Original subtitles

Not long ago, something rather magical

started happening all across the UK.

The nation's favourite instrument, the piano, started popping up

in public spaces -

in shopping centres, town squares and train stations,

like this one, St Pancras.

And it meant that absolutely anybody could just come and play.

Anybody, but not me. Nobody wants to hear that.

Ever since the global phenomenon of public pianos

began right here in Britain,

thousands of talented pianists have been entertaining passers-by

and going viral.

# Watermelon sugar high Watermelon sugar high... #

So we're going to celebrate these performers, hear their music

and tell their stories.

Look, she's hushed the whole station.

We've searched the nation for undiscovered musicians...

Hi, Stanley. Hi.

...and invited passionate amateur pianists to come and play

in railway stations across the country.

It took three cities, but finally we got Elton john.

But there's something our amateur pianists don't know.

Whoa!

Watching them in secret are two of the most acclaimed

and successful performers in the entire world.

This is really cool.

I'd like to try this type of thing.

Playing since he was just two years old,

Lang Lang is widely regarded as the greatest classical pianist

of the modern era.

I'm just going to run out into the station and sing with him.

And platinum-selling pop superstar Mika,

who started writing songs on the piano aged seven

and now performs sell-out shows all over the world.

Each week, they'll be choosing one amateur pianist...

This is such good raw material.

Can we get it ready? I don't know.

...and give them a life-changing opportunity -

the chance to play in a special concert

on one of the greatest stages of all, the Royal Festival Hall.

This is The Piano.

This program me contains strong language and references to drug use.

We're beginning at one of the busiest stations in Britain.

The spectacular London St Pancras.

Six million passengers pass through here every year.

The largest audience for a public piano

anywhere in the country.

Mika and Lang Lang will be able to see and hear

all the street pianists in a back room

in one of the station's restaurants.

It's so brilliant that you're like secret squirrels

in this little room.

Yes, we are. We need some nuts, yeah?

Whatever you need.

We could have put two chairs downstairs

and you could have been sitting there,

but that makes it entirely different.

If they knew you two were watching, they would be terrified.

We're like wildlife photographers.

We're just, like, hiding in the little bird house,

waiting to see something just happen.

Ancl that's what's kind of amazing about it.

Yeah, I prefer in this way, it's more spontaneous.

Yes. They can be themselves.

For me, also, if I knew somebody that I know and respect

is just watching me,

and I'm kind of starting to play to try to impress that person,

then I've kind of lost myself.

There is also something in this about you two -

the most celebrated pianist, the most celebrated performer -

of genuinely changing somebody's life.

Have you decided in your head, Royal Festival Hall,

what you would like to see there?

I'm looking for someone who really loves piano,

and who's not afraid to give some unique personality to music.

And, of course, if they have a great technique,

that will be a good plus.

But also someone who's got a story to tell.

Ancl let's see if they manage to translate that into something

that is musically moving.

I'm going to go down. I hope you enjoy.

Ready? Yeah, I'm ready. Are you?

Let's go! Let's go.

My name is Jared.

I'm 21 and I live in Kent.

Hello. How are you? Lovely to meet you.

I'm Claudia. Lovely to meet you. Nice to meet you.

My name is Jared.

Jared.

You're self-taught, is that true? I am indeed, yes.

And what made you want to learn?

At the start of lockdown 2020,

I saw a video of someone playing on that piano right over there,

and I fell in love.

Did you? I did indeed. Like, hard?

Yeah, no, seriously. That kind of falling in love. 100%, yeah.

What does he do in his normal life?

I work as a truck mechanic,

and I like it a lot because it's such a hands-on job.

I've never been into music at all.

I've never had any past experience with instruments.

I never really listen to any music.

Even when I'm driving in a car, I used to turn off the radio!

At the start of lockdown, I bought my first keyboard,

didn't know how to use it or whatever, didn't know anything.

And I've just watched other people play on YouTube.

I feel like it works hand-in-hand -

the trucks, the piano, and piano with the trucks.

Playing the piano, I've built hand strength

to work on trucks, but also I think working on trucks

improved my hand strength as well to play on piano.

You've brought josh. Yes.

He's known you forever. Yeah.

Was he surprised when you turned around and you went,

"In lockdown, some people made banana bread,

"I've learned how to play a whole instrument"?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you could say so.

Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah.

