Radu Lupu

Radu Lupu
CBE
Lupu in 2012
Born(1945-11-30)30 November 1945
Galați, Romania
Died17 April 2022(2022-04-17) (aged 76)
Lausanne, Switzerland
Alma mater
OccupationPianist
Spouses
Elizabeth Wilson
​
​
(m. 1971, divorced)​
Delia Bugarin
​
(m. 1990)​
[a]
Awards

Radu Lupu CBE (30 November 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time.[3][4][5]

Born in Galați, Romania, Lupu began studying piano at the age of six. Two of his major piano teachers were Florica Musicescu, who also taught Dinu Lipatti, and Heinrich Neuhaus, who also taught Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels. From 1966 to 1969, he won three of the world's most prestigious piano competitions: the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (1966), the George Enescu International Piano Competition (1967), and the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition (1969). These victories launched Lupu's international career, and he appeared with all of the major orchestras and at all of the major festivals and music capitals of the world.

From 1970 to 1993, Lupu made over 20 recordings for Decca Records. His solo recordings, which have received considerable acclaim, include works by Beethoven, Brahms, Grieg, Mozart, Schubert, and Schumann, including all of Beethoven's piano concertos and five piano sonatas and other solo works; the Grieg and Schumann piano concertos, as well as three major solo works of Schumann; nine piano sonatas and the Impromptus and Moments musicaux of Schubert; various major solo works and the first piano concerto of Brahms; and two piano concertos of Mozart. His chamber music recordings for Decca include all of Mozart's sonatas for violin and piano with Szymon Goldberg; the violin sonatas of Debussy and Franck with Kyung Wha Chung; and various works by Schubert for violin and piano with Goldberg. He additionally recorded works of Mozart and Schubert for piano four-hands and two pianos with Murray Perahia for CBS Masterworks, Schubert songs with Barbara Hendricks for EMI, and works by Schubert for piano four-hands with Daniel Barenboim for Teldec. In addition, Lupu is also noted for his performances of Bartók, Debussy, Enescu, and Janáček, among other composers.

Lupu was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning one in 1996 for an album of two Schubert piano sonatas. In 1995, Lupu also won an Edison Award for a disc of three major piano works of Schumann. Other awards won by Lupu include the Franco Abbiati Prize in 1989 and 2006, and the 2006 Premio Internazionale Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli award.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference montparker2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne – Musicians – OCL – Musique classique – Concerts – Opéra – Musiciens". www.ocl.ch. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gramophone was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Duncan, Scott (13 February 1994). "A cache of rare gems". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Maestro di color che sanno". Alex Ross: The rest is noise. Retrieved 10 December 2018.


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