Lang Lang adds an extra sponsor

Lang Lang adds an extra sponsor

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norman lebrecht

August 11, 2014

In addition to the insurance firm, the car maker, the watch, the pen and whatever else, Lang Lang has added Harman ‘ the premium global audio and infotainment group’ to his portfolio.

 

Soon, he’ll be raking in so much he’ll be able to stop playing.

 

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press release:

 

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– HARMAN, the premium global audio and infotainment group (NYSE:HAR), announced at an event in Shanghai on August 7 that international piano superstar and United Nations Messenger of Peace Lang Lang will serve as a Global Brand Ambassador for HARMAN audio brands.

 

Lang Lang is a concert pianist, recognized the world over for the emotion and energy he brings to the stage. Each of his albums has entered the top classical charts as well as many pop charts around the globe. As one of the world’s most prolific and highest-profile recording artists, Lang Lang has headlined the biggest events and most popular venues around the world, and shared the stage with artists of all genres, from Placido Domingo to Metallica.

 

HARMAN and Lang Lang will launch global marketing and brand awareness programs for HARMAN’s portfolio of consumer and professional audio products in the coming months.

 

“Lang Lang is an incredibly talented and influential artist who transcends geography and ages to inspire millions of people around the world to enjoy and participate in music,” said Dinesh C. Paliwal, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of HARMAN. “Lang Lang shares HARMAN’s passion for harnessing the power of people and technology to enhance the way artists make music and expand the ways people can enjoy it. Through his unparalleled live performances and prolific efforts to encourage 40 million children in China to play the piano, Lang Lang is an impressive ambassador for HARMAN’s brands, and we are excited and proud to welcome him to the HARMAN family.”

 

Lang Lang joins an impressive roster of global musicians serving as HARMAN brand ambassadors, including the USA’s GRAMMY® Award-winning rock bands Maroon 5 and Linkin Park; Indian film composer, record producer, musician, singer and philanthropist AR Rahman; and the musician, producer, artist and humanitarian Quincy Jones. For the past three years, China’s “King of Pop,” Liu Huan represented HARMAN as brand spokesperson in China.

 

 

Comments

  • Charles says:

    AT LAST a good news: “…he’ll be able to stop playing”

    • Ellingtonia says:

      Why would he want to stop playing?

      • Charles says:

        Just maybe because he has nothing to offer. He is just a puppet in the hands of the marketing master-minds of modern communist China. There are a bundle of pianists who are way more talented than this guy.

        • Ellingtonia says:

          You say he has nothing to offer, well perhaps the fact that:

          1 He has a virtuoso technique
          2 He has made acclaimed recordings e.g the Bartok with Rattle
          3 He is a showman
          4 He communicates his enjoyment to the audience
          5 He manages to fill concert venues wherever he appears

          may offer some contradiction to your statement. I take it you are a gifted concert pianist being denied opportunities by those you consider mere mortals and less talented than yourself.
          Yes, you are right about the marketing, but that is a requirement in todays society, if you want to remain aloof and uncommunicative then you are free to do so and live a life of penury.
          So who are the bundle of pianist way better than this guy and do tell us what has prevented them achieving success.

          • Charles says:

            1 He has a virtuoso technique – As every soloist should and does

            2 He has made acclaimed recordings e.g the Bartok with Rattle – So Richard Clayderman

            3 He is a showman – That’s were Liberace comes

            4 He communicates his enjoyment to the audience – What has that to do with the fact of being or not a virtuoso soloist ?

            5 He manages to fill concert venues wherever he appears – That’s a new millennium argument: he makes a ton of money HENCE he is a great pianist.

  • Nick says:

    I just wonder how many more such deals may be in the works. Lang Lang sneakers? (Well, Liberace sneakers did pretty good sales online and at the now defunct Liberace Museum in Las Vegas! They even had a candelabra built in to the laces!)

    • Ellingtonia says:

      So it was OK for von Karajan, an ex Nazi to exploit commercial opportunities and be fawned over by the critics and music establishment (which he did to the full) but not this young gifted pianist. Please explain the difference?

      • Nick says:

        Do correct me if I am wrong, but I cannot recall any commercial product being officially endorsed by HvK apart, perhaps, from a Rolex watch. If he did officially wear a Rolex, in those days that did not come with cash – merely a few watches. Which insurance company, car, pen, hi-fi equipment maker etc. did he endorse? Sure he took advantage of the opportunities presented to him by the music establishment and made a ton of money in the process. But commercial sponsorships?

        Incidentally, I have nothing against commercial sponsorships. It it’s part and parcel of the business of being a global superstar which was Lang Lang’s ambition. He’s achieved it. But then, so did Liberace!

  • Charles says:

    If you can’t see a difference between Karajan and Lang Lang there’s nothing to be said.

  • Ellingtonia says:

    Ah, when unable to provide a coherent answer revert to the classic deflection technique……..oh, I do so love the arrogance of so called music lovers!

  • Ellingtonia says:

    Sponsorship is sponsorship whether it be Rolex watches any other kind of income, you say “opportunities presented to him by the music establishment and made a ton of money in the process”, so he didnt sully his hands with “comercial deals” but managed to screw money out of all and sundry. At least Lang is up front about it and why shouldnt he be?
    You final sarcastic comment comparing Lang to Liberace does you a disservice and is not really worthy of comment.
    Suffice to say I would rather listen to Liberace than an old Nazi.

    • Charles says:

      By the way, I don’t see much of a difference between Nazis and Communists. You may start a contest about which ones murdered the most people but both regimes ARE despicable and to oppose the “Nazi” Karajan with Lang Lang and to forget where he is coming from is just horrendously funny.

