Pianist and former judge on the TV series The Piano, Lang Lang, has said the show inspired him to launch a new programme to support children facing significant challenges, saying “music is the best medicine”.
The world-renowned classical musician, 42, will announce the new initiative, Music Heals, on April 18.
He said he felt he had to do something to help support children going through physical illnesses, mental health difficulties, grief or other adversities.
Lang Lang appeared as a judge on the reality Channel 4 show, The Piano, alongside singer Mika. The series saw host Claudia Winkleman search for the UK’s best amateur pianists before the show culminated in a concert at the Royal Festival Hall, featuring four chosen finalists.
The initiative, to be launched by the Lang Lang International Music Foundation (LLIMF), aims to use music as a tool for emotional support offering concerts, workshops, interactive sessions and therapeutic creative spaces for children who may be facing significant challenges.
Lang Lang said: “I think that programme (The Piano) really inspired me.
“I met so many people who are so talented and … fighting with very serious health issues.
“I felt that we had to do something to help them. There’s so much passion in music and talent but sometimes they’re having problems beyond their normal health situation.
“Music is the best medicine to lose that tension that you have or the fear in your heart and your mind and to completely overcome all those difficulties.”
The programme will initially focus on key areas such as bereavement, hospice care, children’s mental health and the role of music in overall wellbeing by working with Place2Be, a leading mental health charity, and children’s hospices to ensure the programme reaches those who would benefit most.
The foundation will also collaborate with the Royal College of Music and Imperial College’s Performance Science Department to assess the direct impact of music on health and emotional development.
Lang Lang helped launch a similar initiative in China a few years ago, supporting children with autism and visually impaired youngsters, where he witnessed the impact the programme had on the young people’s lives.
He said: “Some of my students from our programme never talked to anybody. They’re kind of locked by themselves into their own little world and they’re not open at all.
“And then we start training them with playing Mozart and then gradually they start to talk to other kids. They’re starting to feel much better in communication and they’re not locking themselves into a little room.
“They’re talking to other musicians. They’re making friendships. And then their health situation also gets much better after that.
“In the overall programme, I think you really see the change in their life. I really saw it from my eyes. This is something that music can do. It’s not me. It’s really what music can do to people.”
Lang Lang, a former child prodigy who performed at the 2008 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles in 2024 in the category of live performance.
He founded the LLIFM in 2008 to support young pianists, with a mission to ensure that music education remains accessible to children around the world.
