luke hsu
Luke Hsu, violinist
Award-winning violinist and K&MFest’s artistic advisor, Luke Hsu is hailed as “in a class by himself with total command of the instrument” by the Montreal Gazette. As a soloist and recitalist, Luke has appeared at Wigmore Hall, St. John's Smith Square, Windsor Castle, Kennedy Center, Herkulessaal, Jordan Hall, and Teatro Carlo Felice, among many others. Additionally, he has soloed with numerous orchestras around the world, including the Orchestre National de la Belgique, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Teatro Carlo Felice Genova Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Royal Academy of Music Chamber Orchestra, and the Tongyeong Festival Orchestra among others. He has worked closely with eminent conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Nikolaj Znaider, Pascal Vierrot, Hugh Wolff, Marek Pijarowski, Jean-Jacques Kantarow, and Cristian Macelaru. His performance with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra was recorded and broadcasted on NPR’s Performance Today, and other performances have been broadcasted on Canada’s CBC and Denmark’s DR. He has played for royalty around the world including His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex Prince Edward and Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium.
A laureate of the 2019 Queen Elisabeth competition, Luke has won prizes at many of the most prestigious violin competitions in the world. He won the Bronze Medal (Third Prize), the Bach Prize, and the Mozart Sonata Prize at the 10th Quadrennial Indianapolis International Violin Competition and a major prize at the 2018 ‘Premio Paganini’ in Genoa, Italy. He received the Fourth Prize (the highest American prize winner) at the 2016 International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, where he also received a prize for his interpretation of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. Other prizes include Second Prize and the chamber music prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, Gold Medal and the audience prize at the Houston Symphony Ima Hogg Competition, and First Prize and the Isang Yun Prize at the ISANGYUN International Violin Competition.
Luke is an avid chamber musician and is the violinist of the Beacon Street Trio, a piano trio formed at the New England Conservatory with Sophie Scolnik-Brower (piano) and Raomer Crosett (cello). He has also collaborated in chamber music with luminaries such as Itamar Golan, Cho-Liang Lin, Gil Shaham, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Peter Frankl, Colin Carr, and musicians from the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal. His festival appearances include Verbier, La Jolla SummerFest, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Music@Menlo, YellowBarn, San Miguel de Allende Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Tongyeong International Music Festival.
Luke started his violin studies in Houston with Fredell Lack and Emanuel Borok, and debuted with the Houston Symphony at age 16. He then studied with Cho-Liang Lin at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory, and Rodney Friend at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He graduated from all these institutions with numerous honours and prizes. His other teachers and close mentors include Vivian Hornik-Weilerstein, Kim Kashkashian, and Lucy Chapman. He currently studies with Pierre Amoyal at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.
