Don’t Call This Rising Piano Star a Local Hero

Pianist Xiang-Dong Kong, who performed Rachmaninoff last summer at the Hollywood Bowl and is the featured soloist with the Pacific Symphony tonight at Irvine Meadows, says Mozart alfresco is no picnic.

“Actually to play Mozart outdoors is quite different,” Kong, 27, said over lunch recently. “Mozart wrote such intimate music, chamber music, really. But I will play Mozart the way I usually do. I don’t think the audience expects me to play Mozart like Rachmaninoff.”

Literally, however, “Mozart-in-the-Meadows” is a picnic; gates open early, and patrons can bring in food and wine. Music director Carl St.Clair will lead the Pacific Symphony in the Overture to “The Impresario” and Symphony No. 39; Kong crowns the program with the “Coronation” Concerto, No. 26.

Though Kong has lived in Irvine since last year (with his wife, Angel, a Pacific Symphony violinist, and their toddler, Christina), the Shanghai-born pianist finds it amusing to be referred to as a “local pianist.”

But after touring 30 countries, in several of which he’s a household name, he’s pleased to make his Orange County debut, where he remains relatively unknown.

Keyboard aficionados have known about Kong since 1986, when he became the Tchaikovsky Competition’s youngest prize winner ever. Two years later, he won the Gina Bachauer Competition in Salt Lake City, which led to 100 engagements in 17 countries.

In 1992, he topped the Sydney International Competition and took home special prizes for performances in Mozart sonata and Mozart concerto categories.

He noted that “I played a lot of Mozart when I was young.” That includes a sonatina, among other pieces, he practiced on a cardboard keyboard so that his musical pursuits would not be discovered during China’s Cultural Revolution. At 11, he played Mozart for Isaac Stern in the 1980 documentary, “From Mao to Mozart.”

Says Kong, “Mozart is still very close to my heart. His nuance, naturalness, freshness--you can always listen to Mozart, you never get bored. With Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky, eventually you can get fed up. . . . With Mozart, it can never be too much.”

Well, never say never.

“Actually, Mozart’s symphonic works [can] all sound the same. But all of the keyboard music is fantastic,” Kong said. “Honestly, you don’t want to hear an entire Mozart symphony program. The piano concerto gives people variety.

“A concert should be like a well-conceived menu,” he added. “You go to a banquet . . . even if you like vegetables, you don’t want all vegetables--maybe some tofu, maybe some soup, maybe some Beijing duck.”

His recording in Beijing in 1993 (the year he graduated from Curtis Institute in Philadelphia) of the committee-composed “Yellow River Concerto” was certainly well-conceived: It became the first-ever recording of Chinese music to achieve $1 million in sales.

Last year, Kong’s debut album for BMG/RCA Red Seal, “Tchaikovsky: Romance,” was released, and the company recently issued the “Yellow River” laser disc here. A “Fantasy” album is due soon.

Shanghai Film Studios begins production on a movie based on Kong’s life in November; the producers apparently are trying to persuade the pianist to play himself. The budget may be modest by Hollywood standards, but Kong noted that “a $1-million budget--for China this is great.”

The most frequently performed piano concertos in his former homeland are Tchaikovsky’s First and Rachmaninoff’s Second. Apart from those two warhorses, however, the country (whose population exceeds 1 billion) remains practically virgin territory when it comes to live performances of the repertory.

Kong hopes to change all that.

“They know the pieces, they’ve just never heard them in public,” Kong said. “In June in Shanghai, I performed Prokofiev No. 3 with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and it was the Chinese premiere. When I played the Rachmaninoff No. 3 in 1992, that was the Chinese premiere.

“In May, I will perform 10 concertos, five in Beijing, five in Shanghai. The Scriabin Piano Concerto, of course, is rarely performed even here. But I’ll also play the Bartok Concerto No. 2, Prokofiev No. 2, Prokofiev No. 1 and Tchaikovsky No. 2--and all of these are Chinese premieres.”

Fair is fair. China has heard plenty of Xiang-Dong Kong but few piano concertos. Orange County has heard plenty of concertos, but never Xiang-Dong Kong. Until tonight.

Pianist Xiang-Dong Kong is soloist with conductor Carl St.Clair and the Pacific Symphony in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 26, “Coronation,” tonight at Irvine Meadows, 8800 Irvine Center Drive. Also on the program: the Overture to “The Impresario” and Symphony No. 39. 8 p.m. $6.50 to $51. (714) 755-5799.