ENCORE! ENCORE! YOUNG CLASSICAL PIANIST PREPARES TO TAKE L.A. BY STORM.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer

These are a few of classical piano virtuoso Lang Lang's stops on his Los Angeles visit in the coming days: Venice Beach, where he'll be feted at a party thrown by a glossy lifestyle magazine; Disney Hall, for the first of several concert dates with the L.A. Philharmonic; and Staples Center, where he'll perform the national anthem before the Lakers meet the Grizzlies.

A few weeks ago, Lang actually began his season in the sun with a quick trip to Hollywood for a behind-the-scenes guest spot on the hit CBS series ``Joan of Arcadia.'' The pianist's reading of a Bach variation came through TV sets across the nation during last Friday's episode.

To make a go of it in today's world, those are the sorts of campaign stops a 21-year-old Wunderkind pianist must carry off. Celebrated throughout the world, Lang is one of the most popular young non-pop artists working. Time magazine called him ``a fresh personality with a staggering technique and an engagingly soulful temperament.''

Lang, though, plays down the accolades, hinting he's on a mission for the greater good.

``One of the things I think I'm doing is introducing the classical repertoire to new audiences and I'm getting a very warm reception from them,'' Lang said. ``We have to use places like popular TV shows to broaden people's interest in classical music, so it can happen little by little.''

He's seeing results. Publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Teen People have raved about Lang and his playing. He's been hired by the Berlin Philharmonic and all of America's ``big five'' orchestras.

``Live at Carnegie Hall,'' Lang's second album for Universal's prestigious Deutsche Grammophon imprint, has been lingering near the top of Billboard's classical albums chart since its release, right up there with the ``Master and Commander'' soundtrack and Andrea Bocelli.

The double-disc set captures last year's recital debut at New York's elegant hall that spanned works from Schumann, Haydn and Schubert to Chopin and Liszt, as well as a new piece by Chinese composer Tan Dun, the Oscar-winning composer who penned the score to ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.'' The album also features a traditional Chinese song on which Lang is accompanied on Chinese violin by his father, Guo-ren Lang.

``I love all kinds of music, not just classical,'' Lang said. ``I play the classical repertoire but I also listen to Norah Jones and Britney Spears and Chinese pop. I like a bit of everything, really. I want to bring classical music to everybody no matter what music they like.''

At his Disney Hall debut Thursday with the L.A. Philharmonic (he also appears there Friday and Saturday and returns in November), Lang will perform a romantic program of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini and Barber's Symphony No. 1.

``Los Angeles is so honored to have this hall,'' the pianist, who lives in Philadelphia, enthused. ``I visited before it was finished and had to wear a hard hat and saw it was fantastic. People are saying the L.A. Phil is the luckiest orchestra in the world. And from the outside, it really looks cool.''

Born in Shenyang, in the northeast of China, Lang began piano studies at 3, winning the first of many competitions two years later. Studying as a teen at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he caught a big break in 1999 as a last-minute substitute for an ailing Andre Watts at Chicago's esteemed Ravinia Festival. He made an impression. A few years later, Lang returned to Ravinia to play five sold-out concerts, including a solo recital, two concerto performances with the Chicago Symphony, a recital of Schubert duos, and a program of Chinese traditional music with his father.

Lang's audience includes fans who may know little about Vladimir Horowitz or Watts but appreciate the romantic balladry of a Josh Groban or Bocelli. Top-selling young classical stars like violinists Hilary Hahn and Joshua Bell also share his orbit. On stage, Lang is anything but inhibited, swaying with emotion while going in for some of the theatrics expected by crowds raised on Sting rather than Glenn Gould.

One influential fan is ``Joan of Arcadia'' executive producer Jim Hayman, who felt Lang would be ideal to achieve the sound and inspiration last Friday's episode needed. In the show, Joan (Amber Tamblyn), frustrated over poor grades on a math test, is advised by God to take piano lessons. The actual piano performances - excerpts from Bach's Partita No. 6 - were recorded by Lang.

``Without Lang Lang, we wouldn't have been able to create life and drama within the music,'' Hayman said. ``I never believed we'd be able to get someone of such star magnitude.''

As for his Lakers debut Friday at Staples Center, Lang says the Los Angeles team rarely hits a bad note: ``That's a star team. I've been watching them for a long time.''

Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that the roots of Lang's love affair with classical music can be traced directly to the Los Angeles entertainment industry. Lang doesn't play cat and mouse with the admission that as a child in China, he fell under the spell of the music used in ``Tom & Jerry'' cartoons.

``All the music was classical,'' Lang said. ``I started trying to repeat it myself, and I think it helped me get where I am, or at least set me on that road. It made a big impression.''

Fred Shuster, [phone]

fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com

LANG LANG

What: The best-selling Chinese-born piano prodigy performs Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Barber with the L.A. Philharmonic. Marin Alsop conducts.

Where: Disney Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m. Friday.

Tickets: $35 to $120. Call [phone] or see www.laphil.org.

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Pianist Lang Lang, 21, plays three shows this week with the L.A. Phil and will perform the national anthem at Friday's Lakers game.