British pianist John Lill brings Beethoven with a bang

When John Lill was nearly four years old, he climbed onto the piano stool at a neighbour's house and started to pick up tunes. There was no piano at home - his parents, living in the bombed out East End of London just after the second world war, did not have enough money to buy one.

But after that first magical meeting it proved hard to get him away from the neighbour's house, so his parents gave in and bought an upright. "Which I soon destroyed through playing so much," recalls the 69-year-old.

Five years later Lill was ready to give his first professional concert. In 1970, after two decades of performing, he won the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, in a year when it was rumoured that they were actively seeking a Russian winner. Today he is one of Britain's favourite pianists, and gives dozens of performances every year.

"I suppose I've given 4,000 or 5,000 concerts altogether," says Lill. "But I always regard myself as quite lazy, so I can't believe I've done all that. It takes the diary to remind me.

"There's nothing better than the buzz if it goes well - if. Music is a spiritual thing and it does feed the mind and probably the body in a very strong way, a permanent way," he says.

Although he has played here 35 times, July 18 marks his first performance with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Lill always enjoys Hong Kong, partly because of the energy of the place and partly because "it's always been a magnet for people who get excited about electronic gadgets, like I do".