ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
The classical music world has crowned a new virtuoso, and he's from Massachusetts.
(SOUNDBITE OF ERIC LU'S PERFORMANCE OF CHOPIN'S "POLONAISE-FANTAISIE IN A-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 61")
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Twenty-seven-year-old Eric Lu won the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition (ph) on Tuesday in Warsaw, Poland. It's the first time an American has taken top honors at the competition since 1970. His prize includes 60,000 euros, which is nearly $70,000 U.S., and a gold medal.
(SOUNDBITE OF ERIC LU'S PERFORMANCE OF CHOPIN'S "POLONAISE-FANTAISIE IN A-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 61")
FLORIDO: This music is from Eric Lu's winning performance. The competition's namesake, Polish composer Frederic Chopin, wrote almost exclusively for the piano. The contenders play his works, and the competition is nearly a hundred years old. It's held every five years on or around October 17, which is the anniversary of Chopin's death.
(SOUNDBITE OF ERIC LU'S PERFORMANCE OF CHOPIN'S "POLONAISE-FANTAISIE IN A-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 61")
CHANG: The contest began with a preliminary round of 162 musicians from around the world. After the main round, 11 piano players made it to Warsaw for the finals.
FLORIDO: It is a fair bit of work for the performers and also an enormous time commitment for the 17 judges. They listened to over a hundred hours of Chopin's music over 15 days.
(SOUNDBITE OF ERIC LU'S PERFORMANCE OF CHOPIN'S "PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 IN F MINOR, OP. 21: I. MAESTOSO")
CHANG: The competition is sometimes called the Olympics of piano and has often launched whole careers. Though, in this case, Eric Lu is already an established performer. He's released two albums and has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the LA Philharmonic. In fact, he first played in the competition in 2015 when he was just 17 years old. He spoke to reporters in Warsaw on Tuesday telling them it was, quote, "a dream come true" to be chosen as the winner this year.
(SOUNDBITE OF ERIC LU'S PERFORMANCE OF CHOPIN'S "PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 IN F MINOR, OP. 21: I. MAESTOSO") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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