Redmond resident Alexander Lu, a fourth grade pianist from Bellevue Children’s Academy, won top honors in the KING FM Ten Grands Young Artist Awards competition.
Among his prizes, Lu will perform center stage alongside the featured artists at the Ten Grands concert at 7 p.m. Friday, May 21 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.
The 10-year-old Young Artist grand prize winner also receives a $1,000 scholarship from 98.1 Classical KING FM. For his winning entry, Lu played “The Cat and the Mouse” by Amercian composer Aaron Copland.
Lu started formal piano lessons at the age of five and a half and has studied with Dr. Peter Mack in Seattle since 2006. At age seven, Lu was a featured pianist in the 65th episode of the “Musical Encounter” TV series by Sylvia Kunin. At age eight, he gave his debut solo recital and became the youngest winner of the Northwest Chopin Festival.
At age nine, Lu won multiple awards in the Seattle International Piano Competition “age nine and under category,” including the gold medal, best performance of Chopin Etude and the “audience award.”
In 2009, Alex and his pianist brother Chris were featured in an MSNBC story called “Making Sweet Music is Kids’ Play for Prodigies” and the accompanying video, “Music Talent Beyond Their Years,” as well as interviews with KOMO TV and KING FM 98.1 Arts Channel.
Nine other talented students also made the “Top 10” cut and have received invitations to perform at the Ten Grands event.
Besides the Grand Prize winner Alexander Lu, other Ten Grands finalists, in alphabetical order were:
• Oliver Aldort of Eastsound, 11th grade, homeschooled, plays piano, cello and conducts
• Matt DeLuca of Sammamish, 12th grade, Skyline High School, marimba
• Britanee Hwee of Lake Forest Park, 10th grade, homeschooled, piano
• Pearl Lam of Seattle, sixth grade, Washington Middle School, piano
• Michael Lee of Bellevue, 10th grade, Interlake High School, piano
• Casey Pinckney of Renton, 11th grade, homeschooled, harp
• Rachel Wong of Lynnwood, freshman, University of Texas, Austin, violin
• Jack Walters of Brier, 11th grade, Mountlake Terrace High School, clarinet
• Carly Ann Worden of Sammamish, 12th grade, Skyline High School, pianist/composer
They will perform a special arrangement of “Awakening,” composed by Michael Allen Harrison, the founder of Ten Grands and The Snowman Foundation.
Based in Portland, Ore., the non-profit Snowman Foundation was formed in September 1999, partly in response to school budget cuts affecting K-12 music programs.
In addition to their onstage performances on May 21, the 10 Young Artists will perform their winning entries in the grand lobby of Benaroya Hall, starting at 6 p.m., one hour before the Ten Grands concert. The event is expected to be a sell-out.
Tickets for the Ten Grands concert, priced from $42-$102 are available at the Benaroya Hall Box Office, www.benaroyahall.org or (206) 215-4747.