I'm going to get out of the way. Yeah. Enormous luck.

21-year-old truck mechanic.

And now he's here. Yeah.

Whoa!

I love the facial!

He's certainly getting the people's attention.

Look. He's certainly got that. Yeah.

BOTH HUM ALONG

Look at that. He's amazing!

From YouTube. Amazing.

For somebody who's only been playing for one year,

that autonomy of the bass line... Yeah, it's always there.

...while the riffing that happens on top,

the crunching of those chords that comes from the right hand

is really impressive.

Even as a professional, to maintain this power,

to play like this...

He's so strong! He's like...

Yeah.

Good start. Very good start.

We have a good pianist.

Jared!

Thank you. Stop it!

Absolutely knockout. Come with me. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Jared, well done.

I can't believe you are self-taught and only since lockdown.

You are ridiculous.

Off you go. Thank you so much. Thank you.

This type of playing within one year, I can't believe.

It just means that his brain is made to do it.

You take somebody with that speed of learning and you say to them,

"You're going to go on that stage at the Royal Festival Hall,"

you change his life.

Imagine ifjared had had somebody teaching him how to play

from the age of five.

Oh, my God.

I started playing the piano three and a half years ago.

My dad gave me a keyboard from my grandma's loft,

and things pretty much snowballed.

It's a child. Oh, it's a kid!

Hi, I'm llya,

and today I'm going to be performing Dance Of The Knights by Prokofiev.

Nice. Yeah.

There's an 11-year-old playing Prokofiev in the train station.

Nice left hand. He knows where to direct the melody.

His hands are only about this big.

No, yeah.

Ancl he's playing octaves. Yeah.

He's chosen a piece where he has to basically play

an entire orchestra.

This is an orchestral piece. Yeah. Absolutely.

Not easy to play.

|lya's chosen peace has a family connection.

Prokofiev was born in Ukraine.

|lya's mum is from Kyiv.

He's half British and half Ukrainian.

We used to go back there all the time.

It was on a trip to Kyiv that llya met his piano teacher, Misha.

Our first five lessons were in Ukraine,

and then the Russian invasion happened.

So we had everything online.

How are you?

I'm good. How about you?

I'm good. It's pretty quiet.

Sometimes we hear some bombs.

Misha's been with llya all the way through,

and without Misha, he would not be where he is.

Their friendship is incredibly strong, and it's just a shame

that the circumstances are now that Misha can't actually come over.

OK, llya, I'll see you next week.

SPEAKING UKRAINIAN

Bye. See you.

How do you think you did?

I have no idea, I'm just like... Argh!

It was excellent. Look, your dad... It was really, really good.

It was fantastic.

He's so sweet. Yeah.

But I don't know if that can hold the stage and the audience

somewhere like the Royal Festival. Yeah.

It's kind of weird talking about this with you

because you, you know, at the age of like five, were playing...

What were you playing at five? Chopin, Mozart, yeah.

My first sonata, yeah.

As you do at five years old.

Ancl when was your first gig?

Five.

He could learn so much.

You know, in a way, I admire his confidence.

Because if you're playing a concert hall,

you have 2,000 people.

But somehow in this two-hour concert,

the musician and the audience become one, right?

I mean, that's the magic part. Exactly.

I think it's harder to do in the train station, honestly.

That's also why I am a little bit afraid

to play in a train station.

ANNOUNCEMENT PLAYS INDISTINCTLY

The passengers at St Pancras can expect a little more

than classical piano.

# Some people want diamond rings

# Some just want everything

# Everything means nothing

# If I ain't got you. #

I think it would be great amongst the final selection

to have somebody who sings. Who sings. Absolutely.

# Why do we crucify ourselves? #

I'm Chris.

I work in digital marketing.

I am Amiss Tori, a Tori Amos drag tribute act.

# Crucify myself... #

Do you know Tori Amos?

Please say no so I can have the pleasure of telling you who... No!

It's like Bach, but for pop music!

# Chains... #

Oh, this I know! This you know. This I know! There you go!

# Chains... #

Yeah, this I know.

# Why do we crucify ourselves?

# Every day

# Crucify ourselves

# Nothing I do is good enough for you... #

Amiss Tori is a talented pianist.

Musically, if you just play, probably sing better.

Yeah, exactly.

I think we agree.

# Change... #

Pop is deceptively odd.

Sometimes as a classical musician, I think...

