Lang Lang


Arguably the most famous Chinese pianist of all time, Lang Lang has become a superstar on the Classical music stage, with the popularity and charisma of many leading rock musicians. Many of his performances and interviews are available online, and several have drawn over one million hits. His recordings are hits, too, and his concerts are regularly sold-out well ahead of schedule. Lang's manner during performance can be eccentric but fascinating: he is very animated, often smiles, and often looks away from the keyboard even during extremely difficult passages. While Lang plays many traditional and contemporary Chinese works, he performs mostly Western repertory, with the names Haydn,Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev regularly appearing on his programs. Lang has toured widely throughout Asia, Europe, the U.K., U.S., and elsewhere across the globe. He has made numerous recordings, most of them available from DG, Decca, Telarc, and Sony.
Lang Lang was born in Shenyang, China, on June 14, 1982. His father is a well-known musician in China who plays the ehru. At three Lang began piano lessons and at five won a local competition. In 1991 nine-year-old Lang moved with his father to Beijing for studies at the Central Music Conservatory. Despite initial troubles there, he advanced under the guidance of Zhao Ping-Guo. Lang won the 1993 Beijing-based Xing Hai Cup Piano Competition and the following year captured first prize at the International Competition for Young Pianists, in Ettlingen, Germany.
Lang appeared on Japanese television in 1995 in a performance of the Chopin Second Concerto, with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. At 15 (1997) he began studies at the Curtis Institute with Gary Graffman.
In 1999 he debuted at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago with an acclaimed performance of theTchaikovsky First Piano Concerto. 2001 was another breakthrough year: Lang debuted at Carnegie Hall in a program of Haydn, Schubert, Tan Dun, Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt, and then went on tour to Beijing with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He also debuted later that year at the Proms, in Royal Albert Hall, London.
Lang's 2003 CD of the Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn first piano concertos with Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, on DG, drew much critical acclaim. Further successful recordings and concerts followed, including his 2007 appearance at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden.
Lang's performance at the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was viewed by more than a billion people, according to reports. Lang appeared with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall for the 2010 New Year's Eve China Festival.
Controversy erupted in Lang's career when on January 19, 2011, he appeared at the White House and performed an arrangement of My Motherland, a Chinese melody once associated with anti-American feelings. Lang graciously responded to negative commentary that he intended no criticism whatever of the U.S. Among Lang's more acclaimed recordings is his 2010 Sony CD/DVD, Lang Lang Live in Vienna, which features works by Beethoven, Chopin, Albeniz

and Prokofiev.

Biography by Robert Cummings  -  Source: allmusic

Watch and listen the videos: BBC Proms, The Chopin
Album, Hungarian Rhapsody Nº 2, Live and Let Die,
Liszt:Piano Concert Nº 1, Do or Die: Lang Lang's Story, Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto Nº 1, Santiago-
Chile, Beethoven: Piano Concert Nº 5, Plays Bach,
Beethoven: Concerto Nº 1, Master Class, Mozart:
Turkish March, The 183 Commencement Exercises, Beethoven: Piano Concerto Nº 4, My way to Sucess,
Mix (72 videos), Chopin: Grande polonaise brillante,
Liszt: La Campanella, Schubert: Ave Maria, Concert
in Australia,Tchaikovski:Children's Album,Schumann:
Abegg-Variations, Chopin:Scherzi, Beethoven: Piano
Sonata Nº 23, Debussy: La Fille aux Cheveux de lin,
Les Victoires de la Musique Classic, Rachmaninoff:
Piano Concerto  Nº 2, Bach: Air on G String, Chopin:
Piano Concert Nº 1, Chopin: Minute Waltz Op. 64,
Rhapsody In Blue and Top Tracks (237 videos).