Lang Lang Recital

Following the phenomenal success of his two sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in 2013, Lang Lang will return for two more in-the-round performances.

If one word applies to Lang Lang, to the musician, to the man, to his worldview, to those who come into contact with him, it is "inspiration". It resounds like a musical motif through his life and career. He inspires millions with open-hearted, emotive playing, whether it be in intimate recitals or on the grandest of stages - such as the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where more than four billion people around the world viewed his performance, the Last Night of the Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall, or the Liszt 200th birthday concert broadcast live to more than 500 cinemas around the US and Europe. He forms enduring musical partnerships with the world's greatest artists, from conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel and Sir Simon Rattle, to artists from outside of classical music - among them dubstep dancer Marquese "nonstop" Scott and jazz titan Herbie Hancock. Thanks to his Sony ambassadorship, he brought Prokofiev's 7th Piano Sonata to the soundtrack of the multi-million- selling computer game Gran Turismo 5!

Yet he never forgets what first inspired, and continues to inspire him. Great artists, above all the great composers - Liszt, Chopin and the others - whose music he now delights in bringing to others. Even that famous old Tom and Jerry cartoon "The Cat Concerto" which introduced him, as a child, to the music of Liszt - and that childlike excitement at the discovery of music now surely stays with him and propels him to what he calls "his second career", bringing music into the lives of children around the world, both through his work for the United Nations as a Messenger of Peace focusing on global education and through his own Lang Lang International Music Foundation. As he inspires, he is inspired. As he is inspired, he inspires others. It is this quality, perhaps, that led the New Yorker to call him "the world's ambassador of the keyboard".

Lang Lang has appeared in Time Magazine's annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World and in 2008 and has inspired over forty million Chinese children to learn to play classical piano - a phenomenon coined by The Today Show as "the Lang Lang effect", which is now as strong as ever.