Hailed by The Dallas Morning News as “a musician with deeply felt and warmly shaped artistry,” 20-year-old Taiwanese-American violinist Steven (Kuan-Yun) Lu is quickly gaining recognition as one of America’s most promising and sought after young musicians for his striking musical poeticism and athletic virtuosity. He began studying violin at the age of five, and has since been the recipient of various prizes; namely, the grand prize of the Juanita Miller Competition, the grand prize of the Vernell T. Gregg Competition, the silver medal of the Lynn Harrell Competition, and the bronze medal of the MTNA Competition.

Highlights for the 2026-2027 concert season begin with a residency at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, alongside his debut with the Colburn Orchestra performing Elgar’s monumental Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61, and his Taiwan debut with the Morningside Heights Chamber Music Society. Steven has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Lewisville Symphony Orchestra, the Plano Symphony Orchestra, and the Marshall Symphony Orchestra, making solo appearances performing in various concert venues such as the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Moody Performance Hall, the Lila Cockrell Theatre at the Henry B. González Convention Center, and the Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts.

Steven has cultivated various working relationships with many of the world’s current leading artists, such as Pinchas Zukerman, Augustin Hadelich, Mark Steinberg, Andres Cardenes, Clive Greensmith, Fabio Bidini, and Rohan De Silva. An avid chamber musician, Steven has worked and performed with some of the world’s leading chamber musicians, such as pianists Robert McDonald and Thomas Sauer as well as members of the Brentano, Borromeo, Tokyo, Casals, Jupiter, Cooperstown, Orion, Modigliani, and Calidore String Quartets. Festival appearances have included the Heifetz International Summer Institute, the Basically Beethoven Festival, a residency at the Taos Chamber Music Festival as the youngest of only 19 young artists invited internationally, and for the summer of 2026, a residency at Yale’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Steven is a regular artist for the Colburn Chamber Music Society, making appearances in the 2025 and 2026 seasons. His chamber music engagements are currently mentored by Jonathan Brown, formerly of the Cuarteto Casals, Clive Greensmith, and Martin Beaver, both formerly of the Tokyo String Quartet.

Steven’s artistic curiosity embraces music of all eras and instrumentation. He shows great commitment and sensitivity to historical performance and interpretation: his most recent projects for the 2026-2027 concert season include performances and recordings of solo works spanning Lully, Muffat, Locatelli, and Handel in partnership with harpsichordist Ian Pritchard and violinists Andrew McIntosh and Vijay Gupta among others. Additional projects include recordings of Schubert’s Fantasy and other works for violin and fortepiano with fortepianist Angie Zhang, and a performance of Stravinsky’s L’histoire du Soldat. Steven currently plays on a baroque violin on generous loan from the Tesserae Baroque Ensemble, with whom he appears as a guest artist.

Currently, Steven is in his second year of pursuing his Bachelors of Music in Violin Performance at the Colburn School’s Conservatory of Music as a student in the class of violinist Martin Beaver. Other important influences include the late Jan Mark Sloman, Blake Pouliot, and Gary Levinson. In his leisure time, Steven enjoys reading Murakami while listening to slow movements of the Beethoven String Quartets, going on long walks, and stargazing.

SEASON 2025/2026