Feature: Historic Carnegie Hall celebrates 125th anniversary with top musicians

NEW YORK, May 6 (Xinhua) -- There are very few occasions where a room can gather so many top musicians, like the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Pianist Lang Lang, Cellist Yo-yo Ma, singer-songwriter James Taylor. The 125th anniversary of Carnegie Hall is one.

The season-long anniversary reached its pinnacle with a classical music star filled concert on Thursday evening -- exactly 125 years to the day that the Hall first opened its doors in 1891.

"For music lovers, Carnegie is a palace, it is sacred," says Lang Lang, a Chinese musician who is arguably the most crowd-pleasing classical pianist, and was among the performers that night.

The concert opened with the U.S. national anthem, followed by Handel's Zadok the Priest, a fresh account of a Biblical story which was written, and is now used, as a coronation anthem.

The notes of violin and cello flew onto the stage, grasping the attention of the audience. The piece was pushed to the crescendo with the vocal part joining in, and the combination of different musical instruments resonating in the Stern Auditorium.

At the anniversary, Lang Lang, who delivered three piano pieces this night, co-staged with Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who is also among the top musicians in the world, for the first time.

Their choice is the Swan from the Carnival of the Animals, where Yo-Yo Ma played cello, Lang Lang and Emanuel Ax the piano duet. The elegance of swan was unfolded with the enchanting cello melody and the company of piano notes.

"My first Carnegie performance was in April 2001, when I was 18, it was just like yesterday," recalled Lang Lang.

"Carnegie is a place filled with music souls, like the great violinist Stern used to say, when you are playing at Carnegie, all the great musicians, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, are listening," he said.

Having performed in Carnegie Hall for about 50 times, Lang said each and every performance here feels like a completely new experience.

The concert reached its climax when the musicians presented the audience with some Broadway classics, and some rather broad stroke -- adaptation of Jazz and pop songs into "Carnegie style."

Take "Here Comes the Sun", written by George Harrison that was first released on the Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road, for example. When James Taylor was plucking the strings of his guitar while humming the lyrics, a little swinging and swaying was seen among the audience.

"It is fabulous," said Mark Weinstein, a spectator at the concert, "Carnegie Hall has hosted an array of so many people from different backgrounds, and they covered beautifully tonight."

As the most famous home for classical music, Carnegie Hall is now regarded as representing artistic excellence.

"It is irreplaceable," says Lang Lang, "not only because of its acoustic quality, it has also become a cultural symbol."