Today, Lan Lan is one of my favourite classical pianists.... Years ago I had a great admiration for Arthur Rubinstein but I have no doubt that Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin were also fantastic piano players - though there is no way to listen to them when they were performing.

There are many artists I would like to have the honour to cooperate with. To accompany Barbara Streisand or Paul McCartney or Elton John would be a dream for me as I have a lot of admiration for their voice, their talent and their charisma.

I was born in 1953, in Paris. But soon after my birth my family (I have one sister) moved into a rent apartment in suburbs of Paris named Romainville. That time my parents were freshly married and it was extremely hard to find an apartment in Paris for a young married couple. To say they found a flat in a blocks of houses which was built after the second World War - and this is the place where I spent my childhood.

The piano by its black and white keys always attracted me, my father showed me how to use... and slowly I got into playing.

In fact, among the 1000 titles which I have recorded in the past 35 years, there are less than 10% of classical titles.

Today, Lan Lan is one of my favourite classical pianists.... Years ago I had a great admiration for Arthur Rubinstein but I have no doubt that Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin were also fantastic piano players - though there is no way to listen to them when they were performing.

When I was 14-15 years old I was able to earn a little money from time to time but I'm not complaining since, very soon I could provide a normal living. I was discovered also by other musicians and they asked me to work with them. Even in my early age several well-known artists asked for my services both on the stage and in the studio. This experience proved to be very useful, musicians showed me various musical situations and various music experiments.