It was the cartoon ``Tom and Jerry'' that inspired Lang Lang to become a pianist.

He was only a toddler in his hometown of Shenyang in northeastern China, but he remembers seeing Tom the cat playing Liszt's ``Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2'' and thinking, ``Wow, this is pretty cool.''

``I decided to follow that cat's example and become a pianist,'' Lang recalled during a recent telephone interview from Madrid.

The former child prodigy is now 22 and an internationally acclaimed musician.

He has won international competitions, played at New York's Carnegie Hall and performed with some of the classical music world's major figures. Madrid was just the latest venue for one of his concerts.

Lang's parents bought him a piano before he was 2 years old. His father is a professional musician who plays the erhu, a traditional Chinese violin with just two strings, and his mother loves singing.

``My parents thought it was good to start early, but they never pushed me to be a pianist,'' he says.

But he was only 5 when he won his first prize, at the Shenyang Piano Competition in 1987.

Later that year, Lang gave his first recital, playing Mozart's Sonata in C major.

``It is a beautiful piece,'' he says, humming a few bars. ``When I was a kid, I really loved to play Mozart's music. It has a special, magic power to connect with everyone, especially kids, who don't know anything about classical music.''

As a youngster, he knew he had found his calling.

``From my first recital to the age of 13, my dream was to become a world-class pianist,'' he says. By 1995, when he was 13, he was well on his way to making that dream come true.

A student at the prestigious Central Music Conservatory in Beijing, concentrating on the works of Chopin and Tchaikovsky, he was encouraged by his European-trained teacher, Zhao Pingguo, to enter the 4th International Young Pianists Competition in Germany. He took first prize and went on to win the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Japan in the same year with a performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2.

In 1997, Lang went to Philadelphia-where he is still based-with an invitation to study at the Curtis Institute under Gary Graffman, a former student of Russian-born master Vladimir Horowitz.

``Horowitz is a great pianist. He has a power, a creative power that comes so naturally that no one can copy it. He is so unique,'' Lang says. ``I want to be inspired by the great pianists, but I don't want to copy anybody.''

In 1999, after making his American debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Lang auditioned for a solo spot with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In the same week, he was called to step in for an ailing Andre Watts to perform Tchaikovsky's ``Piano Concerto No. 1'' with the orchestra at a gala concert at Chicago's Ravinia Festival. Though he was still a student, the performance brought him public recognition. But it was his playing of Bach's monumental opus ``Goldberg Variations'' at a post-gala party that put his career into top gear.

When word of his impromptu performance got out, Lang recalls, ``My career took off.''

``I've performed with American orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and also I've given a recital at Carnegie Hall,'' he says. ``I am lucky to be a world-stage performer at an early stage of life.''

Lang returns to Japan in May to give recitals of romantic works by Schubert, Chopin and Liszt, along with Chinese contemporary composer Tan Dun's impressionistic suite ``Eight Memories in Watercolor.''

He will also appear as a soloist in performances of the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven piano concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor Christoph Eschenbach.

``I'll perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 for a Japanese audience in Tokyo for the first time. I am very excited about it,'' Lang says.

Lang has impressed the world's best with superb technique. When he worked with Daniel Barenboim to record the Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky First Piano Concertos in 2003, Barenboim joked that Lang ``plays like a cat with 11 fingers. That's why he can play extra fast.''

Lang now works closely with Barenboim, whom he calls a great teacher.

``I have a clear view of Beethoven's music now, and in the past three years I've played concertos differently,'' he confides, adding that he now concentrates on the depth of the music.

Lang's ``Live at Carnegie Hall,'' released in Japan last year by Deutsche Grammophon/Universal, includes ``Competing Horses,'' a comic duet he played on stage with his father.

``My father is a wonderful musician. My father dreamed of performing on a world stage, at Carnegie Hall,'' Lang says. ``He is very happy about his debut, and I am, too.''

Lang's recent recording of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 and ``Rhapsody of a theme of Paganini'' under Valery Gergiev is due for release in Japan on the same label on March 23.

He will appear on the children's television program ``Sesame Street'' in the United States this spring, auditioning Oscar and the Grouches and performing Johann Strauss II's ``The Blue Danube'' with the Great Grouch Symphony Orchestra.

``It is really great fun,'' he says.

Lang performs about 110 concerts a year, including 25 charity concerts as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.

``The most meaningful thing in my life is to be a goodwill ambassador,'' he says. ``I've been very fortunate. I've had wonderful parents, wonderful teachers and wonderful friends. So to give something in return, I think the best thing to do is to help children.We need to open our eyes and hearts for the world.

``I am in a transition from a child prodigy to a mature musician,'' he adds. ``All these things help me grow.''

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Lang Lang will perform works by Haydn, Chopin and Liszt in a series of recitals. May 17 (7 p.m.) at Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara. 3,000 yen-5,000 yen. Tickets go on sale Saturday. Call UHB at 011-214-5261. May 18 (7 p.m.) at Tokyo Opera City. See map on Page 34. 2,000 yen-11,000 yen. Call Kajimoto at 03-5749-9960 or visit < www.kajimotomusic.com >. June 2 (7 p.m.) at Izumi Hall in Osaka. 5,000 yen. Call the venue at 06-6944-1188.

Lang Lang performs Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Philadelphia Orchestra on May 20 (7 p.m.) at Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall. See map on Page 35. 14,000 yen and 17,000 yen. Call the venue at 045-682-2000. May 21 (5 p.m.) at Kyoto Concert Hall. 12,000 yen-19,000 yen. Call Kajimoto Play Guide at 06-6345-2751.

He will play Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Philadelphia Orchestra on May 22 (6 p.m.) at Suntory Hall in Tokyo. See map on Page 34. 23,000 yen and 30,000 yen. Call Kajimoto at 03-5749-9960.(IHT/Asahi: March 4,2005)