The New York Times has described him as “the most sensational artist on the classical music scene”, and Time magazine has included him among the 100 most influential people worldwide. Lang Lang, a former Wunderkind of the classical scene, has never ceased to evolve. In 2003 he already gave his first performance at the Ruhr Piano Festival; one year later his album “Live at Carnegie Hall” gained him worldwide fame. Ever since then, Lang Lang has been moving audiences all over the globe and sending them into raptures with the virtuosity, refinement and splendour of his playing – whether it be in projects with Daniel Barenboim or Nikolaus Harnoncourt, or in public performances with Metallica, Pharrell Williams, Herbie Hancock, or Chucho Valdés; he has given concerts in the Vatican, on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation jubilee, in the presence of former US president Barack Obama, or for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. This outstanding worldwide ambassador of music now devotes his energies to one of J. S. Bach’s main works: the Goldberg Variations remain a challenge to any pianist until this day, a benchmark of the art of interpretation. Lang Lang will be able to approach this altar of piano repertoire with tender care and uncompromising commitment; the Goldberg Variations also demand a quantum of humility. Lang Lang recently remarked: “You can’t achieve anything you want in life just with sheer willpower and exertion.” We are looking forward to his fourteenth appearance at the Ruhr Piano Festival!