Lang Lang in the spotlight for simulcast with Philadelphia Orchestra

Underneath the big hair, behind the rock-star clothes, and despite the distracting paparazzi back home in China, he's still Lang Lang.

As NCM Fathom technicians run miles of cables backstage at Verizon Hall in preparation for Saturday's live simulcast to 500 movie theaters across the country, pianist Lang Lang is bear-hugging Philadelphia Orchestra chief conductor Charles Dutoit and chatting about their favorite Beijing restaurants.

Wide-eyed as ever, Lang Lang, 29, played through parts of the two concertos he'll play in his Thursday-through-Saturday concerts here. The rehearsal was finished in five minutes.

"It's the fastest I've ever had in my life," said Lang Lang, slightly awed by Dutoit's expeditiousness. "But he's played those concertos with Martha Argerich . . . ." (The legendary pianist is the conductor's ex-wife.)

The idols still loom large, even though Lang Lang is now more famous than any of them. Since graduating from Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music in 2002, he has become a symbol of a new international China, having worked with three major recording labels (currently Sony Classical) and been featured on international telecasts from the Beijing Olympics. He's now making his simulcast debut.

Titled Lang Lang Live on Franz Liszt's 200th Birthday, the Saturday simulcast, to be repeated Monday, will feature him in Verizon Hall for Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1. But instead of showing the full program with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, the simulcast will feature Lang Lang in a prerecorded solo recital.

That might disappoint those hoping for a Philadelphia Orchestra showcase, but orchestra general manager Steve Millen chooses not to see it that way. "The audience is going to go to movie theaters having been told this is about Franz Liszt and Lang Lang and that's what they will experience," he said.

The event might also be a first step in a relationship with NCM Fathom, a communications network that had discussions with the orchestra in 2008, and that handles the big-screen presentations of the Metropolitan Opera and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Also, the simulcast is entirely underwritten by Sony Classical - probably in the vicinity of $500,000.