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Friday, September 26, 2008 at 8 PM
Roy Thomson Hall
Tickets: $99.50
to $39.50
Call 416-872-4255 or online at
www.roythomson.com
Or visit the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office at 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto
Toronto – Phenomenal piano virtuoso Lang Lang
is described by the New York Times as the "hottest artist
on the classical music planet." Lang Lang’s combined musicianship
and showmanship have made him the darling of fans worldwide and
one of the most sought-after classical performers of his generation.
The 26-year-old Chinese megastar, well-known and much loved by Toronto
audiences, returns to perform a solo recital at Roy Thomson Hall on
Friday, September 26 at 8:00 p.m., as part
of a collaborative week-long Toronto residency that includes two
appearances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a public Q & A
at the Royal Ontario Museum, and a masterclass at the Chinese Cultural
Centre of Greater Toronto.|
Recital Program For his solo recital, Lang Lang performs
an intriguing selection of piano masterworks: Schubert’s Sonata
in A major, D. 959; Chopin’s "Heroic" Polonaise, Op. 53; Bartok’s
Piano Sonata, BB 88; and seven Preludes by Debussy (from Books 1
and 2): Bruyères, Feux d’artifice, La terrasse des audiences
du clair de lune, Les collines d’Anacapri, La fille aux cheveux
de lin, La cathédrale engloutie, and Minstrels. The
concert will be recorded live for future broadcast on CBC Radio
2.
As the most celebrated performing artist to emerge from his country,
Lang Lang has become a national hero. Specially chosen to represent
the new face and hope of modern China, he performed for over five
billion viewers worldwide at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing
World Olympics. Other recent performance highlights include a live
telecast at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards with jazz icon
Herbie Hancock in a compelling two-piano version of Gershwin’s
Rhapsody in Blue; the opening gala of Beijing’s National
Centre for the Performing Arts on New Year’s Eve with maestro Seiji
Ozawa and the China National Symphony Orchestra; and an open-air
concert tour including New York’s Central Park, the Hollywood Bowl,
and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival.
Born in 1982 in Shenyang, China, Lang Lang began piano lessons at
age three, won the Shenyang Piano Competition at five, entered Beijing’s
Central Music Conservatory at nine, won first prize at the 4th International
Young Pianists Competition in Germany at 11, and at 13 took top
prize at the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians’ Competition
in Japan. At 15 he won a full scholarship to the Curtis Institute
in Philadelphia to study with Gary Graffman.
Lang Lang’s extraordinary breakthrough came in 1999 at age 17 when
he made a dramatic last-minute substitution for an indisposed André
Watts at the Ravinia Festival’s "Gala of the Century." The Chicago
Tribune declared him "the biggest, most exciting keyboard talent
encountered in many years." He has since performed with the world’s
leading orchestras and regularly plays sold-out recitals in all
the major concert halls of the world. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon
recording artist, his CDs have earned him many awards and are chart-topping
successes with sales ranking him as one of today’s best-selling
classical musicians. His newest album, to be released this fall,
features Chopin’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 with Zubin Mehta and
the Vienna Philharmonic.
Lang Lang writes about his unbelievable rise to stardom in two autobiographies,
both released in July 2008: Journey of a Thousand Miles: My Story
(Spiegel & Grau); and, especially for children, Lang Lang: Playing
with Flying Keys (Random House). And theatres will soon screen
Lang Lang’s Song for 2008, a documentary about his life.
This performance is sponsored by TD Canada Trust
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