Press Release: 13 March
Announcing Lang Lang Plays The Goldberg Variations - Live
Piano icon of our time, Lang Lang, to perform X2 incredible shows in Birmingham and Manchester - The Goldberg Variations - 27 & 30 October 2023
Tickets on sale 10am Thursday 16 March
https://myticket.co.uk/artists/lang-lang
Lang Lang, one of the world's leading figures in modern classical music and star of Channel 4s ‘The Piano', will take to the stage for two exceptional performances this autumn, as he masterfully recreates one of the greatest masterpieces of keyboard literature, Bach's The Goldberg Variations. Lang Lang The Goldberg Variations brings to life Lang Lang's ‘The Goldberg Variations' album in a thrilling live environment, and the shows can be experienced on 27 October at Birmingham Symphony Hall and 30 October at Manchester Bridgewater Hall.
'I've been studying this work for more than 20 years, and recording it has been a lifelong dream, I've never spent so much time on one piece,' explains Lang Lang of The Goldberg Variations. ‘I've moved into new terrain with theGoldberg Variationsand really immersed myself fully in this project."
TheGoldberg Variationsis, in the words of musicologist John Gillespie, ‘the crowning achievement of the Baroque keyboard'. On one level it is simply a beautiful piece of keyboard music; on another, its construction and inventiveness make it resemble a musical Rubik's Cube. As a pianist, Lang Lang went on a long and inspirational process to feel the depth and beauty of this outstanding piece of musical craftmanship from Bach. ‘The Goldberg Variations are exceptional: this is the most creative and, crucially, the most multidimensional work in the keyboard repertoire,' says Lang Lang; and for two extraordinary evenings, Lang Lang will traverse his audiences through this mesmerising and breathtaking Bach journey. Lang Lang The Goldberg Variations is not to be missed.
Lang Lang Plays The Goldberg Variations
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Birmingham Symphony Hall - 27 October
Manchester Bridgewater Hall - 30 October
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Tickets on sale 10am Thursday 16 March
https://myticket.co.uk/artists/lang-lang
Social Links
https://www.langlangofficial.com/
https://www.instagram.com/langlangpiano/
https://www.facebook.com/LangLangPiano/
Editor's Notes:
Lang Lang:is a leading figure in classical music today - as a pianist, educator and philanthropist he has become one of the world's most influential and committed ambassadors for the arts in the 21st century. Equally happy playing for billions of viewers at the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony in Beijing or just for a few hundred children in the public schools, he is a master of communicating through music.
Heralded by the New York Times as ‘the hottest artist on the classical music planet', Lang Lang plays sold-out concerts all over the world. He has formed ongoing collaborations with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Barenboim and Christoph Eschenbach and performs with all the world's top orchestras. Lang Lang is known for thinking outside the box and frequently steps into different musical worlds. His performances at the GRAMMY Awards with Metallica, Pharrell Williams or jazz legend Herbie Hancock were watched by millions of viewers.
For about a decade Lang Lang has contributed to musical education worldwide. In 2008 he founded the Lang Lang International Music Foundation aimed at cultivating tomorrow's top pianists, championing music education at the forefront of technology, and building a young audience through live music experiences. In 2013 Lang Lang was designated by the Secretary General of the United Nations as a Messenger of Peace focusing on global education.
The Goldberg Variations:The music was published in 1741, but not as theGoldberg Variations. The title page read (in German):Keyboard practice, consisting of an Aria with diverse variations for harpsichord with two manuals. Composed for connoisseurs, for the refreshment of their spirits, by Johann Sebastian Bach. So how did "an Aria with diverse variations" become known the world over as theGoldberg Variations? The work was believed to be a commission from an insomniac, Count Hermann Carl von Keyserlingk, the wealthy Russian ambassador to the Court of Saxony, who requested from Bach some pieces "of a smooth and lively character" to entertain him when he couldn't sleep. They were to be played by his favourite chamber musician, a young pupil of Bach named Johann Gottlieb Goldberg