Profiles
Pianist Lang Lang values UNICEF ambassador role
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-19 10:28
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 Undated file photo shows Chinese pianist Lang Lang. [Xinhua]
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UNITED NATIONS: He is not just a classical music superstar. He is a global superstar. Only 27 years old, the Chinese pianist Lang Lang has become an inspiration to tens of millions around the world.
Among his dazzling long list of titles, Lang considered UNICEF goodwill ambassador the most special one.
"Being a UNICEF goodwill ambassador is the best decision I have made and will definitely be the best experience in my life," Lang said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua at the UN headquarters in New York.
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Named this year by Time magazine as one of the 100 World's Most Influential People, the pianist said he hoped music could "bring children happiness and enlighten their life."
"I knew many UNICEF ambassadors before, such as renowned African American pop star Harry Belafonte, and others...I admire them so much that I had always dreamed about myself being one of them," Lang told Xinhua.
"So you can imagine how excited I was when the UNICEF did come to me," he chuckled, "It is like a dream come true."
Three months after his nomination in 2004, Lang went to Tanzania with the UNICEF team to visit children threatened by malaria and AIDS.
Although the southeastern African country's underdevelopment and harsh living conditions surprised Lang who landed the continent for the first time, he was touched by local children's passion for music.
"Most of the kids had never seen a piano before," Lang said. "When I played Chopin's nocturne or waltz to them, those who were too shy to talk to me suddenly became active and began to share with me about their dreams. How amazing it is!"
"Music can bring hopes to the kids and open their mind," he said.
Following his visit to Africa, Lang began to organize fundraising concerts for children. Now it has become his routine to do 15 to 20 fundraising concerts every year.
"The most successful one was the first that was held in Houston, Texas in 2005, during which we received more than US$20 million," Lang recalled, "the number exceeded all our expectations."
"I know it is hard to surpass, but I will keep doing these for children," Lang said with a firm voice, adding that he was going to South Africa in June 2010 for his second Africa visit.
Except for his efforts on fundraising, Lang also established his own international music foundation last year to assist young talents to play piano.
So far Lang has chosen five children from the United States and Germany, providing them with scholarships and opportunities to perform at world-class music halls, he said.
In December, he will start the selection in China where he would like to "focus more on physically challenged kids, like blind kids."
Heralded as the "hottest artist on the classical music planet" by the New York Times, Lang has 120-130 performances every year -- almost one every three days. Despite such a busy schedule, Lang still tries to do goodwill activities with the simple motivation to "help more children to realize their own dreams."
Describing himself a "very lucky" person who has managed to achieve his own goal, Lang said there were many more children who might be equally talented yet lacked luck and chance.
"I hope I can help them by sharing my experience," Lang said.
"To help others can always be something joyful," he told Xinhua. "You can learn a lot in the process, and the first thing I learned was the meaning of being a righteous person."
