USA in 1979 with Vladimir Ashkenazy. Their acclaimed tour to Japan in 1987 with Mitsuko Uchida was …

Pianist Yunchan Lim exploded onto the international music scene in 2022 when he won the gold medal at the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, joining the ranks of past winners like Radu Lupu and Olga Kern. Yunchan Lim in the final round of the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2022 © The Cliburn via AP Yunchan Lim was born in March 2004 in South Korea and studies at the Korea National University of Arts. His first big victory on the international competition circuit came in 2018 when he won the second prize at the Cleveland International …

The Leeds International Piano Competition is frequently described as “one of the world’s foremost music competitions.” It first launched in 1963 with the aim to discover the finest young pianists, and to prepare them for the challenging and ever-changing professional music environment ahead. To be sure, the Leeds Competition can sport an impressive list of prizewinners, including Murray Perahia, Radu Lupu, Mitsuko Uchida, András Schiff, Lars Vogt, Anna Tsybuleva, Federico Colli, and Eric Lu. Sunwook Kim at Leeds International Piano Competition 2006 And in 2006, the South Korean pianist Sunwook Kim added his name to …

… not everything in the world has or requires a resolution or an answer. Unlike Beethoven, Schubert accepted his fate as it was, and such an acceptance is most evident in his late sonatas. Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-Flat Major, D. 960 – IV. Allegro ma non troppo (Radu Lupu, piano) Chopin once said, ‘Bach is an astronomer, discovering the most marvellous stars. Beethoven challenges the universe. I only try to express the soul and the heart of man.’ We can perhaps draw a parallel here. Schubert neither explored the topics of divinity and religion nor …