Exactly. ...you're like, "Oh, pop music's easy, come on."

Not sometimes. Yeah.

Tell the truth.

All the time! No, no, sometimes. Sometimes.

It's kind of complicated, because on the one hand,

you've got people playing jazz.

On the one hand, you've got people playing Prokofiev.

Ancl then you've got suddenly someone singing an Alicia Keys song,

and they're singing and playing the piano.

Completely different styles, yeah.

But that IS the piano. Mm-hm.

I think it's about feeling.

I think it's about the power that you have when you're

playing the piano to transport people.

I'm looking for that moment.

My name is Fiona Ann Bennett, and I live in New bury in Berkshire.

Hello, I'm Fiona.

Oh, hello, Fiona! Nice to meet you.

Thank you so much for coming.

Love your shoes. They're exceptional. Thank you.

Tell me about you and how the piano fits in.

I can't remember a time I didn't play the piano.

I took some time out from the piano

when my son was diagnosed with autism.

One night Zachary said, "Mummy, can you play the piano for me

"while I'm going to sleep?"

I said, "What? Instead of Olly Murs?"

Yeah. "Are you all right? Have you got a temperature?"

"No," he said. "I like your music." And he's brutally honest.

He once told me I look like a sumo wrestler.

And he wanted me to play the piano for him as he was going to sleep.

So I thought, "I'm onto something here."

To put her autistic son to sleep. That's wonderful.

I have a few students who's having autism.

It really, really helps big time.

Zachary was born in 2002,

and when he was about 18 months old, my mum noticed that

he didn't respond in the same way as Dominic had at that age.

Music would come on, and he'd smile,

and then the music would stop, and he'd stop smiling.

We eventually got his diagnosis when he was four,

and it was autism.

It was a horrible, horrible day. Absolutely devastating.

I was 44.

I was still gigging, and I thought, "I can't carry on doing this

"and do what I need to do for Zachary,"

so I sold all my band equipment, and I was just Mum.

The years have flown by.

He's 20 now.

He is at university...

Oh, wow!

...on his creative writing course.

Zachary, do you remember my piece, The Landscape?

HE HUMS MELODY

I am so impressed that my children...

They do pay attention. They DO pay attention.

Is it a song, this one? HE HUMS MELODY

No, it's hers.

Her own piece? Wow.

It's so beautiful.

This piece is really comforting my heart,

and it's, like, kind of touching me.

It's like, "It's all right."

She's a mama.

LANG LANG HUMS You know?

You would never know the world that was in that woman,

the world that is in her head.

There's something really beautiful about that.

So, uh...

The contrast between the person, the personality,

and just the motivation for playing in the actual piece.

I find there's love, you know, behind the melody.

Totally love. It's beautiful.

She got his heart.

Yeah. Yeah, I can see that.

You got very emotional for the first time.

That's just really... really beautiful.

That was so beautiful!

Oh, thank you. It was beautiful!

Look at all these people. Yeah!

She's what this is all about. You want her in Festival Hall?

Maybe, yeah.

What is the piano? What's it for?

If she doesn't describe what the piano's for...

We can't do it. That's... Yeah.

In you come, sir.

Wave hello.

You're lovely. OK.

My missus will be well jealous. What are you doing there?

I don't know. Can we dance?

No. All right!

You have to leave now, before I call the police.

Classic. That was my husband.

# Sing us a song tonight...

The street pianists at St Pancras don't know it,

but Lang Lang and Mika are watching them...

Have you played with Billy Joel? Yeah.

...hoping to find raw, undiscovered talent to star in

their unique concert at the Royal Festival Hall.

# And the piano, it sounds like a carnival... #

Whoa! He's going!

And while some have chosen to entertain the passengers

with a classic,

our next pianist will be playing their own composition.

My name is jay. I'm 24 years old and I live on the Isle of Wight.

This is my hometown, Ventnor.

There's not a lot of things to do on the island.

It's just so easy to slip into trouble.

I used to be a sesher all the time when I was younger.

We was always going to raves, and I used to do a lot of MDMA,

sort of just anything...

Anything you could get your hands on, really.

I did a lot when I was 13, even.

I watched most of my friends fuck up their lives,

and I watched what's happened to them,

and I watched what drugs do to people.

I've just seen a lot of people crumble around me, like,

I've seen a lot of people die.

