Lang Lang 'excited' to play for Obama at Nobel ceremony

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-09 09:38

OSLO: Chinese pianist Lang Lang said on Tuesday he feels honored that he will perform for US President Barack Obama when he collects his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo this week.

The 27-year-old said he went from being "pleased" at being asked to play at the ceremony in Oslo City Hall to "really, really excited" when news broke that Obama was this year's laureate.

Lang Lang

Lang told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he will play Frederic Chopin's Etude Op. 10 No 3 in E major before Obama's Nobel speech on Thursday. He chose the piece because its movement - from a loud, dissonant middle to a tranquil and melodious end - is consistent with the message of the prize, he said.

Speaking by phone from China, Lang said he will also play Franz Liszt's nocturne "A Dream of Love" at the ceremony. On Friday, he will perform George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" at the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert.

Despite the winter darkness, Lang said he was excited to return to Norway, where he last performed five years ago with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Obama, who is scheduled to arrive on Thursday, is the first sitting US president to visit the Nordic country in a decade. The government has spent more than 80 million kroner ($14 million) on security for the president's daylong visit alone.

Lang will join American jazz singer Esperanza Spalding and Norwegian opera singer Solveig Kringlebotn accompanied by pianist Haavard Gimse at the black-tie ceremony on Thursday.

An internationally renowned classical pianist, Lang Lang captured global attention in 2008 when he performed at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

On Friday, he will be among an array of performers that includes British pop singer Natasha Bedington, American country music singer Toby Keith and other international musicians at the annual Peace Prize concert.

The other Nobel prizes - in literature, medicine, chemistry, physics and economics - will be presented to the winners by Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on Thursday.