Eric Lu – Let your spirit soar once the clocks fall back
It’s very nearly impossible to think about fall while we’re just getting into the swing of summer, but as every Portlander not born in Portland (and maybe some natives, too?) knows: Denying the rainy season doesn’t cure that ugh-feeling that inevitably descends somewhere between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Some swear by light therapy lamps, some try the reverse psychology of buying really nice rain gear (“It’s fun to be out in an uber-expensive raincoat!”) while yet others simply up their meds and resign to their couches. There is, however, a healthy, affordable and social way to make a potentially bleak Sunday go from monochrome to multicolor – and that is by investing early in tickets to Eric Lu’s PPI performance on November 16th.
We were all ramped up and ready for Eric to come to Portland in the spring of 2024, when disaster struck and his performance had to be cancelled due to a hand injury. We felt deeply disappointed, of course, not to hear his program and, naturally, the words “pianist” and “hand injury” evoked reflexive horror in all of us (even worse than a stage actor, for example, literally breaking a leg!). But all’s well that ends well and sometimes even greater things come to those who wait, because the program Lu has in store for us this time? It’s even better than the previous one!
Picking up on a leitmotiv in Eric Lu’s playing doesn’t require deep digging. Google his name, and terms like “poetic” and “emotional intuition” come up again and again. Ever since winning the 2015 Chopin International Competition in Warsaw (at the tender age of 17), and then the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2018, Lu has more than proven that he’s not just another wunderkind. He’s a musician of that rare caliber that was simply born with maturity and depth in his sound. To quote BBC Music Magazine: “His playing is in a rare class – one that has a vacancy since Radu Lupu’s retirement. This type of sensitivity and emotional intuition does not grow on trees, especially not when served by such a technique, with richly singing tone and delicate fleetness of finger.”
In store for us in November? Schubert, Schumann, Chopin. Is there any better way to spend a November afternoon than in the company of these composers? We think not!
If you simply can’t wait that long to hear Eric play, we highly recommend heading to his YouTube channel for a wide variety of his recordings for Warner Classics. It may also excite you all to know that he’s currently working on a recording of all eight of Schubert’s Impromptus for an album that will come out in 2026. You can listen to Apple Music’s exclusive release of the first four here.
This is why, dear friends of PPI, we think you really should 1) follow us on social media and 2) subscribe to our 2025/2026 season. Not only will you receive frequent injections of warmth, wit and wisdom, but also get the opportunity to be lifted temporarily out of the mundane, into some other, marvelous state. We want to meet you there!
PS: If you’re really not a social media person, we’ve got your back, too. We are currently working on a “Get to know your curator”-section on our website, where you’ll be able to see all the Boris-videos at a glance. We’ll keep you posted!