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Chinese pianist Lang Lang first drew inspiration from Tom and Jerry |
Lang Lang’s cat and mouse act
PREVIEW: UBS SOUNDSCAPES:LANG LANG AND THE LSO
LSO St Lukes/barbican
CHINESE pianist Lang Lang, now a world music icon after his performance at the opening of the Beijing Olympics last year, is joining the London Symphony Orchestra for a series of performances starting late next week.
Although the 26-year-old Lang Lang has played in London before, this will be his first residency, providing the opportunity to do more than displaying his extraordinary talents in piano concertos. Indeed, his first engagement (Saturday 18th), will be to lead a piano extravaganza with young pianists at St Luke’s, the LSO’s venue on Old Street.
There is to be a morning workshop with 100 young pianists from east London learning Schubert’s Marche Militaires and an afternoon masterclass with young pianists from Guildhall School of Music.
Also at St Luke’s, Lang Lang is to take part in a collaboration with another Chinese composer, Raymond Yiu, and the Silk Strings Quartet of Chinese musicians in a Q&A session to be streamed over the internet.
At the Barbican, Lang Lang and the LSO will perform Bartok’s piano concerto No 2, the UK premiere of Chinese composer Tan Dan’s piano concerto and, as his final performance, he will give a solo recital.
That young people should be the first to hear Lang Lang is an indication of the huge importance he places on encouraging young pianists.
As many as 35 million children are learning the piano in China and, from his experience during his childhood years of seemingly endless practising in a poor household, he knows how every bit of encouragement counts.
Just how he became enthusiastic about playing the piano during his childhood is recalled in his autobiography Journey of a Thousand Miles, published next week (Aurum Press £16.99).
His first inspiration, he says, was not Bach, Beethoven or Brahms but Tom and Jerry, the cartoon characters, up to their tricks in The Cat Concerto playing Liszt’s Rhapsody No 2. “A cat in a tux is playing the piano! I found it hilarious!” he recalls. “Playing the piano meant pranks. It meant fun.”
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