He has performed in the largest concert halls in the world, for the royals at Buckingham Palace and for the Pope at the Vatican. He played at the opening ceremony of the Olympics and at the Grammy Awards with Metallica. He shared the stage with Coldplay in New York and with jazz legends such as Herbie Hancock.

This time, however, the world super piano star Lang Lang had to juggle between an announcement of incoming trains and one of pickpockets at the opera at London Station. Among escalators and curious and astonished travelers, the great pianist, surprisingly, played an upright piano in front of a small crowd gathered in St Pancras.

Note after note, those of the Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov, to the general amazement, someone recognized him: "That's Lang Lang!".

Rising to Western prominence at the end of the nineties, the Chinese pianist Lang Lang has become an icon for young music lovers and one of the first 'social phenomena' of the third millennium: over 100 million records sold, 130 concerts a year, a large production of educational books, documentaries and films.

Considered "the most intense artist in the world of classical music" by the New York Times, he has never disdained "light" music, ranging between rock and pop.

In 2013 he was designated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as a Messenger of Peace committed to global education.

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Chinese pianist Lang Lang performs at London Station

Addressing the crowd at London Station, the 40-year-old pianist said he was excited by what he called "his first time on the street".

The night before flying to London, he said, he had thought of rehearsing the tunes on a piano at Newark airport. After the Flight of the Bumblebee, in the hustle and bustle of the station, he played Franz Liszt's Dream of Love, before being joined by his wife, the German-Korean pianist Gina Alice Redlinger, for a piece for four hands, the Hungarian dance No. 5 by Brahms.

Lang Lang is a judge on the Channel 4 program The Piano in search of the best amateur pianist who proved to be an unexpected success with critics and viewers and whose highly anticipated final will be broadcast on Wednesday.

Selected by Lang Lang and fellow judge Mika, the show chose participants based on their piano performances at stations across the country.

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Chinese pianist Lang Lang with his wife plays at London Station