Luke Hsu

Award-winning violinist 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.

Luke 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.

Luke 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; other performances have been broadcast 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.

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 Rainer Croset (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, Texas 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.

Awards and Accolades

•Laureate, 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition

• Bronze Medal, Bach Prize, and Mozart Sonata Prize, 10th Quadrennial, Indianapolis International Violin Competition

• Major prize, 2018 ‘Premio Paganini’, Genoa, Italy

• Fourth Prize plus prize for interpretation of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, 2016 International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition (highest American prize winner)

• Second Prize and chamber music prize, Michael Hill International Violin Competition

• Gold Medal and Audience Prize, Houston Symphony Ima Hogg Competition

• First Prize and Isang Yun Prize, ISANGYUN International Violin Competition