The rights to this recording belong to the Nine Network of Public Media and the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra Michael Lu (17 years old) plays the first movement of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra (SLSYO) conducted by Gemma New, SLSYO Music Director and St. Louis Symphony Resident Conductor, in the orchestra's season-closing concert. This sold-out concert took place at Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis, MO and was broadcast on PBS affiliate Nine Network of Public Media (KETC). The young American pianist Michael Lu has performed in the United States and abroad as a solo recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician. Michael’s concerto repertoire includes more than 20 full concertos, and he has performed with orchestras in three continents, most notably including the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra in Missouri and the Orchestre de Cannes in France. The young artist has worked with such conductors as Sergio Monterisi, Stephen Mulligan, Gemma New, and Shane Williams, among others. Michael’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra conducted by Gemma New at a sold-out Powell Symphony Hall in 2017 was broadcast on PBS affiliate KETC (Nine Network of Public Media). An accomplished chamber musician, Michael has performed chamber music with members of the Chicago Symphony and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras in the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis. A laureate of numerous competitions, Michael won First Prize in the Midwest International Piano Competition in 2014 with Alexander Toradze and Arthur Greene among the jury. He was also the recipient of a gold medal, with High Distinction, in the Manhattan International Music Competition in 2019. Michael’s lifelong dream is to use the power of great music to make a profound difference in the world. In December 2017, he founded Classical Music for a Better World (CMBW). CMBW’s main mission is to powerfully communicate the human spirit through the ethereal beauty of classical music and to inspire every single member of society to make the world as great as possible for all. Born in August 1999 in Boston, Massachusetts, Michael moved to St. Louis, Missouri when he was three years old. He began his piano studies two years later at the age of five. During his years in high school, his mentors were Stanislav Ioudenitch and the late Seth Carlin. Michael currently studies with Antonio Pompa-Baldi as a full-scholarship student of the Cleveland Institute of Music. In addition, Michael had additional private studies with Reid Smith and Jon Kimura Parker. Through his teachers, Michael can trace his pedagogical lineage back to Beethoven and Chopin themselves in addition to many key figures of the Russian, German, and French pianistic traditions, including Alexander Goldenweiser, Heinrich Neuhaus, and Josef and Rosina Lhévinne from the Russian school; Artur Schnabel and Wilhelm