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Ifelt a lump in my throat and a warm sense of belonging standing in front of the China Pavilion. For 90 percent of the year I am racing to somewhere in the world for my next performance on a tour. The pavilion seemed to murmur to wanderers like me: “Come home whenever you can. East or west, home is the best.”
– Lang Lang
BEFORE leaving to begin his studies in the U.S. in 1997, the prodigy Lang Lang, 15, gave a solo piano concert in Shanghai. In the city that has bred a galaxy of renowned artists, the lad was greeted with instant recognition and mass adoration. The theater was fully packed for the farewell-for-now performance, and extra seats were set up in the aisles.
This experience created a bond between Lang Lang and Shanghai that has stood the test of time and the distractions of global fame. Almost every year his music resonates somewhere in the city on the bill of renowned orchestras like the Philadelphia or the London Symphony, or for international events such as the 2006 SCO Summit and the 2007 Special Olympics. “I feel increasingly attached to this city, delighted to learn more about it with every visit.”
The young pianist got more substantively involved with the city since 2006 when he was invited to play the theme for its promotional film for the World Expo, Shanghai Concerto, putting to music a city long associated with economic vigor and cultural diversity. The next year Lang Lang staged a live show by the Huangpu River, the natural landmark of Shanghai, to shoot a scene for the music video Lang Lang’s Song 2008, dedicated to the Beijing Olympic Games. After the performance the local authority approached him with an offer to become an envoy of the upcoming World Expo, which hewas pleased to accept. When the World Expo held its opening ceremony on the evening of April 30, the curtain was lifted to melodies flowing from Lang Lang’s fingers.
The Expo Weekly interviewed Lang Lang on the eve of the World Expo’s opening. The following is part of the transcript.
Reporter: It’s said in order to meet expectations for a World Expo envoy you have immersed yourself in all the information about it. What’s your favorite construction in the Expo Park? And what are your hopes for the event?
Lang Lang: I keep an eye on the organization and construction process via the Internet. Last year CNN produced a documentary on me. With the sanction and assistance of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, I took the film crew through the park. When the video was broadcast, snippets about the site intrigued viewers worldwide.
My favorite buildings are the China Pavilion and the Performance Center. The flamboyant color of the former speaks of felicity in the Chinese culture, and its design is dynamic and stately. The latter venue is where I will give my blessing to the event via the language of music.
Following its record gold medal haul in the Beijing Olympic Games, I hope China, represented by Shanghai in this case, will have similar success in the 2010 World Expo. I believe China will be marveled at, and take great pride in its economic juggernaut, Shanghai.
Reporter: You once said that music makes life better. What’s the correlation you see between cities and music? Do you think of the city in terms of a soundscape?
Lang Lang: Shanghai is a city of music. Last September I was invited to perform in a concert marking the 130th anniversary of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra – 130 years, isn’t that amazing? On May 1, I will join other guest entertainers such as Jay Chou from Hong Kong and Andrea Bocelli, the blind Italian singer, in a performance of Song Zuying in front of an audience of 80,000. Shanghai will rock under the spell of music. Of course I believe music can make a city a better place. The logo for the fair is “better city, better life”; it is also the goal of its citizens and government. Some people say Shanghai is the Paris in the East, but I prefer to think of it as a window on the charms of China. It embodies both national and international sensibilities. And the World Expo is a showcase that will spotlight its glamour to all the regions of the world.
Reporter: At the one-year countdown to the 2010 World Expo you, Yao Ming and Jackie Chan sang the Expo theme song City together. The tune repeats the words “city” and “soul,” so do you see any link between city life, music and the human psyche?
Lang Lang: Music fills every corner of the most loved cities in the world. It belongs to all social strata, all demographic groups, and all times. Music adds color to life, and soothes a wounded heart. In some circumstances music is the rose that makes a bouquet complete, in others it is more like warmth and shelter against a storm. It often inspires people to find common ground and build cohesion.
Reporter: Year on year you commit to a tight performance schedule, which is usually set at the beginning of each year. This means you always know where to go and what to play in the coming months, and follow this fixed course all the time. Are you bored by such a life? How do you continue to find inspiration and motivation for your art?
Lang Lang: It takes great patience and passion to keep mining new understandings of old works. To do so the musician has to learn from grandmasters, and what’s more, heed to life’s lessons and search deep into the heart.
I was told by my mentor Daniel Barenboim, the renowned conductor, to learn music from life and to learn life from music as well. This is wise advice. Some great musicians didn’t come up with perpetual works of genius for all the ages. Some make their names quite young, like Mozart; it is this kind of extraordinarily acute observer, lover of life, and imaginative high flyer that gives life to music.
