Lang Lang

From performing at the 2008 and 2026 Olympics and collaborating with Metallica to playing for Pope Francis and topping Billboard charts, Lang Lang remains one of the leading figures in expanding classical music’s reach. The global piano star returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall for a highly anticipated solo recital, performing Mozart’s playful Rondo along with two of Beethoven’s most beloved piano sonatas—the “Pathétique” and his emotionally charged penultimate sonata. After intermission, Lang Lang invites us on a romantic getaway to Spain via Albéniz’s flamenco-flavored Suite española as well as the chivalrous yet somber “Quejas” from Goyescas, Granados’ collection of pieces inspired by Spanish painter Francisco de Goya. Lang Lang closes out the recital with two works by his personal piano hero, Franz Liszt: the lightning-fast Tarantella and the deeply moving Consolation No. 2—the piece Lang Lang describes as “a whispered prayer that suddenly opens up into something universal.