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One of Southbank Centre’s visions is to nurture the next generation of musicians and we have enlisted some of the world’s elite performers to help us.
It seems right that a young man said to have inspired over 40 million Chinese children to start playing the piano and who was named in 2009 as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world by Time magazine should take centre stage in a major project focusing on young pianists.
‘For me it’s a great honour to have the ability to inspire kids,’ says Lang Lang, the Chinese superstar pianist in question. ‘I feel it’s a responsibility because if I can do it, I should keep doing it and not just through playing concerts; not just through music class, but by finding new ways.’
One such way is Lang Lang Inspires, a unique project which aims to engage hundreds of children through chamber music, concerto appearances, a special awards concert and a solo recital by Lang Lang himself. But it is the idea of mass participation that is at the core of the project.
‘It’s everyone together playing one piece, talking about music in the same place... people from all different backgrounds getting together at Southbank Centre.’
There are other opportunities this season to witness the excitement and vitality of young talent. The UK debut performance from Spira Mirabilis is certainly one event to look out for. This extraordinary new orchestra draws together some of Europe’s finest young players and offers a radical new approach to the classical music concert. Musicians from the orchestra start the performance by introducing the programme, then they play just one piece so as to focus energies and attentions of the players and audience alike.
The 19-year-old London International Piano competition winner performs Saint-Saëns’Piano Concerto No.2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday 1 October 2010
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Sister orchestra to Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra performs on Tuesday 12 October and Thursday 14 October 2010
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Hear a new approach to Beethoven’s Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’ performed by this young orchestra on Friday 5 November 2010
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Britain's brightest young talents return to Southbank Centre. A colossal 170-strong orchestra and massed choirs from The Sage Gateshead unleash the magic and glitter of Judith Weir's award-winning We Are Shadows. See them perform on Sunday 24 April 2011.
Chinese piano superstar Lang Lang performs a recital as part of his Lang Lang Inspires youth project at Southbank Centre on Tuesday 17 May 2011
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