Lang Lang
Lang Lang (Chinese: 郎朗; pinyin: Láng Lǎng; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with major orchestras around the world and appeared at many leading concert halls. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and many of the top American orchestras.[1] A Chicago Tribune music critic called him "the biggest, most exciting young keyboard talent I have encountered in many a year of attending piano recitals."[2] Lang is considered one of the most accomplished classical musicians of modern times by the United Nations.[3]
For other uses, see Lang Lang (disambiguation).
Lang Lang
14 June 1982
Musician
1993–present
1
Lang Guoren (郎国任)
Zhou Xiulan (周秀兰)
Classical
Piano
Early life and education[edit]
Lang Lang was born in China Liaoning, in 1982 to a family of the Manchu Niohuru clan. His father Lang Guoren is a musician, playing the erhu.[4] Both his father and mother, also a musician, were displaced to work on rural rice farms in the country during the Cultural Revolution, before Lang was born.[5]
The Tom and Jerry episode The Cat Concerto, which features Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2., motivated two-year-old Lang to learn the piano.[6][7] He started lessons with Zhu Yafen at age three, won first place at the Shenyang Piano Competition and performed his first public recital when he was five.[8]
When Lang was nine, he was expelled from his piano tutor's studio for "lack of talent".[9][5] Another music teacher at his state school noticed Lang and asked him to play the second movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 10, which reminded Lang of his love for the instrument.[9] Lang later studied under Zhao Ping-Guo at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music.[10]
Lang won the Xinghai National Piano Competition in Beijing in 1993 and first prize for outstanding artistic performance at the International Competition for Young Pianists in Ettlingen, Germany, in 1994.[8] In 1995, Lang played the Chopin études at the Beijing Concert Hall, won the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Japan,[8] and performed as soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.[11] Fourteen-year-old Lang was a featured soloist for the China National Symphony's inaugural concert in September 1996, then Chinese president Jiang Zemin met Lang Lang after this performance.
Lang and his father moved to the United States in 1997, so Lang could pursue studies with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.[12][13]
Books[edit]
Lang's autobiography, Journey of a Thousand Miles, published by Random House in 8 languages, was released in the summer of 2008. Delacorte Press also released a version of the autobiography specifically for younger readers, entitled Playing with Flying Keys.
Awards and outreach[edit]
Lang Lang has received many awards and made many television appearances. His DG recording of Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 4 with Christoph Eschenbach was nominated for a Grammy Award during the year of its release.
He appeared in Time magazine's 2009 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World,[19] and in Gramophone magazine's Hall of Fame in 2012.[62] In 2008, the Recording Academy named him their Cultural Ambassador to China.[63] More recently, Lang has been chosen as an official worldwide ambassador to the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Lang was appointed by the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) as an International Goodwill Ambassador in 2004.[64] The Chinese government selected him as a vice-president of the All-China Youth Federation.[65]
The Financial Times reported that Lang is "evangelical in his efforts to spread the popularity of classical music."[66] In October 2008, he launched the Lang International Music Foundation in New York with the support of the Grammys and UNICEF.[67][68] In May 2009, Lang and his three chosen scholars from the foundation—Charlie Liu, Anna Larsen, and Derek Wang, aged between eight and 10 years old—performed together on The Oprah Winfrey Show.[69]
In June 2011, Lang was engaged by Telefónica to make appearances concerning culture, technology, education and social commitment.[70]
On 22 July 2012, Lang carried the London 2012 Olympic torch through Hornchurch on its Redbridge to Bexley leg. On 24 August 2012, he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his engagement in the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.[71]
On 28 October 2013, Lang was chosen by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to be a United Nations Messenger of Peace—a role he says is more important than his music because it can help improve the lives of children around the world through education.[72]
His Chopin Album on Sony Classical received the 2013 Echo Klassik Award.[73]
On 10 April 2024, Lang Lang was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Affiliated with scam[edit]
Peer-to-peer lending Platform Endorsements[edit]
Lang Lang has endorsed multiple P2P platforms, including those accused of illegal fundraising, such as 88 Wealth[74] and Solarbao.[75][76] These P2P platforms have been accused of illegal absorption of public deposits, fictitious investment projects, high-interest lending, and liquidity crises.[77][78][79] Lang Lang has not promptly made public explanations or responses to the issues concerning these platforms, at the same time his company penalised administratively as he failed to publish required annual reports for three consecutive years.[74][80]