I am young, and aware of the ocean of knowledge left for me to discover. I keep learning, and in the process often come across things that intrigue me, which add new meaning to my performance.
For instance I once played in a poor community in an African country in my capacity as goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. In response, some local kids performed a traditional piece. The tune was simple and the instruments crude, but the resilience and confidence encoded in the music really touched me. For a long period thereafter a touch of the keyboard always brought to mind the sight of these lovely kids struggling with adversity. If I can render my music in a way that makes it distinct from others, I do so by falling back on subjective experience and a personal interpretation of life.
Reporter: If you feel like settling down someday in the future, what will you be looking for in the city that you will finally make your home?
Lang Lang: I prefer a quiet urban life that allows me to reach deeper in my heart, a journey that will never come to its end. As for my expectations for a city, it all depends on which city I end up in. After my performance in European and Russian cities, the first thing I want to do is to visit the former residences, tombs or museums of the late, great musicians of the region, those whose works left marks on human history. It feels like I could have a dialogue with these great minds from other times. After a show in Gulangyu, an island in Xiamen (Fujian Province), the organizer arranged for me to visit the local museum of antique pianos; some of whose instruments are hundreds of years old. Touching is forbidden, but the curator made an exception for me. I was allowed to play every one of them. It was really fascinating. I ran my fingers over the keyboards, summoning up the elves who were believed to cast spells on the music these archaic instruments produced long ago. My only dream for a city life is to live close to great musicians of times past.
Reporter: There is the division between classical and popular music, which might also be applied to cities. In the hectic drive to urbanization many classic cityscapes have been swallowed by progress. As a classical pianist, what’s your opinion on protection of our tangible cultural heritage?
Lang Lang: All countries and cities should promote an awareness of preserving and honoring the classical. The classical is popular in its own right, because popularity is the only reason why it has stood the test of time. It is the same with cultural relics. If cultural relics are regarded as part of a city’s soul, they won’t be taken for granted anymore.
An American friend of mine commuted between Beijing and New York year round, and loved both of them. His impression is that though Beijing is much older than New York, it doesn’t look so except at the handful of historic sites like the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the Summer Palace.
New York is teeming with buildings over 100 years old, but how many of those can be found in the Chinese capital? Key historic sites are well preserved, but what about those of lesser prominence but no less significance?
If we work on cities to make life better, we cannot reach the goal by neglecting cultural heritage. I think this is one of messages the Shanghai World Expo is trying to impart.
(The reporter received generous help from U.S. Li Ning Audio-visual Studio for this interview.)
– Lang Lang
BEFORE leaving to begin his studies in the U.S. in 1997, the prodigy Lang Lang, 15, gave a solo piano concert in Shanghai. In the city that has bred a galaxy of renowned artists, the lad was greeted with instant recognition and mass adoration. The theater was fully packed for the farewell-for-now performance, and extra seats were set up in the aisles.
This experience created a bond between Lang Lang and Shanghai that has stood the test of time and the distractions of global fame. Almost every year his music resonates somewhere in the city on the bill of renowned orchestras like the Philadelphia or the London Symphony, or for international events such as the 2006 SCO Summit and the 2007 Special Olympics. “I feel increasingly attached to this city, delighted to learn more about it with every visit.”
The young pianist got more substantively involved with the city since 2006 when he was invited to play the theme for its promotional film for the World Expo, Shanghai Concerto, putting to music a city long associated with economic vigor and cultural diversity. The next year Lang Lang staged a live show by the Huangpu River, the natural landmark of Shanghai, to shoot a scene for the music video Lang Lang’s Song 2008, dedicated to the Beijing Olympic Games. After the performance the local authority approached him with an offer to become an envoy of the upcoming World Expo, which hewas pleased to accept. When the World Expo held its opening ceremony on the evening of April 30, the curtain was lifted to melodies flowing from Lang Lang’s fingers.
The Expo Weekly interviewed Lang Lang on the eve of the World Expo’s opening. The following is part of the transcript.
Reporter: It’s said in order to meet expectations for a World Expo envoy you have immersed yourself in all the information about it. What’s your favorite construction in the Expo Park? And what are your hopes for the event?
Lang Lang: I keep an eye on the organization and construction process via the Internet. Last year CNN produced a documentary on me. With the sanction and assistance of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, I took the film crew through the park. When the video was broadcast, snippets about the site intrigued viewers worldwide.
My favorite buildings are the China Pavilion and the Performance Center. The flamboyant color of the former speaks of felicity in the Chinese culture, and its design is dynamic and stately. The latter venue is where I will give my blessing to the event via the language of music.
Following its record gold medal haul in the Beijing Olympic Games, I hope China, represented by Shanghai in this case, will have similar success in the 2010 World Expo. I believe China will be marveled at, and take great pride in its economic juggernaut, Shanghai.
