1. Lang Lang is a Chinese pianist who has performed with major orchestras around the world and appeared at many leading concert halls.
40 Facts About Lang Lang
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Lang Lang was a judge on the first two series of the British music competition television series The Piano.
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Lang Lang was born in Shenyang, China, in 1982 to a family of the Manchu Niohuru clan.
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Lang Lang's father Lang Guoren is a musician, playing the erhu.
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Lang Lang 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.
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When Lang was nine, he was expelled from his piano tutor's studio for "lack of talent".
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In 1995, Lang played the Chopin etudes at the Beijing Concert Hall, won the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Japan, and performed as soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.
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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 after this performance.
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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.
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In 2004, Lang was featured in Radio Television Hong Kong's TV documentary Outstanding Young Chinese Musicians.
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Lang Lang has recorded for the Deutsche Grammophon and Telarc labels.
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In December 2008, Lang partnered with Google and YouTube in the project YouTube Symphony Orchestra.
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Lang Lang cancelled performances from March to July 2017, after injuring his left arm.
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In 2023, Lang Lang became a judge on the Channel 4 television series The Piano, alongside singer Mika.
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Lang Lang returned for the follow series in 2024, as well as a Christmas special, but departed afterwards to be replaced by American musician Jon Batiste.
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At the White House state dinner in honour of President of China Hu Jintao on 19 January 2011, one of the tunes Lang played was the song "My Motherland" from the movie Battle on Shangganling Mountain, a film about a Chinese victory in the Korean War.
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Lang Lang performed "Io ci saro" with Bocelli, and Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody".
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In December 2007, Lang performed at the Nobel Prize concert in Stockholm.
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Lang Lang participated in the opening concert at Munich's Olympic Stadium with Mariss Jansons, marking the commencement of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and, in a celebratory concert held the night before the last match of the 2008 Euro Cup finals, Lang played with the Vienna Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta in front of Schonbrunn Palace.
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Hancock and Lang continued to collaborate with a world tour in summer 2009.
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Lang Lang has featured in publications including The New Yorker, Esquire, Vogue, The Times, Financial Times, GQ, Die Welt, Reader's Digest, and People.
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In 2011, Lang opened the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall performing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
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Lang Lang played Liszt's 1st Piano Concerto and Chopin's Grande Polonaise Brillante.
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In 2012, Lang gave a masterclass to a select few pianists at the Royal College of Music featuring Lara Omeroglu and Martin James Bartlett.
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In January 2014, Lang collaborated with heavy metal band Metallica at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, performing their iconic 1988 anti-war classic "One".
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On 3 July 2014, Lang played at Byblos International Festival in Byblos, Lebanon.
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On 8 February 2015, Lang played with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, performing Pharrell's hit song "Happy".
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On 30 April 2015, Lang performed at the Expo 2015 opening concert with Andrea Bocelli at Piazza del Duomo in Milan.
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On 4 July 2015, Lang performed "Rhapsody in Blue" during "A Capitol Fourth", a US Independence Day celebration televised from Washington, DC.
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On 24 September 2015, Lang performed the Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.
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On 19 August 2020, Lang told a meditative story about his audition for teacher Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
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On 25 September 2021, Lang performed at Global Citizen Live on the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City.
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Lang Lang played piano for the Coldplay song, "Clocks" at the same festival.
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On 30 September 2021, Lang performed at the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 in Dubai, UAE.
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On 7 May 2023, Lang performed at the Coronation Concert, held in celebration of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla the day before.
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Lang Lang appeared in Time magazine's 2009 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, and in Gramophone magazine's Hall of Fame in 2012.
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In June 2011, Lang was engaged by Telefonica to make appearances concerning culture, technology, education and social commitment.
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On 22 July 2012, Lang carried the London 2012 Olympic torch through Hornchurch on its Redbridge to Bexley leg.
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On 10 April 2024, Lang was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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Lang Lang gave birth to their first child in January 2021.