So I just stopped. I stopped everything.

I've just put all my energy into music,

and I don't stop writing or playing.

Performing is a massive, natural high,

and that's the drug that I would want.

Jay- Nice to meet you.

Have a seat, darling. Thank you so much for coming.

Tell me about you and the piano. When did you start learning?

I started playing when I was about 15.

Every single day, I'm playing something.

What are you going to play for us today?

I'm going to play a song that I wrote.

It's just about everything that sort of happened to me

in the last couple of months.

I'm curious.

Well, we're very grateful. I'll get out of your way.

I'm putting my sunnies on for this. just put your shades on.

Whoa. Yep.

Were you expecting that?

No.

# I guess I don't know a thing about living

# Good and the bad with the heroes and the villains

# I kick back when I'm chilling, chasing my dream, not chasing women

# I got tired of the same old feeling

# Pack a bag and I'm leaving

# I book a flight and I'll take it this evening

# I got tired of just sitting and dreaming

# Mama always told me that you gotta have hope

# The gypsy woman said that the music's going to blow... #

He's already drawing a lot of attention.

Yeah. Look, look. Yeah, look.

# Now I got all of these fans, and they're singing my songs

# She never wanted love but she liked my songs

# Never pulled me back from the open road

# Get high when I'm feeling low

# Because if she wants to ride, then we'll take it slow... #

The way he's playing is not the way he looks.

No. This harmony works really well.

Feels like he's a little bit angry, but in a way, it's not struggling.

# The feelings inside of you, the feelings inside of her

# Something ain't right for, then it ain't right for you

# I nearly died, I nearly died for her

# So many lives, no need to hide... #

Listen to the melody and the piano. Yeah.

Ancl he puts it back in exactly where he needs to.

# Like a bird up in the cages, can never be free

# You had it written on some papers

# Yeah, see, I've been trying to keep my head strong

# Trying to keep my balance, ain't a thing you want to get wrong

# So now you got us packing your luggage

# Looks like you're really gonna leave, I was worried

# Couldn't sleep with one eye open

# My tears are finally smoking

# I lost a lot of friends to the ocean.

# Started off mad in the end, I'm not joking

# But she takes her fire with me

# She takes her fire with me

# She takes her fire with me She takes her fire with me

#Yo.#

Well done. Are you happy?

Yeah, I'm happy with that. That's all good.

Look, they all stayed for you. They didn't stay for many people.

No. Thank you.

You see? No, it's good, yeah.

Well done, darling. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

How do you define that genre?

No idea. No idea! No idea.

What is this? You know, it's like...

Yeah, I mean, the crazy thing is that it's all underpinned

by the piano. Yeah. There's nothing else.

There's no beats... Nothing.

Even the melody is mostly coming from the piano. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's the kind of stuff I was waiting to hear,

using the piano as this kind of, like, power source

to tell their story in their own style, in their own way,

in an unusual setting.

THAT is interesting.

This is a unique experience.

I think that was sick, to be fair.

I'm going to adopt him.

Due to overhead wire damage, no services will operate

from Kings Cross to the north of England.

Services will be uncomfortable today if you choose to travel.

# Always look on the bright side of life... #

You are strongly advised not to travel today.

# Always look on the light side of life

MIKA WHISTLES

# Always look on the bright side of life... #

The original of this piece is sung by a guy

attached to a crucifix next to Jesus Christ.

Ancl he looks at Jesus, and he goes, "All right, mate?"

"Always look on the bright side of life."

Everybody!

# Always look on the bright side of death... #

I play a bit of piano, but I also work for a funeral directors,

which is a little bit different to doing silly songs.

Carrying coffins, and I'm also training to be a celebrant,

which is the guy who stands at the front and talks at funerals.

This is just getting better. So, he carries the coffins?

But why... His personality is like...

He works at a funeral home,

but he's probably the happiest person we've had all clay. Yeah.

Yeah, but how... how does that happen?

That's because life is delicious.

# Enjoy it, it's your last chance, anyhow... #

BOY CRIES

He's not looking on the bright side of life.

Can you see him in Festival Hall?

No. I'm sorry. But I like him.

He brings a lot of happiness.

This is a massive part of British culture.

Welcome.

Thank you. It's good experience.

Yeah, it's good. Yeah.

It was Japanese culture that inspired our next performer

to take up the piano.

My name is Melissa Walker.

