Lang Lang in Times’ Square Release; October 2007
For Immediate Release
SUPERSTAR CHINESE PIANIST LANG LANG TO BE BROADCAST ACROSS TIMES SQUARE ON OCTOBER 25TH
LANG LANG’S PERFORMANCE OF THE YELLOW RIVER PIANO CONCERTO, ACCOMPANIED BY THE CHINA PHILHARMONIC, CELEBRATES THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEIJING MUSIC FESTIVAL
October 18, 2007 — New York, NY — As a gift from the city of Beijing to the city of New York, a special performance of the Yellow River Piano Concerto, by superstar Chinese pianist Lang Lang, will be broadcast in Times Square on the Panasonic Astrovision, the 23-stories-tall NASDAQ, and Reuters high-definition screens. The New York Times’ radio station WQXR-FM (96.3), which broadcasts from the top of the Empire State Building, will also simulcast Lang Lang’s performance of the Yellow River Piano Concerto, which is part of this year’s Beijing Music Festival.
The Beijing Music Festival is one of most prominent classical music festivals coming out of Asia, and this performance — an unprecedented event that marks the first time music from China has been piped into Times Square — is meant as a symbolic gesture of goodwill between China and the United States. This comes on the cusp of a highly significant year as Beijing, one of New York’s sister cities, gears up to host the 2008 Olympic Summer Games.
Lang Lang will be accompanied on his affecting and emotional rendition of the Yellow River Piano Concerto (the national piano concerto of China) by the China Philharmonic, conducted by Long Yu, the founder and director of the Beijing Music Festival. Based on the Yellow River Cantata by Xian Xinghai, the piece was written in 1969 to mark the end of the Cultural Revolution and to praise the Chinese nation’s fighting spirit. Lang Lang’s recorded version appears on his 2007 album Dragon Songs on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
The Beijing Music Festival kicked off on September 21st and attracted a variety of world-renowned orchestras and conductors to the city, including Christoph Eschenbach with the Orchestre de Paris, Charles Dutoit with the China Philharmonic, Jonathan Nott with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, and Lang Lang’s teacher and mentor, Daniel Barenboim, with the Staatskapelle Berlin.
Lang Lang, 25, has captivated audiences around the globe with his highly virtuosic talent and extraordinary ability to connect with audiences on a deeply personal level. An ideal ambassador for both his country and for classical music, Lang Lang has performed live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Today Show, and Good Morning America, among many others. He is the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by all “Big Five” American orchestras.
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