Issue Date: August 3, 2008

Meet China's Lang Lang: Olympian piano man

His music is being played on the world's greatest stages.

By Rebecca Louie

Critics adore him, and his spiked hair and boyish charm make girls squeal. He even has his very own Adidas shoe.

No, he's not in a boy band, nor is he famed for dunking a ball. Lang Lang is a 26-year-old classical pianist who tickles both ivories and eardrums with formidable skill.

Audiences worldwide should be able to catch a glimpse of his talent next week at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he is widely expected to take the stage at the opening ceremonies. The performance there would cap off a string of gigs that includes shows in Hamburg with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and in Central Park with the New York Philharmonic. "Sometimes you need to play by the rules, the tradition," says Lang, who grew up in Shenyang, China, and, inspired by a Tom and Jerry cartoon, began playing the piano at 3. "But the most important thing is to extend what's in your mind and heart. All the colors, characters, life experience and dream worlds need to come out. In life, it's the same thing."

And what a life it has been.

Lang reveals the hardship of his rise to fame in his recent autobiography "Journey of a Thousand Miles" (Spiegel & Grau, $24.95). Among the topics he explores: his turbulent relationship with his father, a musician whose own dreams were destroyed under the Communist regime. "I get emotional very easily," Lang admits, noting that he used to "bomb the piano with disgusting melodies" when he was upset. "In my book, I expressed many things -- that I was not happy with my parents, particularly with my dad. Every parent sort of freaked out [after the Cultural Revolution] because they never achieved their dream. They put all of these pressures on their kids. I don't blame him, but many things were quite horrible."

Although he paid his dues at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music and Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, Lang is not done learning. He rarely takes more than a few days off at a time (even then, he studies). He has homes in Beijing and New York, and he occasionally unwinds to Kanye West and Britney Spears. ("Her first CD was certainly something," he says.) The table-tennis enthusiast also indulges in long walks in the park.

As for his personal life, Lang is not looking for love. "Privately," he says, with a laugh, "I am not very mature."