Lang Lang

Lang Lang to conclude Festival Series

Chinese pianist Lang Lang will close the 2003-04 Festival Series at 8 p.m. Friday (April 2) in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center.

At only 21 years of age, Lang Lang is taking classical music to the forefront of popular culture, being coined by some as the "Tiger Woods of classical music."

After a last-minute substitution at the Ravinia Festival in 1999 to perform Tchaikovsky's first Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony, he began engagements with major orchestras around the world.

Lang Lang has appeared on national television and radio programs, and was featured in "The Wall Street Journal" and in the "Teen People" issue highlighting the "Top Twenty Teens Who Will Change the World."

Born in Shen Yang, China, Lang Lang began studying piano at the age of three, and recently graduated from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

He has released two recordings for Telarc Records, both hitting the "Billboard" classical charts.

His Festival Series program will include "Variations on the name 'Abegg' for Piano in F Major, Op.1" by Schumann, "Piano Sonata in C Major" by Haydn, "Fantasy in C Major" by Schubert, "Eight Memories in Watercolor, Op.1" by Tan Dun, "Etude in C-Sharp minor, Op.2, No.1" by Alexander Scriabin and "Andante Spianato et Grande polonaise brillante in E-flat, Op.22" by Chopin.

Tickets, priced at $34, $26 and $18, are on sale at the center box office. For tickets, call 2-8171 or 1-800-589-2224.