After the number of global COVID-19 cases surpassed the two million tally on Friday, the much anticipated global streaming concert conceived to thank frontline workers fighting against the coronavirus took place on Saturday. 

The event titled "One World: Together at Home" featured some of the world's biggest music stars and celebrities, who filmed performances and speeches from their own homes as many around the world is living under restrictions due to the pandemic.

Chinese pianist Lang Lang was the only artist from the Chinese mainland in this global collaboration. He was one of the musicians who performed the closing piece, a collaboration rendition of the classic song, "The Prayer."

In his interview with CGTN's Tian Wei, Lang Lang said "It's a really tremendous honor to work with those great artists. As someone from China, I wanted to send our wonderful wishes from here and the bring Chinese culture to many fans from different parts of the world."

The concert, led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the nonprofit group Global Citizen, did not ask viewers for donations, but corporations are said to have contributed more than 35 million U.S. dollars to the Solidarity Response Fund set by the WHO, which will help health workers across the globe.

Many have labeled the concert, impelled by COVID-19, as the Live Aid of our generation. In 1985, a rock concert was organized for famine relief in Africa. As a three-year-old boy, Lang Lang did not witness this historic show in real time. But when he watched it on TV years later, he was deeply moved by the power of music as the ability to unite.

Lang Lang said that while the One World concert is of a drastically different format from Live Aid, with both performers and audiences operating from home using the internet, he believed the message is the same.

"It's that we want to play music with our deepest emotion and appreciation for being a human being and sharing our good time and bad time together," he said.

Lang Lang also stressed the imperative importance for people to follow health guidelines, "because the coronavirus is very dangerous for everyone's health. So we have to stay at home, we have to."

The pianist revealed that his own performance for the One World concert was filmed while he was in quarantine at home. As a result, his wife Gina Alice, also a pianist who participated in the concert, took up camera operator duty to film him. For lighting and logistics, Lang Lang's mother was called to duty.

"It was a real family production," joked Lang Lang.

Meanwhile, Lang Lang had recently released his take on one of the most legendary keyboard works ever written: Bach's Goldberg Variations, saying it was a "great dream to achieve."

Having shot to international stardom in his early 20s, Lang Lang came to be known by the world as a prodigy. Now turning 40, he is a United Nations Messenger for Peace and has his own foundation.

"I think we have to develop a sort of mission, to become someone who can support other people," Lang Lang said.

World Insight with Tian Wei is an international debate/in-depth interview program facilitated by host Tian Wei. People in the know, be they global leaders or emerging change-makers, all provide their insights on this unique global platform.

Schedule: Monday-Saturday

Time (GMT): 1415, 2015

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)