Reporter: You once said that music makes life better. What’s the correlation you see between cities and music? Do you think of the city in terms of a soundscape?
Lang Lang: Shanghai is a city of music. Last September I was invited to perform in a concert marking the 130th anniversary of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra – 130 years, isn’t that amazing? On May 1, I will join other guest entertainers such as Jay Chou from Hong Kong and Andrea Bocelli, the blind Italian singer, in a performance of Song Zuying in front of an audience of 80,000. Shanghai will rock under the spell of music. Of course I believe music can make a city a better place. The logo for the fair is “better city, better life”; it is also the goal of its citizens and government. Some people say Shanghai is the Paris in the East, but I prefer to think of it as a window on the charms of China. It embodies both national and international sensibilities. And the World Expo is a showcase that will spotlight its glamour to all the regions of the world.
Reporter: At the one-year countdown to the 2010 World Expo you, Yao Ming and Jackie Chan sang the Expo theme song City together. The tune repeats the words “city” and “soul,” so do you see any link between city life, music and the human psyche?
Lang Lang: Music fills every corner of the most loved cities in the world. It belongs to all social strata, all demographic groups, and all times. Music adds color to life, and soothes a wounded heart. In some circumstances music is the rose that makes a bouquet complete, in others it is more like warmth and shelter against a storm. It often inspires people to find common ground and build cohesion.
Reporter: Year on year you commit to a tight performance schedule, which is usually set at the beginning of each year. This means you always know where to go and what to play in the coming months, and follow this fixed course all the time. Are you bored by such a life? How do you continue to find inspiration and motivation for your art?
Lang Lang: It takes great patience and passion to keep mining new understandings of old works. To do so the musician has to learn from grandmasters, and what’s more, heed to life’s lessons and search deep into the heart.
I was told by my mentor Daniel Barenboim, the renowned conductor, to learn music from life and to learn life from music as well. This is wise advice. Some great musicians didn’t come up with perpetual works of genius for all the ages. Some make their names quite young, like Mozart; it is this kind of extraordinarily acute observer, lover of life, and imaginative high flyer that gives life to music.
I am young, and aware of the ocean of knowledge left for me to discover. I keep learning, and in the process often come across things that intrigue me, which add new meaning to my performance.
For instance I once played in a poor community in an African country in my capacity as goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. In response, some local kids performed a traditional piece. The tune was simple and the instruments crude, but the resilience and confidence encoded in the music really touched me. For a long period thereafter a touch of the keyboard always brought to mind the sight of these lovely kids struggling with adversity. If I can render my music in a way that makes it distinct from others, I do so by falling back on subjective experience and a personal interpretation of life.
Reporter: If you feel like settling down someday in the future, what will you be looking for in the city that you will finally make your home?
Lang Lang: I prefer a quiet urban life that allows me to reach deeper in my heart, a journey that will never come to its end. As for my expectations for a city, it all depends on which city I end up in. After my performance in European and Russian cities, the first thing I want to do is to visit the former residences, tombs or museums of the late, great musicians of the region, those whose works left marks on human history. It feels like I could have a dialogue with these great minds from other times. After a show in Gulangyu, an island in Xiamen (Fujian Province), the organizer arranged for me to visit the local museum of antique pianos; some of whose instruments are hundreds of years old. Touching is forbidden, but the curator made an exception for me. I was allowed to play every one of them. It was really fascinating. I ran my fingers over the keyboards, summoning up the elves who were believed to cast spells on the music these archaic instruments produced long ago. My only dream for a city life is to live close to great musicians of times past.
Reporter: There is the division between classical and popular music, which might also be applied to cities. In the hectic drive to urbanization many classic cityscapes have been swallowed by progress. As a classical pianist, what’s your opinion on protection of our tangible cultural heritage?
Lang Lang: All countries and cities should promote an awareness of preserving and honoring the classical. The classical is popular in its own right, because popularity is the only reason why it has stood the test of time. It is the same with cultural relics. If cultural relics are regarded as part of a city’s soul, they won’t be taken for granted anymore.
An American friend of mine commuted between Beijing and New York year round, and loved both of them. His impression is that though Beijing is much older than New York, it doesn’t look so except at the handful of historic sites like the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the Summer Palace.
New York is teeming with buildings over 100 years old, but how many of those can be found in the Chinese capital? Key historic sites are well preserved, but what about those of lesser prominence but no less significance?
If we work on cities to make life better, we cannot reach the goal by neglecting cultural heritage. I think this is one of messages the Shanghai World Expo is trying to impart.
(The reporter received generous help from U.S. Li Ning Audio-visual Studio for this interview.)