Zoe Barracano (Zoe Barracano / May 27, 2004) |
Friday June 04, 2004
The Kids' Reading Room A magical musical journey
Home Edition, Calendar, Page E-30 Calendar Desk 11 inches; 399 words
By Jennifer James, Times Staff Writer
The crowd was rowdy, more interested in eating and laughing than anything else. The hostess asked them to be quiet several times, but they would not. What would make them pipe down?
Suddenly the notes of Chopin's "Polonaise" spilled out into the darkened room. The crowd, which had been too impolite to stop talking, listened in awe.
Meet Lang Lang, a concert pianist who performed recently at a reception in West Los Angeles.
Lang Lang grew up in China. He studied piano from the age of 2. By age 14 he was soloing in important concerts like the China National Symphony's inaugural concert, with Chinese President Jiang Zemin as guest of honor.
Lang Lang came to America to continue his training at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He has played sold-out performances in major concert halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
He has won prizes too, including first prize and "outstanding artistic performance" in the Fourth International Young Pianists Competition in Germany and at the Second Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians' Competition in Japan. But this is just the beginning. He is only 21.
"We were very poor," he says, remembering his childhood in China. "I would get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and practice piano for an hour. My father would take me to school on his bike. It was old and rickety. And it was an hour-and-a-half ride. Then my schoolday would start at 7:30." He practiced piano for seven to nine hours each day.
"The neighbors were so upset when I practiced at 5 o'clock in the morning!" he relates. "And then my cousin would come by and play the clarinet. But in the end, they saw how hard I was working and they were OK with it. And that really moved me, you know."
"One morning I got sick, so I did not practice. One of the neighbors was late to work. He was using me as an alarm clock."
Lang Lang grew up in poverty in a cheap apartment with terrible plumbing and thin walls. It was a hard struggle. How did he succeed?
"Believe in yourself and go for it," he declares. "The important thing is that you love what you are doing."
The Kids' Reading Room A magical musical journey
Home Edition, Calendar, Page E-30 Calendar Desk 11 inches; 399 words
By Jennifer James, Times Staff Writer
The crowd was rowdy, more interested in eating and laughing than anything else. The hostess asked them to be quiet several times, but they would not. What would make them pipe down?
Suddenly the notes of Chopin's "Polonaise" spilled out into the darkened room. The crowd, which had been too impolite to stop talking, listened in awe.
Meet Lang Lang, a concert pianist who performed recently at a reception in West Los Angeles.
Lang Lang grew up in China. He studied piano from the age of 2. By age 14 he was soloing in important concerts like the China National Symphony's inaugural concert, with Chinese President Jiang Zemin as guest of honor.
Lang Lang came to America to continue his training at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He has played sold-out performances in major concert halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
He has won prizes too, including first prize and "outstanding artistic performance" in the Fourth International Young Pianists Competition in Germany and at the Second Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians' Competition in Japan. But this is just the beginning. He is only 21.
"We were very poor," he says, remembering his childhood in China. "I would get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and practice piano for an hour. My father would take me to school on his bike. It was old and rickety. And it was an hour-and-a-half ride. Then my schoolday would start at 7:30." He practiced piano for seven to nine hours each day.
"The neighbors were so upset when I practiced at 5 o'clock in the morning!" he relates. "And then my cousin would come by and play the clarinet. But in the end, they saw how hard I was working and they were OK with it. And that really moved me, you know."
"One morning I got sick, so I did not practice. One of the neighbors was late to work. He was using me as an alarm clock."
Lang Lang grew up in poverty in a cheap apartment with terrible plumbing and thin walls. It was a hard struggle. How did he succeed?
"Believe in yourself and go for it," he declares. "The important thing is that you love what you are doing."
L.A. for less than the price of sunblock. 
