Carnegie Hall to Welcome Lang Lang, 10/23

Grammy Award-nominated concert pianist Lang Lang makes his first of three appearances at Carnegie Hall this season with a solo recital on Friday, October 23 at 8:30 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. The concert features Bach's Italian Concerto, BWV 971-a complex and pioneering work inspired by Vivaldi-along with Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, Op. 37b and Chopin's four scherzos. By the time he was 22 years old, the acclaimed pianist had already performed twice at Carnegie Hall -with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov in 2001 and with the New York String Orchestra under Jaime Laredo in 2002-before making his sold-out solo recital debut in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage on November 7, 2003, which was recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon.

Later this season, Lang Lang joins Carnegie Hall Artist Trustees Martina Arroyo, Emanuel Ax, Renée Fleming, Marilyn Horne, Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, and James Taylor when he returns to perform for Carnegie Hall's 125th Anniversary Gala concert on Thursday, May 5 at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage-125 years to the day since Carnegie Hall first opened its doors in 1891. He then joins The Philadelphia Orchestra with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on Wednesday, May 11 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage for a performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 1.

About the Artist
Lang Lang inspires millions with his open-hearted, emotive playing, whether it be in intimate recitals or on the grandest of stages-such as the 2014 World Cup concert in Rio de Janeiro with Placido Domingo to celebrate the final game; the 56th and 57th Grammy Awards, where he performed with Metallica and Pharrell Williams; the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where more than four billion people around the world viewed his performance; the Last Night of the Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall, or the Liszt 200th birthday concert with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, which was broadcast live in more than 300 movie theaters around the United States and 200 cinemas across Europe (the first classical music cinema cast to be headlined by a solo artist). He forms enduring musical partnerships with the world's greatest artists, from conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, and Sir Simon Rattle, to artists outside of classical music-among them dubstep dancer Marquese "nonstop" Scott, "king of the crooners" Julio Iglesias, and jazz titan Herbie Hancock. He also creates corporate partnerships that help him get classical music to more and more people, and he builds cultural bridges between East and West, frequently introducing Chinese music to Western audiences, and vice versa.

Time Magazine named Lang Lang in the "Time 100", citing him as a symbol of the youth of China and its future. Lang Lang is cultural ambassador for Shenzhen and Shenyang in China. And if the Chinese passion for piano isn't solely due to him, he has played no small part as a role model-a phenomenon coined by The Today Show as "the Lang Lang effect." Steinway Pianos for the first time named a model after a single artist when they introduced "The Lang Lang Piano" to China, specially designed for education.

Lang Lang brings music into the lives of children around the world, both through his work for the United Nations as a Messenger of Peace focusing on global education, and through his own Lang Lang International Music Foundation. He mentors prodigies, convenes 100 piano students at a time in concert, and dedicated his foundation to cultivating tomorrow's top pianists, putting music education at the forefront of technology, and building a young audience. Lang Lang has been featured on every major TV network and in magazines worldwide. He has performed for international dignitaries including the Secretary-General of the U.N. Ban Ki-moon, four US presidents, President Koehler of Germany, former French President Sarkozy and President Francois Hollande. Of many landmark events, he was honored to perform recently for President Obama and former President Hu Jin-Tao of China at the White House State Dinner, as well as at the Diamond Jubilee celebratory concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

Honors include being added as one of the World Economic Forum's 250 Young Global Leaders; Honorary Doctorates from the Royal College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and New York University; the highest prize awarded by China's Ministry of Culture; Germany's Order of Merit; and France's Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters.

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