Hamilton Lau is hot — in the world of classical music.
The Burnaby-based pianist was recently named to CBC Music's 30-under-30 list of the "hot" up-and-coming classical musicians from across Canada.
Lau has been playing on the keys since he was four years old.
The now 20-year-old, who trained with the Young Artist Collegiate Program at the Vancouver Academy of Music between 2016 and 2020, has received several accolades for his talents and natural abilities.
This recently included second place at the prestigious Shean Piano Competition in Edmonton last year, where he played Liszt's B Minor Sonata.
Lau also won UBC's Concerto Competition in March 2022, dazzling the crowd with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the UBC Symphony Orchestra.
Lau took first prize at the Canadian Music Competition in 2019 and 2021, and at the Performing Arts BC Provincial Festival in 2018 — the same year, he played Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor as a soloist at the Orpheum Theatre with the VAM Symphony Orchestra.
"She [Lau's mother] would hurry home from work, then drive me to lessons and sit with me, quietly taking notes so I wouldn't forget a single thing my teacher said," Lau told CBC Music about his earliest memories of piano and how his mother influenced his work ethic.
Lau is slated to perform at the Robert and Ellen Silverman Piano Concerto Competition at UBC in January 2024, choosing to play Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto.
Other B.C. artists named to CBC Music's 30-under-30 classical musician list were guitarist Simon Farintosh, and sarod and tabla player Hriday Buddhdev.
- with a file from Janis Cleugh, Tri-City News
