Lang Lang Piano Virtuoso

Lang Lang

June 14, 1982, Shenyang in Liaoning, China

Lang Lang started playing when he was 3 years old. By the time he was 5, he'd already won the Shenyang Piano Competition and played in his first public recital.

He says that it was the cartoon "Tom and Jerry" that inspired him to play. Watching and listening to Tom play Liszt's Hunagrian Concerto No. 2 was enough to make him want to learn the piano. And we can only assume that it was an inspired career choice, even at such an early age.

Lang has already appeared with most of the world's great orchestras, and won a string of prizes and awards. Unusually for a pianist, his concerts sell out, wherever they take place. He has been appointed an international Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF, and in 2002 became the first recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, in recognition of his distinguished musical talent.

When he was just 13, Lang Lang played Chopin's Op. 10 and Op. 25 etudes at Beijing Concert Hall. In the same year, he won first place at the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians' Competition held in Japan. He has appeared at the BBC Proms, where his playing was described as "history in the making." He also recently appeared in a duet with jazz legend Herbie Hancock playing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" as part of the 2008 Grammy Awards broadcast.