Yu Lu

Yu Lu, a 29-year-old rising star has been considered to be the most excellent Chinese conductor of the younger generation, the star of hope of the nation.’ The famous Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa spoke of him as ‘the most brilliant and talented young conductor he’d ever seen’.

Born in 1989, Ningbo, China, Yu Lu studied piano and violin and has shown outstanding potential in music from an early age. At the age of 15, Yu Lu was admitted into the Central Conservatory of Music Middle School with top grades. 3 years later, he entered the Department of Conducting at Central Conservatory of Music ranking first from the nationals and having the renowned conducting professor Feng Yu as his mentor. In 2012, he graduated with the highest honour since the department’s establishment. At the age of 19, Yu Lu was handpicked by Seiji Ozawa and began his study journey with th e maestro himself, also acting as his assistant conductor. In the same year, Yu Lu successfully conducted the Seiji Ozawa Ongaku-Juku at Kyoto Concert Hall. Japan’s most authoritative music magazine Ongaku no Tomo referred him as ‘a role-model for all young Japanese conductors.’ Since then, he has been invited annually by Seiji Ozawa to the Saito Kinen Festiv al and other music events. Yu Lu conducted his first opera in Japan when he was 21, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. One year later, with high recommendations from both Seiji Ozawa and Semyon Bychkov, Yu Lu sailed through the trail session by Mariss Jansons, granting him the collaboration opportunity with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the No.1 orchestra ranked by Gramophone, marking his European debut with Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Shos takovich Symphony No. 5. His conducting made a huge impression on both the musicians of the orchestra as well as the local audiences.

At the age of 24, Yu Lu was invited by the prestigious Salzburg Festival in Austria to conduct the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg. Impressed by his interpretation, local audiences reciprocated their feedbacks with affection. Followed by the success at the festival, the world’s to classical music agency IMG Artists reached out to Yu Lu, starting their collaboration as IMG’s youngest Chinese conductor there ever was and expanding his career vastly all over the world. Yu Lu was frequently invited by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and other European historical music groups. He is not only the Chinese conductor in history who started an artistic career at such a young age but also cooperated with so many fam ous music organizations. Yu Lu is also investing significant effort into domestic orchestras as well as maintaining great connections, as guest conductor, with China Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Oper a House Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, to name a few.