MIC Students Meet Lang Lang

At the invitation of Mark Riggleman, Director of Education at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, eleven Music Institute of Chicago piano students were invited to meet internationally acclaimed Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang on Saturday, May 12, at Chicago's Civic Opera House.

Heralded by the New York Times as the “hottest artist on the classical music planet”, 29 year-old star has played sold out recitals and concerts in every major city in the world and is the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and all the top American orchestras.

For nearly a decade, Lang Lang has been giving back to children around the world through volunteer activities as diverse as mentoring rising young talented pianists. On Saturday, he spent time answering questions from Music Institute of Chicago piano students regarding his career and accomplishments, as well as their own music aspirations, and allowed students to watch part of his rehearsal for Saturday evening's Lyric Opera performance that included Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, Schubert’s last Sonata in B-Flat Major, and a dozen Chopin études.

Participating Pianists
Adam Kim, David Hou, Wonjin Hahn, Andrew Guo, Ryan Jannak-Huang, Kyle Jannak Huang, Natalie Nedvetsky, Anna Ziv, Daniel Szefer, Walker Shadle, and Aaron Kollasch, students from the piano studios of Alan Chow, Arlene Stokman, Elaine Felder, Ralph and Claire Neiweem and Brenda Huang participated in the rehearsal event.

Everyone agreed Lang Lang was very sincere and approachable. Eleven-year-old Academy piano student David Hou, remarked, "I've watched videos of him, and saw him in a couple concerts when I was young, but never got that close to him like I did on Saturday. He was so relaxed, like a normal person, and this made me feel like I could be like him one day."

During the rehearsal, Lang Lang rehearsed several Chopin Etudes that MIC pianist Natalie Nedvetsky is studying. "His performance was spectacular," she commented.