Lang Lang performs at World Cup concert

Lang Lang, a famous Chinese pianist, plays in Plácido Domingo - Concert in Rio 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Friday. [Zhang Fan/China Daily]

For famous Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang, it was his "own way" to celebrate the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

For the thousands who attended the concert on Friday at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, it was the chance to hear Lang perform several songs, including his most recent one Tico Tico, one of the official 2014 World Cup songs.

"I want to bring Chinese music to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil as my own way to celebrate this huge sports event,"said Lang.

Lang performed with famous Spanish tenor Plàcido Domingo and Puerto Rican soprano Ana Marìa Martìnez, accompanied by the Orquesta Sinfónica Brasileira led by North American conductor Eugene Kohn. Brazilian singer Paula Fernandes also performed with Lang and sang the famous Garota de Ipanema.

The concert sponsored by HSBC was put on two days before the close of the month-long tournament and included many elements of Latin American culture, from the music arrangements to the platform design.

"I performed with Domingo in the 2006 FIFA World Cup kick-off celebration concert in Germany, but I did not have the chance to play a Chinese song then," said Lang, "so I managed to include the Spring Festival Overture to add some Chinese elements into it."

"We chose several pieces of fast-paced music to reflect the energetic emotions of the game and also combined with slow ones," said Lang. "The whole concert is about the World Cup and I am really looking forward to see the final game!"

Lang was born in 1982 in Liaoning province in China. He held his first public recital when he was 5 years old, and won first prize for outstanding artistic performance at the fourth international competition for Young Pianists in Ettlingen, Germany, in 1994.

He has played with leading orchestras in Europe, the United States and China, and has performed for such international dignitaries as US President Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II and China’s former President Hu Jintao.

To help more Chinese children learn piano, in 2011 he launched the Lang Lang Music World, a multi-functioning arts complex in Shenzhen, a southeastern city of China, which aims to "cultivate the generation of musicians through education programs". The Lang Lang Music World has opened about 50 practice rooms with about 400 students, aged 3 to 13. Lang and many other world renowned musicians have given lessons at the complex.

"I want to ignite the passions of many other young piano enthusiasts to pursue their love for music," Lang has said.