Years in the Making: A Holiday Season with the Lang Lang International Music Foundation

Midwest Young Artists Conservatory and Lang Lang International Music Foundation  Holiday Performances Bring Music, Community, and Healing to Chicagoland

In December, 2025, Midwest Young Artists Conservatory and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation partnered for another musical collaboration in the heart of Chicago. Acclaimed pianists Joshua Mhoon and Sencheng Zhang joined MYAC chamber ensembles to present two meaningful holiday performances.

The relationship between the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and MYAC spans many years and shared milestones. In 2009, Lang Lang was honored at a Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Gala. Since their first collaboration of this kind, the youth music programs have met across Chicagoland–from the iconic Millennium Park stage to the MYAC Center in Fort Sheridan–for an enduring partnership rooted in a shared commitment to youth music education, artistic excellence, and community engagement. While the ongoing partnership between the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and Midwest Young Artists Conservatory has evolved since our inaugural event in 2013, each collaboration reaffirms the centrality of mentorship, ensemble discipline, and social responsibility in the formation of young musicians worldwide.

This year’s collaboration began with a free Music at the Fort concert on December 20, 2025, at MYAC Center in Fort Sheridan. The festive program paired holiday repertoire with Mendelssohn Piano Concerto no.1 in D Minor, mvts. I, II, & IV. On December 21, 2025, MYAC chamber ensembles joined Joshua Mhoon and Sencheng Zhang downtown Chicago to present a private concert at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago for patients, families, and hospital staff. This performance aligned with the Lang Lang International Music Foundation’s Music Heals initiative, which brings the power of music into healthcare settings to promote comfort and human connection. The intimate concert underscored classical music’s unique ability to uplift and heal.

In an era when classical music institutions often struggle to articulate relevance beyond their own walls, the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and Midwest Young Artists Conservatory offer a compelling counterexample. Our partnership suggests that excellence, when paired with intention, resonates well beyond the concert hall—into public spaces, hospital corridors, and the formative lives of young musicians honing their craft. As the field of classical music increasingly battles news cycles for visibility, the longstanding partnership between the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and Midwest Young Artists Conservatory proposes that relevance emerges when artistic excellence is measured not only by virtuosity, but by whom it serves.