LI Yundi, dubbed the "Piano Prince of China", is in Shanghai this week for two concerts with two Japanese artists - pianist Ayako Uehara and violinist Tamaki Kawakubo.

The concerts are part of the celebrations to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Shanghai and Osaka and are sponsored by the Kansai Telecasting Corp and the Shanghai Media Group.

Li Yundi gained worldwide fame after winning the 14th International Frederic Chopin Competition in 2000 when he was just 18 years old. He has revealed that this year will be the occasion for his first-ever world tour.

The European part of the tour will include renowned concert halls in the Netherlands, Spain and Italy before he heads for the US and concert performances in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC.

"I will try to perform different programmes in accordance with the different styles of these cities. And I also plan to present some new solo or concerto programmes this year," Li said.

However, Li has not disclosed details of any of the new solo or special concertos he will perform on the world tour.

For the concerts in Shanghai this week, Li will perform Chopin's Piano Concert No. 1 in E Minor, Tamaki Kawakubo will play Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major and Ayako Uehara will play Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor.

Li was in concert with the two Japanese artists on January 8 in Japan and he said the professionalism of the organizers and the taste of the Japanese people had impressed him.

Referring to his New Year resolutions, Li said that he will be spending half the year studying at the Hannover Music School in Germany and the other half on the world tour.

Comparing his foreign mentors in music with his Chinese mentors, Li said that the Chinese mentors had helped him to lay a solid foundation for his future development with strict basic training while the foreign mentors had given him a new perspective from which to understand classical music.

7:15pm, January 14-15

Shanghai Grand Theatre,

300 Renmin Dadao

120-380 yuan

Tel: 6372-8701