I'm 18, and I've only been playing for four years.

Anirne is basically Japanese cartoon.

I watched this anirne called Piano No Mori, and that inspired me,

and that's the first time I heard, like, classical piano.

I was like, in the six-week holiday of that year, I was like,

I'm going to learn piano.

I self taught myself how to play Chopin's Minute Waltz.

That was the first-ever classical piece I've ever played.

And then I was at a family gathering, and they heard me play it

and they were like, "She's definitely had lessons.

"She's probably been playing for ages." But, no, I'd only been

playing for about four months.

Hi, Melissa, how are you? I'm really good.

Nice to meet you. I'm Claudia.

Melissa.

So, I cannot believe this.

Most people take how many years to get to grade eight?

About ten years.

And how quickly did you do it?

I did it in four years. Congratulations.

Oh, wow. I love this.

Wow.

Do you have piano heroes?

Errn, like, Lang Lang...

Oh... Oh.

Well... Thank you!

And what are you going to play for us?

I'm going to be playing my original composition, called Hope.

Wow, original.

Good luck, darling. Thank you.

What I'll be playing today is the first composition I've ever made.

I like those open chords.

That's a nice change. Yeah.

Oh, dramatic.

Well done!

Absolutely amazing. Thank you.

It's funny, because watching these, sometimes I feel like

I want to talk or I want to comment.

With her, I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to say anything.

I just wanted to see where she was going, cos she felt slightly

different and quite delicate, and I didn't want to mess it up.

Yes. I didn't want to get in the way of it.

Ancl I liked the piece itself.

It kind of has some kind of a heart beat and kind of...

...something to open you with your mind

and somehow calming down and, you know...

This one, actually, it's almost like... poetry is the word.

If you turn down the lights

and you just put one light on the piano on a stage

at the Royal Festival Hall, that sort of thing...

Should work, yeah.

Who is this?

I've never seen anything like it.

He's your grandson! Congratulations.

What's his name?

He's a very good sleeper.

Sorry.

Back to Melissa.

She was great.

But did you see that baby?

My ovaries just clacked.

We actually do have three candidates today, right?

Already, but we've got loads more to listen to. Yeah.

I'm actually looking for something super traditional.

Oh, you want more like classical Chopin? Yeah.

Just someone who walks into that place, and in the midst

of that station, just plays like a virtuoso.

My name is Zethan.

I'm 28 years old. I'm from Brixton.

This guy is dressed up.

Yeah. Wow.

He's got the look.

This is phase two.

I'm a senior construction site manager.

I build high rise towers across London.

Getting to this point is the result of a lot of hard work.

How are we doing, Jesus? All good?

Yeah, I'm fine, thank you.

I've had to do a lot of qualifications.

I got chartered as a construction manager last year.

I love dealing with just rubble on the ground

and taking it into a liveable space.

I love all of the stages in between.

It's comparable to music,

where a collection of notes forms a beautiful symphony.

You have a collection of construction trades -

when they're coordinated together in the right way,

produces a beautiful building.

Let's see what type of music he's going to play.

Building the high rise.

Yeah, exactly. I can't guess the repertoire.

Oh, Clair de Lune!

Wow.

You see the gesture, he's drawing himself into the music.

It's like, "Yeah, give me some magic.

"Yeah, you can do it."

Exactly. Yeah. You know.

Ancl his touch, the way he plays the piano

and the clarity of his notes

was probably the best touch we've heard. Yeah, so far.

Absolutely. 100%.

This is one of the most recognisable melody that...

Even, you know, Ocean's Eleven use this,

when they collect all the money.

Oh, that's interesting.

I see, OK. So, he's changed it a bit.

He made some interesting rhythm.

I mean, this is a bit too much, but I mean, there are some...

You know, the arpeggios are kind of nice.

Maybe it's because you can't interpret a building.

The architect says the skyscraper's got to be like that,

he's not going to suddenly make it like a...

Right! So this is his relief.

This is where he gets to be that guy

that does whatever the hell he wants.

There's so many things that are admirable in what he's clone.

He's trying some new things,

but I don't see this as a complete finishing work.

I'm still looking for that... real suspended moment of magic.

My name is Harry Halsey.

Lift has arrived. Doors will open shortly.

Do you mind? I was doing the talking.

People would describe me as a bit stupid.

I'm doing this, for a start.

