Lang Lang – A Charismatic Magician on the Piano

Standing ovations, enthralled critics – no matter where he plays and which work he masters, audiences and the press alike are equally swept away by Lang Lang.
It’s hard to imagine that this exceptional Chinese-born talent only celebrated his 23^rd birthday on June 14^th, 2005. Lang Lang is a shooting star who is already considered one of the world’s finest pianists.

A young man who is celebrated as the pianist of the century – it’s no wonder then that he can already look back on an extraordinary life. Lang Lang’s wondrous relationship with music began even before his birth in the summer of 1982. He actually enjoyed his first meeting with world-renowned composers while still inside his mother, who constantly listened to classical music during her pregnancy, providing this ‘Wunderkind’ with a feeling for the masterpieces already in the cradle. The artist himself of course has no recollection of this, but he clearly remembers another, later event. Something happened while the two year-old was watching an episode of the “Tom & Jerry” cartoon series in which Tom plays Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody” on the piano. “From that moment on, there was only one thing I wanted: To play the piano”, explains Lang Lang. His parents took this youngster’s wish seriously and invested a half-year’s income in a piano. His mother taught him to read sheet music, while his father assumed the initial task of piano tutor. One year later a professional piano instructor took on the duties of little Lang Lang’s training. “My father is a phenomenal master of the ‘erhu’, the traditional Chinese violin, but even today, he’s a lousy pianist!”, explains Lang Lang.

The parents’ decision to have their gifted child taught by a professional began to pay off quickly: At the age of five, Lang Lang wins his first piano competition in his hometown of Shenyang, a city in northeastern China. Shortly thereafter he gives his debut piano recital. Over the next four years, this little boy continues practicing diligently, leaving him little free time. “But I didn’t miss much and even back then, there was no other life that I dreamed of”, emphasizes Lang Lang. “I was genuinely immersed in playing the piano already as a young boy.” And his parents also seem to realize that music is his life. So in 1991 they made a difficult decision, and father and son bid a tearful farewell to the mother. Lang Guoren resigns from his job and moves with his nine year-old son to Peking where Lang Lang begins his piano studies at the Central Music Conservatory. However, what seemed so promising in another place initially seems to go badly wrong in China’s capitol city. The instructor expels Lang Lang from the school for a lack of talent. Father and son live in a tiny, unheated room where they share the bathroom with four other families – and neither of them knows what the future will bring. Only after a letter of recommendation arrives from Lang Lang’s first tutor in Shenyang do things begin to change for the better. The renowned professor Zhao Pingguo declares his willingness to take on Lang Lang. Nevertheless, it takes a while for the nine year-old to recover from the shock. “I was a hair’s breadth away from quitting everything, but then I decided to show everyone from that point on what I’m made of”, says Lang Lang.

And that he does. From that point, his career begins to take off in leaps and bounds. In 1993, the eleven year-old competes in the Fourth Competition for Young Pianists in Ettlinger, Germany, not only winning, but receiving an extra honor for his artistic performance. Only two years later, Lang Lang convinces the judges at the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Japan, where he shines accompanying the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra with Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

In the same year, the 13 year-old captivates the audience at Peking’s Concert Hall with his masterful interpretation of all 24 of Chopin’s Etudes. The teenager promptly receives an invitation to the premier concert by the China National Symphony Orchestra, where he appears as a soloist in September of 1996. The audience, including no less than President Jiang Zemin, is enraptured. The TV broadcast additionally ensures that his following in China multiplies dramatically, virtually overnight. In the years to follow, Lang Lang advances to become a superstar in the People’s Republic. As the virtuoso releases his biography, people in China literally tear it from his hands, and the book storms the bestseller lists. In 1997, the youngster relocates from Peking to Philadelphia. At the renowned Curtis Institute of Music, he studies under Gary Graffman. “He’s an incredibly famous pianist in the USA and I was fascinated by him. In addition, Horowitz is my greatest role model and Graffman was a student of Horowitz”, explains Lang Lang. In the first three years there, the young musician studies 37 piano concertos and 10 different solo programs – acquiring a huge repertoire in the process.

1999 is the year of his international breakthrough. Lang Lang performs in Chicago for the jury of the Ravinia Festival and hopes to be permitted to perform there in the future. And in true fairytale fashion, the next morning his telephone rings with news of Lang Lang’s big chance. He is invited to stand in for André Watts, who has been taken ill. He grabs the opportunity. At the Ravinia Festival’s “Gala of the Century”, he wins the hearts and minds of everyone present. Accompanying the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lang Lang gives a scorching appearance of Tchaikovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto. The next day, the press can scarcely contain itself. The Chicago Tribune praises him as the “the greatest, most exciting piano talent in years”. And no less than Daniel Barenboim later said, “If people were punished for having talent, then Lang Lang would get life in prison!”

And this rising piano star continues to radiate ever brighter. Lang Lang begins to take his triumphant procession around the globe. Deutsche Grammophon signs the young musician to an exclusive artist recording contract, and his debut CD featuring piano concertos by Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, takes the pole position on the classical charts. His second CD is no less successful, a live recording from New York’s legendary Carnegie Hall, also including the Chinese folk song, “Horses”; an amusing musical dialogue between father and son with Lang Guoren on the erhu and Lang Lang on the piano. This album even manages to cross over onto the German pop charts, and along with his other activities, Lang Lang tours the world. His concert itinerary grows: New York, London, Salzburg, Paris, Vienna, Philadelphia... He is the first Chinese pianist to play together with the Berlin Philharmonic as well as with the “Big Five”, the five most famous American orchestras.

A meteoric career – but what’s actually so special about Lang Lang? His finger play is particularly impressive, allowing him to master even demanding passages with apparent ease, according to the critics. His technical skills are flawless, and coordination problems appear to be an alien concept to this master of the keys, who effortlessly switches between his left and right hands when playing table tennis. He can even sign autograph cards with both hands, simultaneously if he’s in a rush! Beyond his magnificent finger acrobatics, this virtuoso expresses emotion in his playing in such a stirring manner that the audience is irresistibly entranced. Nevertheless, his expressive body language in particular is less appreciated by some critics. Lang Lang says, “For me, music is pure communication. It is a wonderful triangle to be able to pass on the works of a great composer to the audience in interplay with an orchestra. It’s as unique and irretrievable as a kiss”.

In the meantime, Lang Lang is in demand everywhere, and the young virtuoso plays some 150 concerts a year. This leaves little time for a private life on the one hand, and on the other hand, young artists can quickly lose their grounding. Not a problem for Lang Lang: Despite his full itinerary, he still finds time for those who have been less fortunate. “Since I was 19, I’ve been looking for a way to use my talent and my time for people who don’t have the same opportunities as I do”, and he’s already found an answer. Since 2004, the artist has adopted the cause as a UNICEF Ambassador promoting improved living conditions for disadvantaged boys and girls, which has sometimes seen him drumming the night away in Africa with some 100 street kids.

Another matter that is close to his heart is bringing classical music to young people in particular. And he may even succeed, because this charming young man with the appearance of a pop star in his nappa leather coat understands how to appeal to the sympathies of the younger generation. He’s already achieved this in China. With his youthful aura, Lang Lang has lent a new luster to classical music’s somewhat stuffy reputation. “We have to try to present classical music in a completely fresh way, as if it were emerging right now. Lots of people ask, ‘Why should I listen to this music? The composers have been dead for 200 years’”, Lang Lang explains. “So we have to demonstrate that these great works continue to be exciting and new.”