Shangru Du is a rising young concert pianist who was once described by the piano legend and scholar Paul Badura-Skoda as “... an extraordinary pianist who is full of musicianship.” 

As a sought-after performer, Shangru has appeared at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Paul and Morse Recital Hall at Juilliard School, Kilbourn Hall at Eastman School of Music, Finney Chapel and Warner Concert Hall in Oberlin, Griffin Concert Hall and Grace Commons Hall in Colorado, Concert Halls of Beijing Central Conservatory of Music and Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Shenzhen Poly Theater, and many other venues across the world. Shangru recently performed Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3 with the Eastman Philharmonia in Feburary 2023 as a result of winning the concerto competition at Eastman School of Music, as well as Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Boulder Symphony in Colorado.

As a student, Shangru receives numerous awards and scholarships for his academic and musical excellence. Recent awards include first prize in the Yamaha Music Scholarship Piano Competition, two first prizes (Solo and Concerto) in the International Keyboard Odyssiad® Festival Competition, U.S.A. (2022), first prize in the Rubato International Piano Competition (2022), winner of the Concerto Competition at Eastman School of Music, second prize in the Kawai Asian Piano Competition, and first prize in the Yangtze Cup Piano Competition. Scholarships include the Cecilia Felman, Arthur Gold & Robert Fizdale Piano Scholarship from the Juilliard School, the Dean’s Merit Scholarship from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and the Pi Kappa Lambda award from Theta Chapter of the National Music Honor Society for the dual achievement of excellent academic work and outstanding musicianship.

Shangru was born in Shandong, China. He began to play the piano at the age of six and studied with Zhaoyi Dan at Shenzhen Art School and with pianist Hong Xu at Wuhan Conservatory of Music (Middle School). Later, Shangru moved to the United States for further education. He studied with Cliburn gold medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and earned his Bachelor’s Degree in 2020. After that, Shangru went to the Juilliard School and received his Master’s Degree under the tutelage of Prof. Matti Raekallio and Prof. Jerome Lowenthal. Shangru is currently pursuing his Doctoral degree at the Eastman School of Music with Prof. Douglas Humpherys. In addition, he also worked with many distinguished musicians such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Robert McDonald, Richard Goode, Robert Levin, Emanuel Ax, Peter Frankl, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Cyprien Katsaris, Ursula Oppens, Dang Thai Son, and William Grant Naboré.

Besides studying piano, Shangru is also passionate about composing. He studied composition with composer Phillip Lasser at Juilliard. The most recent compositions include Stillness - Five Pieces for Solo Piano (2021), Prelude - for Solo Piano (2021), River Snow - for Mezzo-soprano and Piano (2021), and Voyage - for chamber orchestra (2022).

(Jan 2023)