      • Ellingtonia says:

        Sorry, but wasnt it you who made to reference to “a puppet in the hands of the marketing master-minds of modern communist China” thus introducing a political dimension to the discussion.
        Lang Lang I suspect is proud of his country, with all its shortcomings, and wants to present to the rest of the world the strides the country had made. And if you want to go down the political route with musicians then lets cancel all operas by that well known racist Wagner and music by Richard Strauss, well known supporter of the nazi party.
        Or how about Shostakovitch churning out music of “socialist realism” primarily to stay alive.
        You seem to be saying that Lang cannot be talented because he is tainted (in your eyes) with links to the Chinese regime.
        Can we take the politics out of this and judge him on his talent only, which is what I suspect he would want.

        • Charles says:

          If you look back at the time table you’ll see that you started calling Karajan a Nazi 11 minutes before I even wrote about communist China.
          Take politics out of music ? After WWII ? I don’t see how.
          Nevertheless, I don’t give a dime about Lang Lang. I have never bought a CD from the guy and I don’t intend to. I listened to him a few times on Mezzo and I made my opinion.
          “You seem to be saying that Lang cannot be talented because he is tainted (in your eyes) with links to the Chinese regime.”
          I love the “in my eyes” as if I were the only person on this planet to think that.
          “… seem to be saying…” No. I don’t. I just say that if you don’t see the implication between the smiling Lang Lang and China you’re missing part of the plot. I don’t make judgment on music based on the political ideas of the soloists, conductors or the sound engineers. I just say you can’t ignore the facts just simply you’re acting like a fan ready to go to any extreme to defend someone.
          Are you sure you want to use the word “shortcomings” when referring to China ?

    • Max Grimm says:

      To sides of music lovers, one side with an “old Nazi” hang-up and the other with a “mammonist Liberace” hang-up. So what does it matter, as long as someone finds enjoyment or even fulfillment in the respective people’s music making?

      • Ellingtonia says:

        You don’t know me and call me naive…………..shall I go on?
        I am neither a “fan” of Lang lang nor an apologist for China, I just find the questioning and denigration of a musician because he comes from a country you dislike intensely rather unappealing.

  • Milka says:

    Ellingtonia -most famous 20th C artists
    made an extra buck or two by endorsing one thing or another ,nothing
    wrong in that-nor in Lang Lang making
    that buck -that he can play is a given,
    that he degrades much of what he plays is a given , but that is Lang Lang.Don’t like don’t buy a ticket .
    Just look at the “impressive roster” he is coupled with ( never mind the nonsense as messenger of peace) is to make one laugh . One solution for
    Charles is not to buy anything endorsed by Lang Lang .

  • Charles says:

    Very funny coming from someone using the N word every other sentence…

  • Ellingtonia says:

    Sorry, but I dont understand your comment that ” degrades much of what he plays is given”……given by who? Are you now the arbiter of what is good taste and what qualifies as talent? If so perhaps you would let us have your qualifications that enable you to make this judgement.
    But you are right about people and choice, if you dont like something dont go to the concert and dont buy the CDs.
    The impressive roster you refer to I assume are the leading conductors and orchestras that have appeared in concert or on disc with him………I guess they were all marched at gunpoint to ensure they appeared……………….

    • Charles says:

      Are you actually that naive ? Don’t you understand what stands beyond the mere “Lang Lang pianist persona”, the geopolitical impact his activities have, the fact that he is being sold by communist China as a good guy, always smiling… when you see Lang Lang, China can’t be that bad, can’t it !?

  • Ellingtonia says:

    Well I would suggest that a little naivete is better than outright bigotry and victimisation of someone because of the place of their birth.
    Do you really believe that people are “conned” into believing everything is fine and dandy in China because of the playing of Lang Lang, please give us credit for a little sense.
    Do you think people were taken in about the USSR when Mravinsky and the Leningrad Philharmonic toured the UK during the cold war, I suspect you may not be British.
    You do seem to have a real hang up about China……….I take it you will be taking a similar approach with all artists from Russia given Putins recent behaviour.

    • Charles says:

      “I take it you will be taking a similar approach with all artists from Russia given Putins recent behaviour”

      And now you are a mind reader!

      You don’t know me and call me a bigot ? You don’t know me and think (idiot that I am) that I can’t appreciate anything coming from China just because I despise political marketing ? Who exactly do you think you are ?

  • Ellingtonia says:

    Mr Grimm
    That is a wonderful riposte and even made me laugh……………I take my hat off you.

  • Nick says:

    I am not a fan of Lang Lang’s playing. But I admire the fact that due to his popularity (however achieved), many people have become interested in piano music or had their interest rekindled. As a result his concerts are sell-outs and he can command extremely high fees. This interest is perhaps most marked in his native China where his recital fees are far higher than any other classical artist. Along with Yundi Li, they are responsible for a rapidly growing interest in classical music that is unmatched anywhere else in the world – and this in a country with no centuries old tradition of western music.

    To Charles, I add this You need to take some time to update your clearly outdated image of how modern China works – at least in terms of musical development and the rise of some hugely talented individual solo artists. This has nothing to do with the state and far more with individual determination and freedom to pursue a chosen career. I have been there well over two dozen times and witnessed musical developments at first hand. If your experience is as detailed, I’ll happily debate with you. If not, then references to “a puppet in the hands of the marketing master-minds of modern communist China” and “I just say that if you don’t see the implication between the smiling Lang Lang and China you’re missing part of the plot” are absolute hogwash!

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