On the night of Aug 8, Chinese pianist Lang Lang played a romantic piece called Starlight at the spectacular Opening Ceremony for Beijing 2008.

This Saturday, the 26-year-old prodigy returns to the Olympic Green for a New Year concert with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra at the National Indoor Stadium.

Lang has just returned from a double concert date in South Korea but the day before flying out, found time to go to Southwest China's Guiyang city so he could meet hundreds of piano-playing children and their parents, sharing with them his growing pains and experience of learning piano.

It's typical of his busy schedule, something he has always said he enjoys. However, he was 90 minutes late for the press conference because he "did not feel well" and when he finally showed up, he looked tired and kept wiping sweat off his forehead.

Lang Lang in Beijing. [Jiang Dong]

He soon regained his spark when he started talking about Saturday's concert program.

"I want to play a night full of variety," he says. "Chopin's Concerto No 1 is one of my favorites and I recorded it with Zubin Mehta and his Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra this summer. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is a jazzy piece that I think both regular classical music fans and others will enjoy. I played it at this year's Grammy Awards and the audience seemed to love it.

"The Yellow River Concerto is a Chinese classic and a perfect choice. Finally I will play Starlight, which will take me and the audience back to that unforgettable night on Aug 8."

People sometimes question the sound quality at the National Indoor Stadium but Lang says: "I play 99 percent of my concerts in concert halls. On special occasions I sometimes play other venues, including open-air venues, but the New Year concert is a kind of celebration and I think the stadium is good for that."

The Beijing concert is not just an auspicious start to 2009 - it also comes after a highly eventful year for Lang.

In February, 2008, he collaborated with the legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock to perform at the 50th Grammy Awards, which was broadcast live to 45 million viewers worldwide. Their rendition of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was then recorded for United Airlines as part of an ad campaign highlighting the airline's international and business class experience.

In June, he played with the Vienna Philharmonic in front of the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna to celebrate the end of soccer's 2008 European Championships. Three weeks after his Bird's Nest appearance, he wowed critics with a solo concert at that most British of events, the Proms in London.

"I have always tried to attract young listeners to classical music and in this regard, Chopin is a good choice for them," says Lang, who believes the Polish composer's romantic tunes will appeal to new listeners.

"Actually, his Concerto No 2 in F minor is the first concerto I played in public".

In August 1995, it was this piece that Lang played to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Tokyo. Before the final, though, his teachers in China questioned how a 13-year-old could play so beautifully a piece that Chopin created for a girl he loved but who left him.

"But I just loved the piece and thought I could play it well," he says. "Before I went on stage, my father told me 'Forget about the love story - just imagine it as a beautiful scenic painting or just think of your beloved mum.' I did what he said and it worked."

Before the Beijing Olympic Games, Lang Lang's biography, Journey of a Thousand Miles, was published by Random House in eight languages.

In October, he set up the Lang Lang International Music Foundation to support talented young pianists and to enrich the lives of children worldwide with a deeper understanding and enjoyment of music.

In 2009, he will focus on education and outreach programs for children, performing, visiting schools and giving master classes in Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Rome and Stockholm.

As part of his commitment to the children, he released an animated version of his autobiography in Chinese, Playing With Flying Keys.

"Many people have helped and supported me, both in my early days learning to play piano and throughout my career," he says. "So I now hope I can do something for others."

(China Daily December 30, 2008)