Biographical Timeline
“His enormous variety of colour and texture, of dynamic range and rhetorical gesture, is dazzling. He can sing and sustain a line, knows when to subordinate accompanying figures, and achieves a huge range of articulation.”
BBC Music Magazine, London, November 2008
Lang Lang plays sold-out, highly acclaimed concerts in all the world’s major music venues. He is the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, and all “Big Five” American orchestras. His talent and personality make him an ideal ambassador for classical music and a role model for young people, and he is the first classical artist ever to perform an exclusive concert in the digital world of Second Life.
1982 | Born in Shenyang, China, Lang Lang begins his piano studies at the age of three with Professor Zhu Ya-Fen from the Shenyang Conservatory of Music |
1987 | ins first prize in the Shenyang Piano Competition after which he gives his first public recital. In the coming years he takes first prize in the Fifth Xing Hai Cup Piano Competition in Beijing, first prize and “outstanding artistic performance” in the Fourth International Young Pianists Competition in Germany, and first prize at the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians Competition held in 1995 in Japan |
1991 | Studies with Professor Zhao Ping-Guo at the Central Music Conservatory in Beijing |
1995 | Plays the complete Chopin Études in the Beijing Concert Hall |
1996 | Performs as one of the soloists at the inaugural concert of the China National Symphony, which President Jiang Ze-Min attends as guest of honour |
1997 | Studies with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (until 2002) |
1999 | Decisive career breakthrough with his dramatic last-minute substitution for André Watts at the Ravinia Festival, playing the First Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra |
2001 | Sold-out Carnegie Hall debut to great critical acclaim playing the Grieg Concerto. Travels to Beijing with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Wolfgang Sawallisch for a tour celebrating the orchestra’s 100th anniversary. Sensational BBC Proms debut playing Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto |
2001 | Recital debuts at London’s Wigmore Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, and the Louvre in Paris. Debuts with the New York and London Philharmonics, both with Christoph Eschenbach, under whose baton he also tours Europe. Performs with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit in concerts broadcast on NHK Television throughout Japan |
2002 | First recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival; featured in a week-long residency with five concerts at the Ravinia Festival |
2003 | First release for Deutsche Grammophon: the Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn First Concertos, with Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Echo Award 2004). Festival appearances include the opening concert of the BBC Proms, as well as Mostly Mozart (debut), Aspen, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Verbier, and Schleswig-Holstein. Triumphant Carnegie Hall recital debut, recorded live and released in 2004 |
2004 | Concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Berlin Staatskapelle, Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, and Berliner Philharmoniker. Becomes UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Festival appearances in Ravinia and Verbier. Recital debut at the Berlin Philharmonie and US recital tour. Echo Award as “Instrumentalist of the Year”; his Carnegie Hall Recital album enters the German pop charts and is awarded an Austrian Amadeus Music Award in 2005 |
2005 | Appears in Beijing and on an extensive North American tour with the China Philharmonic, as well as with leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Concertgebouw, and Münchner and Wiener Philharmoniker. Takes part in the second “Concert for Europe” with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Mehta, broadcast around the world. First Latin American tour. Release of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto and Paganini Rhapsody with Gergiev |
2006 | Appearances include the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Salonen), Philadelphia Orchestra (Eschenbach), Deutsches Symphonie Orchester (Nagano), Israel Philharmonic (Mehta), Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Staatskapelle (Barenboim), New York Philharmonic, and Berliner Philharmoniker (Mehta). Concerts at the Verbier, La Roque d’Anthéron and Salzburg festivals and the London Proms. Recitals throughout the USA, Europe, and Far East. First “Artist in Residence” with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performs at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Munich’s Olympia Stadium. Due to his enormous popularity with children, the renowned piano house Steinway & Sons creates the “Lang Lang Steinway”. His album Memory, with works by Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt, climbs to no. 1 of Billboard’s classical charts. Dragon Songs, a full-length documentary, is filmed during his China concert tour and released on DVD; the music is available on CD. Two soundtracks are released on CD: The Banquet, with music by Tan Dun, and The Painted Veil, with music by Alexandre Desplat (Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, César Award, 2006; Golden Globe, 2007) |
2007 | Numerous appearances with the world’s leading orchestras. Special highlights in¬clude concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Salzburg Easter Festival, with the Wiener Philharmoniker in Carnegie Hall, and open-air concerts with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Germany. Recitals throughout North America, Europe and the Far East. Festival appearances throughout Europe. In autumn, he plays ten different piano concertos to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Beijing Inter¬national Festival and the 20th anniversary of his concert debut. World-premiere of a new composition by Nigel Hess about the life of the Queen Mother in the presence of HRH Prince Charles, and a performance at the Classical Brit Awards ceremony in London’s Royal Albert Hall. Release of his first Beethoven recording, the Piano Concertos nos. 1 and 4 with the Orchestre de Paris under Eschenbach |
2008 | Numerous appearances in Canada, the US, Europe, and China, in recital and with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland, Staatskapelle Berlin, and Wiener Philharmoniker. In February Lang Lang and legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock appear together at the internationally televised Grammy Awards. World-premiere performance in April of a new piano concerto by Tan Dun with the New York Philharmonic. In August, over 5 billion people view Lang Lang’s performance in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Other summer highlights include a China tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra (Eschenbach), concerts at the Salzburg and Ruhr Piano festivals, with the New York Philharmonic in Central Park and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and a recital at the BBC Proms. Lang Lang’s autobiography “Journey of a Thousand Miles” is published in summer. Lang Lang International Music Foundation launched in New York in October. Autumn audio release: Chopin’s Piano Concertos nos. 1 & 2 with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Mehta |
2009 | Starting with the 2008/09 season Lang Lang will hold outreach residencies in leading musical centres of the US, Canada, and Europe, comprising masterclasses, chamber concerts, school visits and live chats with university students, orchestral concerts, performances featuring traditional Chinese musicians and music, 4-hand repertoire with children, and vocal and piano duo recitals. Other appearances this year include a European tour with the Gewandhaus Orchestra (Chailly), a world tour with the Wiener Philharmoniker (Mehta); and a European tour with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Harding); performances of the Vaughan Williams Double Concerto and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Herbie Hancock throughout Europe and North America; concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, and a tour with the Dresden Staatskapelle; recitals in Japan, Europe, and the US, as well as Mumbai and Abu Dhabi. His new recording with Piano Trios by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov is due for release in the autumn |
2/2009
