Lang Lang was born in Shenyang, China, on June 14, 1982 At the age of two, he heard Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. That inspired him to play the piano, he says.
Lang began lassons at age three. At the age of five, he performed his first public recital. But at the age of nine, he stopped his private piano studies. The teacher said Lang didn’t have special talent. Lang was heartbroken.
However, his music teacher at school noticed that the boy was sad. So she played a record of Mozart’s Piano Sonata to comfort him, and she asked him to play along on the piano. That reminded Lang of his love for music and brought him hope again. Soon he got a chance to study at the music conservatory.
When he was eleven, Lang won the first prize at the International Competition for Young Pianists Competition in Germany. In 2008, at the Olympic Games in Beijing, he played to millions of people all over the world. Nowadays, Lang plays with the world’s most famous symphony orchestras, and he helps young pianists with talent.