吕沅翰《哥德堡变奏曲》钢琴独奏音乐会

Those who love Bach

are people who walk alone into the depths of the desert

to watch a mirage,

who keep gazing up at the night sky

even after every star has fallen

……

Lü Yuanhan (Yuanhan Lu) is exactly that kind of young pianist — one who loves to study Bach's music. At just 19, his innate musicality and innovative approach have won the admiration of renowned musicians including Gautier Capuçon, Momo Kodama, and Angela Hewitt. As the youngest laureate of the Gautier Capuçon Foundation in 2022, he has performed at prestigious venues including Schloss Elmau in Germany, Jordan Hall and Williams Hall in Boston, and Chengdu City Concert Hall.

At 17, his distinctive musical voice earned him recognition at the Leipzig Bach Competition and the Geneva International Piano Competition. "For me, Bach's music is like a blank canvas — I can paint it in any color," he told MDR Klassik. This year he was selected for the Verbier Festival in Switzerland — the so-called "Davos of classical music" — and will perform alongside some of the world's greatest masters in midsummer.

"Yuanhan Lu leaves a deep impression on me every time with his unique and poetic way of playing."

— Momo Kodama, renowned Japanese pianist

"His interpretation of Bach moved me to tears — it has a deeply personal style and an extraordinary command of Bach's musical soul."

— Eun Jeong Lee, renowned Korean piano educator

"Lü Yuanhan's music has innate inspiration and a singular interpretation — agile, profound, filled with heartfelt joy and quiet ardor."

— Yang Yang, Associate Professor of Piano, Sichuan Conservatory of Music

The Goldberg Variations is often called "the Mount Everest of classical music" — the largest in scale and most architecturally grand of all theme-and-variation works in music history, posing an enormous challenge to a performer's technique and insight. On November 17, 2023, supported by the Capuçon Foundation, Lü Yuanhan's performance in Madrid was a triumph: Spanish audiences queued to shake his hand, exclaiming that they had heard the true spirit of Bach. On March 1, 2024, his performance at Chengdu City Concert Hall moved classical music lovers deeply. His playing returned to Bach's authentic essence and the clarity of polyphonic logic, weaving music and life together in transcendence — utterly unforgettable...

On Sunday evening, September 22, 2024 at 19:15, as one of the youngest interpreters of Bach among the new generation, Lü Yuanhan will perform the Goldberg Variations at the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall Performing Arts Theater. Join us as we follow his playing across time and space, to experience the splendor of Baroque technique at its height and the most sincere, authentic interpretation.

Lü Yuanhan — Goldberg Variations Solo Piano Recital

Performance Date: Sunday, September 22, 2024, 19:15

Venue: Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall · Performing Arts Theater

Programme: J.S. Bach — Goldberg Variations BWV 988

(approximately 80 minutes, no intermission)

Artist Biography:

Lü Yuanhan was born in 2004. He studied under Teacher Li Xiang and Professor Zhou Yan at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music Piano Department. At 12 he entered the affiliated high school of Sichuan Conservatory, studying under Associate Professor Yang Yang, and won numerous prizes in domestic and international competitions. At 16 he was admitted to the Musikhochschule Lübeck under Professor Florian Uhlig; he currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover under Professor Alexander Schimpf.

In 2024 he was selected for the Verbier Festival Young Artists programme; 2022 Gautier Capuçon Foundation laureate; Morningside Music Bridge fellow; German Ad Infinitum Foundation scholarship; semifinalist (top 13) at the 23rd Bach Leipzig International Competition — the youngest and only Chinese contestant; semifinalist at the 76th Geneva International Competition (Piano).

2022 First Prize, Gustav Mahler Piano Competition;

2022 First Prize and Best Haydn Prize (Professional/Career Division), Carles & Sofia International Piano Competition;

2022 Second Prize, Rudolf Kehrer Master International Piano Competition;

2022 Champion, Piano Competition Online International Piano Competition;

2019 Gold Award, Professional Youth Division Finals, 5th Sichuan Provincial Youth Piano Competition.

Lü Yuanhan's musical explorations go beyond the piano. He also explores music through percussion, accordion, and cello. At 10 he studied accordion under Professor Wu Shouzhi; at 13 he began cello as a second instrument under Zhang Fan, concertmaster of the Sichuan Conservatory Philharmonic Orchestra, and has participated in numerous concerts and competitions.

The Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) is a late keyboard work by J.S. Bach, published in 1741. The complete work comprises 32 sections — an aria, 30 variations, and a return of the aria — with the 30 variations resembling 30 chapters of human life, full of rises and falls. The variations encompass nearly every musical style of the Baroque period: aria, overture, canon, fugue, meditation, dance, and more. Bach constructed a refined yet magnificent edifice, pushing polyphonic writing to its most brilliant height and exhausting every technique of Baroque music.

Lü Yuanhan performing Variation 14 from the Goldberg Variations — live at Chengdu City Concert Hall

Lü Yuanhan performing Variation 16 — the brilliant new French-style Overture

Lü Yuanhan performing Variation 25, known as "the Black Pearl"

Lü Yuanhan performing the Aria da capo — experiencing the cycle of life