For Lang Lang it's encore encore

The internationally acclaimed pianist picks up yet another accolade

For the musician Lang Lang it seems to have become so routine: posing for photos as he flashes his piano-wide smile and attending seemingly endless red-carpet events and galas decked in the smartest suits with the swishest ties, all the while chatting away to all and sundry in effortless Chinese or English.

So when the 32-year-old appeared in the Theater of Potsdamer Platz in Berlin on Nov 13, it all seemed terribly deja vu as he was awarded yet another prize, this time the Bambi award, making him the first Chinese to receive the German honor.

The Bambi is the country's most important media prize awarded by journalists and recognizes outstanding figures who inspire, touch and move German and global audiences. Lang received the award in recognition of his outstanding achievements in classical music.

At the ceremony he performed a piano solo and accompanied the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, another Bambi award recipient this year.

"I'm very happy and honored to receive this award for the first time, very special," Lang says, adding that he wants to promote universal music education globally through the award.

Another Bambi recipient was Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, "honoring her engagement against domestic violence". The German singer Helene Fischer was also honored with the award, for the second time.

Previous recipients have included former US president Bill Clinton, the late former South African president Nelson Mandela and the Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

The award comes as Lang moves ahead with his work on music education projects and charitable activities.

"I am passionate about music and have dedicated my life to it," he says. "I want all children to have access to music education and experiences that ignite something wonderful inside of them, just as music delivered something incredible for me."

The pianist studied music in China and the US, and he says he is using his multicultural music talent in his teaching and in promoting Chinese music.

In September he launched the Lang Lang Piano Academy project, and its first series of books, on mastering the piano, he says. They encompass a range of resources, printed and digital, for pianists of all levels through which Lang shares the secrets of his piano technique and his passion, drive and extraordinary mastery.

"The books are systematic products as I use a lot of Western music and as well as traditional Chinese tunes like Jasmine Flower and Lantern Song," he says.

His passion about the importance of inspiring new generations of young pianists never seems to dim for an instant.

"Seeing the smiles on the faces of the kids motivates me to spend more time and energy creating unique experiences to reach even more children."

Lang has been a UNICEF goodwill ambassador for the past 10 years, helping raise awareness to ensure every child's right to quality healthcare and education. In addition, he has frequently used his music to raise funds for UNICEF and for humanitarian aid in emergencies, such as a special performance for a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall in New York to benefit the UNICEF emergency response to the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010.

Since Lang Lang International Music Foundation was set up in 2008, he says, it has raised $3 million (2.4 million euros) and fulfilled his commitment to charitable activities, including establishing three music classes with local public schools in the US.

From December until February, Lang will begin a 12-city tour of China, and the foundation will set up five music classes for children in each city, he says.

In October last year the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed him a UN messenger of peace, a role he says is more important than his music because it can help improve the lives of children through education.

Messengers of peace are individuals who possess widely recognized talents in the fields of art, film, literature, music and sports, helping to raise worldwide awareness of the organization's ideals and activities. Through their public appearances, contacts with the international media and humanitarian work, they expand public understanding of how the UN helps to improve the lives of people everywhere.

"Lang Lang is one of the most exciting and accomplished musicians of our time," Ban said. "He has performed for world leaders and worked with some of the greatest orchestras and maestros. But he has also used his art and ability to inspire audiences to improve the lives of children everywhere."

Lang, who began playing piano when he was 3, has performed worldwide. His performance at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 was seen by billions, and he performed at the football World Cup in Munich in 2006 and the same event in Brazil this year, the European football championship in 2008, at Nobel Prize concerts in 2007 and 2009, and at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in South Korea this year. He performed at Buckingham Palace in 2012 and at the White House in 2011.

In China, Lang Lang is said to have inspired more than 40 million children to learn to play classical piano, a phenomenon the US TV program The Today Show called "the Lang Lang effect".

To help provide good musical education to talented young Chinese musicians, Lang opened his own school in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in 2011.

"Now it has 300 students aged 3 to 13," he says, adding that he wants to educate children and make them excel in music.

"We wanted to find a better way for them, to overcome the things I struggled with when I was a kid. I believe people will learn music in a slightly more joyful way."

Lang is also known for his highly ambitious father, who gave up a good job to take him to the big city at a young age, and forced him to practice for up to 10 hours a day so he would be good enough to get into the Beijing Conservatory of Music. Parents need to stop being so pushy, he says, or their children will fail at the piano.

With all kinds of activities and many music tours all over the world, Lang has a very tight schedule. He says that he has a three-week holiday each year to fully relax.

"I have many masters in the musical profession who have inspired, encouraged and helped me, and told me how to make the best of time."

Zhang Kexin and Laura Davis contributed to this story.

zhangchunyan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/21/2014 page29)