I mean, that's got to be silly, hasn't it?

You look very chic.

You can stay. You can definitely stay.

I'm Claudia. Indeed you are.

How are you, Harry? I'm very well, thank you.

Please, come and have a seat.

Do you remember the first time you ever performed in public?

The Silver jubilee of George V.

A street party.

You must have been very young.

When was it, 1935? 1935.

So, I would have been six.

Oh, my God, he's...

He's almost 90.

My age will be 93 next month.

And I thought, at the age of four, that you learned to read,

you learned to write, and you learned to play the piano,

because everybody had one.

It was while playing piano that Harry met the love of his life.

I'm playing a bar in Aberdeen on this particular night,

which happened to be the end of the art school year.

And Pat was going to the art school and they were having a booze-up,

and Pat and I were the last two standing.

So I took her home.

That was it, really.

I don't think we had any doubts about each other at all.

We just hit it off right from the beginning.

We've been married 49 years.

Over the last four years,

she's had a mini stroke,

which took away some of her memory.

She's got dementia. She has dementia.

Yeah. Lovely.

We've had three years now, my daughter and I,

trying to do what we can.

But it is a 24-hour-a-day job, it really is.

HARRY PLAYS PIANO

She often doesn't know who I am.

Erm...

On other days, she'll think that I'm her dad.

Although her memory's gone, not her memory for music,

not her memory for tunes.

And that makes her happy.

When I sit down and play the piano,

it's usually because I want to block everything out of my mind.

Happy?

And you can't play the piano if you're thinking

about something else.

To me, it's like going on holiday.

You know, really.

Oh!

# She gets too hungry for dinner at eight... #

I really don't know whether I can do this age of 92.

This image is really special.

Yeah, it's unbelievable.

All that's missing right now

is just an enormous bunch of balloons attached to that piano,

and then it just starts to take off in the air, like in Up.

Yes!

He's giving us all these little jazz chords in a very kind of

old-fashioned, jazz way.

Ancl he's making the melody kind of, like, pop in and out.

It feels so young. Exactly.

You know, like a little boy.

He's more... He's even younger than the 11-year-old!

Whoa! Bravo! Woo! Bravo!

Harry, you were so brilliant. Did you enjoy it?

Oh, yes, of course. You were a knockout.

And I promise you, lots of people... See all those faces?

They were just watching you and loving it. That's good.

So, thank you very much. Thank you.

Lovely to meet you. Bye, darling. Bye-bye.

I love him. Really inspiring.

Pure jOY-

He's my favourite.

But does that lend itself to the Royal Festival Hall?

It's a hard decision.

What do we bring onto the stage?

Are we just bringing people with piano-playing chops

and technique, or are we bringing a different set of stories?

What does the piano represent today in the UK

and what did it represent before? Right.

But he's the history, he's the bridge, you know.

He's basically the bridge. He's the bridge.

We'll see. Let's keep him in the back of our heads.

Lang Lang and Mika now have to decide who they'll be taking

to the Royal Festival Hall.

I'm actually nervous.

We've got the tricky bit afterwards.

How do we choose just one?

That's true. That's a hard one.

We've asked all those who played the street piano

at St Pancras to gather together

so they can meet each other for the first time.

What's your name?

So, Amiss Tori is my drag act, but Chris is my name.

I'm going to gather them all together, and then I'm going

to introduce you two.

They don't know anything about the Royal Festival.

They don't even know we're here.

Do you think you're going to find it easy or hard to say,

"We've decided you should perform"?

I think it's going to be hard.

I think the shortlist is pretty easy.

So, we've got Fiona in the running because it's so touching.

So touching, so emotional. I love her.

The story and her son.

We all love Jared. Yeah.

Kept the energy. He gives us incredible passion.

Ancl we've also got jay.

# I book a flight, will I take it this evening?

# Man, I got tired of this sitting and dreaming... #

It was electric. People missed trains.

One thing all three of them have in common is emotion.

Yes. Then we've got Harry.

Ancl again, emotion.

What did you think of Melissa?

I really loved her composition.

And you know you're her hero?

It moves me. It's like waves.

It might be our show, but we have to pick the person

who's going to turn it into their show.

Hello!

Claudia! Hey!

How are you all?

Very well. Well, we're very well.

You were all so utterly brilliant, so we are so grateful.

Erm...

I haven't been completely honest with you.

