Lang Lang: the pride of music pianist, teacher and inspiration to all.(2008 CONFERENCE ARTIST)(Biography)

The thunderous applause was absolutely deafening, with the entire audience in Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall quickly getting on their feet to give the brilliant young pianist a standing ovation as he played his last note of the Prokofiev Piano Concert No. 3 with the New York Philharmonic! Yes, this was his debut appearance in New York City, and it was expected that there would be many, many more dazzling performances to come. Truly, this remarkable young man, Lang Lang, has swept the world concert stage with his magnificent pianism, spellbinding musicianship, engaging presentations, charismatic personality and a very handsome appearance to boot. He has been lauded as the greatest pianist of the 21st century, a pianist who bridges the gap between the classical music and the popular media, a teenage idol.

Lang Lang is most likely the busiest pianist in the present day, performing about 250 concerts a year. It is hard imagining that with all his success, he is only 25 years old. I remember when I first met him six years ago in Tucson, Arizona, when he was only 19, at the conference of Music Personalities in Radio. Publicizing our newly released CDs, we were the only two solo classical pianists featured at the conference. We had some (quiet) time sharing our own experiences, and developing a friendship. Lang Lang's loyalty towards a friend is simply unfathomable, and this very successful nice young man has been a dear one to me ever since.

Humble Beginnings

To understand him, you have to follow Lang Lang to his hometown of Shenyang. Located in northern China, it is an old, overcrowded industrial city. Like so much of the country, it's poised somewhere between the past and the future. Lang Lang's father, a professional Chinese folk instrumentalist (Erhu), and mother, a singer and dancer, are both very artistic and musical people. They had dreams of raising Lang Lang from birth to become a pianist. In fact, his mother played classical music to him while he was still in her womb. Lang Lang's father, Lang Guoren, spent half his yearly salary--$300--and bought his son a piano when he was a toddler. The parents were determined to train him and started teaching him the musical scale when he was only one year old. At age 3, Lang Lang began formal lessons. When he was 5, he won the Shenyang Piano Competition and played his first public recital. Lang Lang then went on to win top prizes in competitions in the Shenyang.

When he turned 9, his parents recognized that Lang Lang, though he may have been a prodigy in his hometown of Shenyang, would have to leave town to prepare him for the world stage. They set aside their happy marriage, and physically separated from each other. Lang Lang left his mother, and went with his father, who quit his job, to Beijing. There, Lang Lang could study in the finest music conservatory in China: the Beijing Central Conservatory. Lang Lang said "goodbye" not only to his mother, but also the comfortable life he lived in Shenyang. In Beijing, he and his father lived for six years in a dingy, unheated apartment, sharing a bathroom with three other families. Their sacrifice paid off, as Lang Lang was an outstanding student at the Beijing Conservatory. When he was 13, he played the Chopin Etudes Opp. 10 and 25 in the Beijing Concert Hall. That same year, Lang Lang won first place in the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians' Competition in Japan, playing the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert broadcasted by NHK Television.

At age 15, after winning a music scholarship, Lang Lang made his second major move by going to America. There, he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia under Gary Graffman. He received his big break two years later, when he was tapped as a last-minute substitute at the Chicago Ravinia Festival for Andre Watts. It was the "Gala of the Century," in which he played the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. The performance changed Lang Lang's life forever; he arrived overnight as a sensation. It also began a long-term relationship with his new coach, the conductor and pianist Christoph Eschenbach.

The Making Of An Artist