Lang Lang To Auction Red Piano

Starting today, you can bid on the red Steinway piano that Lang Lang played in his concert with the New York Philharmonic on Tuesday evening. The net proceeds of the auction will benefit the American Red Cross China Earthquake Relief fund. The opening bid is $165,000. The auction will end July 31.

Lang Lang, who was in China at the time of the May 12 earthquake, has already participated in several benefit concerts, which have raised the equivalent of $3.3 million, he said in an interview. He also has donated pianos to victims of the earthquake, from the line of small Steinway pianos in China that carries his name.

"I thought that I must do something to bring awareness [about the victims] to people in New York," Lang Lang said of the decision to hold the auction in conjunction with the concert. "Steinway was really generous," he said, adding that this particular piano has "a brilliant sound."

For more information, go to langlang.com.