Draft:Luke Hsu

Luke Hsu

Luke Hsu (born 1990) is an American violinist. Born in Shanghai, he moved to the United States with his family at the age of three and grew up in the Houston area.

He has received prizes at international violin competitions including the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, where he placed third in 2016 , the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, where he placed second in 2017 and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, where he received the bronze medal in 2018. In 2016, he won the Houston Symphony's Ima Hogg Competition. In 2019, he reached the final of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels and was named a laureate.

Early life and education

Hsu was born in Shanghai in 1990 and grew up in Houston. He began playing the violin at the age of four.

During his school years in Texas, Hsu studied violin and participated in local and state youth-music programmes. As a teenager he studied with Fredell Lack and Emanuel Borok. In 2006, he won the Houston Symphony League Concerto Competition, leading to a solo appearance with the Houston Symphony in 2007.

Hsu studied with Cho-Liang Lin at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and later with Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory. He subsequently studied with Rodney Friend at the Royal Academy of Music in London and Pierre Amoyal at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

Career

Hsu won first prize at the Isang Yun International Violin Competition in 2014.

In 2016, he received third prize at the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in Odense, Denmark. In the final, Hsu performed concertos by Nielsen and Brahms, while Ji Yoon Lee and Liya Petrova shared first prize.

Later that year, he won the Houston Symphony's Ima Hogg Competition. Performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Hsu also received the audience-choice award and an artistic-encouragement award presented by Houston Symphony musicians.

In 2017, Hsu was one of three finalists at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand. He received second prize and the competition's Mozart prize.

At the 2018 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Hsu received the bronze medal as well as prizes for his performances of Bach and a Mozart sonata.

In 2019, Hsu reached the final of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, where he performed Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Hugh Wolff. He was subsequently named a laureate of the competition.

Critical reception

Hsu's performances have been discussed in specialist classical-music publications. Reviewing his performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto at the 2018 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Laurie Niles of ''Violinist.com'' described the performance as expressive and energetic, while also noting moments in which the tempo and coordination with the orchestra became less controlled.

Reporting on the 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition for ''The Strad'', Tim Homfray characterized Hsu's performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto as energetic and muscular, noting his rhythmic freedom and the more forceful character he brought to the work.

At the 2023 Romsey Chamber Music Festival, Chris Kettle of ''Seen and Heard International'' singled out Hsu's performance of Bartók's Sonata for Solo Violin, describing it as a highlight of the festival and discussing both Hsu's performance and his introduction to the work In a separate review of the festival, David Truslove of ''The Classical Source'' highlighted Hsu's performance of Ysaÿe's Fifth Sonata for Solo Violin.