Internationally acclaimed Chinese pianist Lang Lang tours and performs in venues all over the world, and his next stop is Pittsburgh.The musician will perform his Year of the Dragon concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and music director Manfred Honeck to start off the orchestra’s 2012-2013 season at Heinz Hall. The concert is the main event of the PSO’s annual season-opening gala and soiree on Sept. 15. “Lang Lang was chosen because he is one of a rare handful of artists whose appearance on your stage is an extraordinary event,” Bob Moir, senior vice president of artistic planning for the PSO, said in a phone interview on Friday. “There are a number of really wonderful artists who appear with us on a regular basis, but there are few who are in the really cream-of-the-crop category, and who are in demand everywhere and whose appearance makes a special occasion out of a concert.”The event is called the Year of the Dragon because in Chinese culture, 2012 is the year of the dragon. Also, Lang Lang’s most recent CD of piano solos is entitled “Dragon Songs.” The gala always has a theme, and since Lang Lang is “China’s greatest superstar classical artist,” the Year of the Dragon theme was a good fit, Moir explained.The Year of the Dragon gala is a black-tie event that includes valet parking, a cocktail hour before the concert, premium seating during the concert, a formal dinner, a dessert reception hosted by Honeck and a silent auction. Tickets, which are already sold out, ranged from $750 for a single ticket to $35,000 for a table for 10 for sponsors, explained Shannon Capellupo, director of special events for the PSO, in a phone interview on Wednesday. The soiree, on the other hand, is geared towards a younger audience, and tickets cost $175 or $225 per ticket, depending on where the concert seats are located, she explained.”Six years ago we decided to try to incorporate the younger demographic and … the mix that couldn’t afford the gala ticket, and that’s what the soiree is,” Capellupo said. “The soiree is not just the cheaper gala; it’s for a younger, targeted demographic.” The soiree includes the same cocktail hour before the concert and an event at the Fairmont Pittsburgh following the concert, which will include an open bar, heavy hors d’oeuvres, Asian cuisine, live music, dancing and a silent auction, according to Capellupo.”Lang Lang has a really strong college-student following because he is younger, and he drew a lot of attention when he [performed] in the opening ceremony at the Chinese Olympics four years ago, so we feel a lot of really great buzz around the concert,” Capellupo said. Capellupo said they are already seeing a “great response” to the individual tickets for the Year of the Dragon concert only, which range from $30 to $150 per ticket, and are “selling really well.” Benjamin Brown, an operations coordinator for the PSO, has been preparing for the Year of the Dragon event from the production side. “We’ve been coordinating with dragon dancers, florists, caterers and artists to put on the decor and the atmosphere of the event, so we have caterers creating Chinese-inspired dishes for the gala, and we have an artist creating a beautiful, giant mural that will go on the back wall of the stage,” Brown said in a phone interview on Friday.Audiences can expect a variety of music from the PSO throughout the rest of the season.The BNY Mellon Grand Classics is a “classical series [that] offers 21-plus weeks of amazing music…[with] incredible guest artists coming in,” Capellupo said. “Also, we are able to highlight some of our own musicians as soloists, particularly our concertmaster in October, and then the PNC Pops series has a really great line-up.”Matthew Morrison, widely known for his role as Mr. Schuster on the TV series “Glee,” will be featured as a vocalist along with the PSO as a part of the PNC Pops series on Sept. 29 and 30. Tickets for this event range from $20 to $93, according to the PSO’s website.Other concerts in the PNC Pops series include a tribute to the Beatles, Highmark Holiday Pops and “The Wizard of Oz” screening accompanied by the PSO.