With 36 million Chinese children learning to play the piano, many of them in Shenzhen, China will become the biggest market for classical music, pianist Lang Lang predicted Thursday.

Lang is in town to launch the newly built Shenzhen Concert Hall with two concertos Friday night. Conducted by Yang Yang and accompanied by the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, the program will include "Les Preludes" by Liszt, Chopin's "Piano Concerto No. 1," and Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 2."

One of the best-known Chinese pianists in the world, Lang was born in 1982 in Shenyang, capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning Province. He was 2 years old when he saw Tom playing piano in "The Cat Concerto," a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon on TV (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor composed by Franz Liszt). According to Lang, this first contact with Western music kindled his interest in piano.

"While the classical music audience is shrinking in the Western world, China may become its largest market in the future, with so many parents keen for their children to learn music," he told a news briefing in Shenzhen on Thursday afternoon.

The pianist advised children learning to play the piano to read more about history and feel the music with their hearts when practicing.

"Classical music, composed by people in foreign countries a long time ago, might be difficult to understand at first. But when you've read enough about the background, use your imagination and dive into the music, Beethoven will seem like a next-door neighbor rather than a master who lived faraway a long time ago,” he said.

Though pressed by a tight schedule, the pianist said he was overjoyed at playing at concerts. "Music works like a mild drug to me," he said, "in the positive sense."

"The two concertos I will play represent different genres of romantic music. I am looking forward to sharing a wonderful night."