Oh! Sorry about that, Harry.

You performed for those who were travelling, but you also performed

for the world's greatest pianist

and one of the world's greatest performers.

So, I would like to introduce you to Lang Lang and Mika.

EXCITED HUBBUB

Oh, my gosh! what?

You rotter!

Sorry. LAUGHTER

Thank you. Thank you so much for playing for us.

We feel kind of bad. We've been watching you...

We were like a spy.

And we wanted to come out, we wanted to come out

and we wanted to talk to you, we wanted to hug some of you

and shake some of your hands, as well, especially yours.

It's been amazing. It's been, really, a privilege.

Ancl we've clone it secretly in order for you to be yourselves.

And, somehow, when you start playing, your personal story

is actually attached to the instrument.

Absolutely. Ancl you become one.

So, as a thank you, we are actually organising

a really, really special concert

in one of the most prestigious venues in the world,

the Royal Festival Hall.

Ancl we'd like to invite all of you to be our VIP guests

at this concert. Yes.

Thank you!

But that's not all.

This concert, it's not really our concert.

Yeah, maybe we will do something, but we also want to invite

one of you to perform on that stage.

Oh, my goodness!

What an hon our.

It was not an easy decision. It wasn't easy.

The person who's going to perform on that stage is...

.45,“

Yes. Sweet!

Buzzing!

Sweet. Thank you. That's sick.

Thank you.

That is amazing, to be fair, that's a sick experience.

I very appreciate that.

Yeah, no pressure. No pressure!

Jesus. Woo!

Absolutely... I don't know the feeling for it at the moment.

Like, I'm buzzing, there's so many feelings I have that I don't know.

It's going to take a bit of a while for that to sink in, I believe.

To have people like that compliment your music

is something I never thought would happen to me, to be honest.

Like, it's a big thing.

He will show the Royal Festival Hall a complete

new art form with piano.

# I guess I didn't know a thing about living... #

For us, it was clear.

You've got somebody who's a clash of different musical worlds,

who is not afraid to talk about things that are personal,

and does it with a sound that I've never heard before,

and neither has Lang Lang.

Recently, I'm actually also looking into some new collaboration

with this type of music, and Jay did it already!

So I'm actually going to learn something from him.

Oof! Bravo!

THEY CHEER

You know, for me, this is like a family concert.

It's the family gathering...

Your Prokofiev's great.

HE HUMS MELODY

...of the genuine piano fans.

Melissa, good job on your Hope.

I really like this...

# Dong, duo, doo... #

Exactly like when I was a kid,

gathering with my buddies in my neighbourhood,

and start playing.

You're amazing, seriously. Thank you. I appreciate it.

I mean, did you know anything was up?

No! No? Good!

All the better! We were hoping you wouldn't realise.

What's funny is that, as soon as they found out

that we had been watching them,

their first response was to want to play the piano again.

THEY PLAY BOOGIE WOOGIE

Let's make this last a little bit longer.

Let's celebrate the fact that we're here.

HE PLAYS PROKOFIEV

No matter what background they come from,

no matter what style of music they like...

# There's a smile on my face

# For the whole human race... #

"all of this is possible because of one instrument.

In the end of the clay, it's because piano is...

...you know, heals our heart together.

# It's almost like being in love! #

THEY CHEER

Harry!

You know, I got so inspired by you, and I just want to play

just a little bit of the Goldberg Variations for you.

Oh, lovely. Lovely. Yeah, yeah.

Ancl then you have to finish it.

THEY LAUGH

LANG LANG STARTS PLAYING

Oh, my God. Look!

Oh, it's made me cry! MIKA PLAYS CHORD

LAUGHTER AND CH EERING

The right chord!

Next time, The Piano travels to Leeds.

Look at that crowd. Wow.

We'll meet a boy who's learnt to play Ibiza classics for his dad...

He's so cool.

He likes to think he is.

# You are the dancing queen... #

...young lovers brought together by Abba...

We're only together because of the piano.

What"?

...and the lover of Chopin...

Is he crying?

...who's built his own street piano on wheels.

It can be anywhere in time and space.

# I don't want your number, no... #

But who will Lang Lang and Mika choose

to join jay and perform at the Royal Festival Hall?

Leeds just got more complicated.

And who will leave them speechless?

I don't know what to say. There's nothing to...

I really don't know what to say.