A few days ago, on May 4, the world-wide famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang was in Florence, where he exhibited within the manifestation Florence Musical May, performing three Mozart’s sonata (n° 5 KV 283, n° 4 KV 282 and n° 8 KV 310) and Chopin’s Scherzi.

During his Italian tour, Lang Lang has already been in Turin and Rome, where he was widely acclaimed. His Italian adventure is wholly recorded by the national television, Lang Lang being Ambassador of 2015 Milan Expo together with his Italian “friend”, the tenor Andrea Bocelli. The two opened the inaugural concert of the Expo on April 30, performing with Teatro alla Scala Chorus and Orchestra in Duomo Square. Lang played on the piano of Giacomo Puccini – the very instrument the Italian composer used in writing the Turandot – some Italian opera pieces from Puccini and Verdi, along with a Chinese piece, the Spring Festival Overture Fantasy from Li Huanzhi. The choice of the latter was “because I knew it could be understood by everyone from different countries of the world” Lang told Xinhua before the concert.

Defined by the New York Times as “the hottest artist on the classical music planet”, the 32-year old superstar has taken part in some of the world’s most important sporting events, including the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. In 2013 he was also designated United Nations Messenger of Peace with a special focus on global education and had recently performed at the 57^th Annual Grammy Awards, alongside singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams. Previously he performed for many personalities, such as Barack Obama, Kofi Annan, Hu Jintao and Queen Elisabeth.

Lang’s passion for music started 30 years ago, when, at the age of two, he felt in love with “Tom and Jerry” cartoon, watching Tom playing piano in a black suit and waking Jerry up with the notes of Listz’s Hungarian Rapsodia n°2. From that moment onwards, the love for music has changed his life: he left home to attend Beijing’s Conservatory and developed this childhood’s passion, which has turned into an astonishing career catapulting Lang on the international scene.

Considered an Ambassador of China in the world, as well as of Westerner culture in China, Lang Lang created a Foundation to support young talents who want to follow their dreams and become famous musicians, in so doing inspiring millions of Chinese children to play classical piano. After the enormous success and millions records sold, he recently published a new CD entirely dedicated to Mozart, where he plays with Wiener Philharmoniker directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. No contemporary artist has made a stronger impact on the classical world than Lang Lang, so we wait for his next performance at Teatro degli Arcimboldi in Milan on June 30.