Lang Lang is a busy boy - although 'boy' is a little unfair these days: the most renowned classical music performer of his generation, more rock star than concert pianist, he is now 29 years old.
He looks younger, but feels a lot older - the result of eloquence and professionalism beyond his years, and because he has been in the spotlight since his teens and so seems to have been around forever.
Over the years, Lang has performed with most of the world's best-known orchestras, packed out venues from Beijing's Great Hall of the People to New York's Central Park, and was seen by the biggest audience of all when he played at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. A 2009 Time magazine article named him among the 100 most influential people in the world.
His youth, however, hasn't stopped him enthusiastically warming to a role usually associated with those slightly older: mentor to the next generation of musical talents. That's why the Shenyang native is to be found recently in a function room at the Langham Place hotel in Mong Kok, patiently and humorously passing on tips to some talented young pianists.
Lang is hosting a masterclass with three of Hong Kong's most promising junior musicians - 11-year-old Thomas Chan, 10-year-old Kate Lee and eight-year-old Li Zhongxin, a third-grader at Hong Kong Yew Chung International School and inaugural winner of the Langham Lang Lang Scholarship, which aims to recognise and nurture the city's musical talents of the future. Lang was involved in the judging. (The similarity in names between Lang and the hotel group for whom he is global brand ambassador, he says, is a coincidence - although, he jokes, he was asked by his taxi driver on a recent arrival at the group's property in London: 'Is that your hotel?')
It's far from being the first time Lang has involved himself with such a project. So seriously does he take the job of evangelising classical music and supporting the stars of the future, and so obviously does he relish doing so, that in 2008 he created the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. 'I started my foundation with the aim of helping the next generation of exceptional musical talents around the world,' he says. 'I've done a lot of work on that in the US and Europe, and now it's time to extend it to Asia.'
He's also about to launch his first school: Lang Lang Music World in Shenzhen and Chongqing. He fits all that in alongside charitable work, including a role as a Unicef goodwill ambassador, commercial commitments and, of course, a hectic, globetrotting tour schedule.