This programme contains strong language
and references to drug taking and discussion about suicide
which some viewers might find upsetting.
We've searched for Britain's most talented amateur pianists.
At railway stations across the country,
we've heard musicians from all backgrounds...
A truck mechanic, and you do THAT at the weekend?
..and of all ages.
Am I allowed to ask? No, I won't ask.
94. 94.
What they didn't know was that Lang Lang and Mika were watching...
Whoa!
..hoping to unearth incredible, undiscovered talent.
This is such good raw material.
Can we get it ready? I don't know.
Now, they need to prepare for a spectacular concert.
Tonight, you are going to see four amazing pianists.
And they have just a few weeks
to prove that amateur street pianists...
Sh!
..can learn what it takes to perform on a professional stage...
Lang Lang, sing.
..in front of an audience of thousands...
KNOCK ON DOOR Ready to go side of stage.
..at the renowned Royal Festival Hall.
The Royal Festival Hall is a life-changing experience.
Please welcome to the stage, Danny!
20 seconds.
Playing street piano is terrifying.
Playing in a concert hall...
It's Jay!
Oh, my God!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Man! Woo!
It's been two months since our pianists played at railway stations
across Britain and were chosen
by Lang Lang and Mika to perform at the concert of a lifetime.
BOTH: That person is...
..Lucy!
What?! Ah! No!
For them to see something in her was like,
you saw in my daughter
what I've seen for years.
It's a great honour.
It's going to be incredible for her.
Lucy's going to... To London.
To London.
The person who's going to perform on that stage is...
..Jay!
Yes.
Sweet!
The fact that Lang Lang and Mika chose me, it blew me away a bit.
It's like a dream come true.
When he told us that he'd won,
it was incredible.
You know? We're just so proud.
What was Jay like when he came back?
Hard to come back down to reality with work
and labouring and bar jobs and all that kind of thing at the minute
but, erm, yeah, he's just so excited.
The person that we have chosen...
Is Danny!
You're joking!
My anxiety's been through the roof.
One thing that's been supporting me
the most has been playing the piano again and practising,
because I have been more connected to music
than I've been in a good while.
To see what we've been through, you know, as a family
and to actually see him
at the Royal Festival Hall,
it'll make me just incredibly grateful for his life,
for who he is, and also incredibly joyful for him.
MIKA: So, the person that we've chosen is, in fact, Sean.
Woo!
SEAN: So, we get to play in the Royal Festival Hall.
Wonderful, isn't it?
This has given me so much fulfilment
and, erm, purpose,
as well as...a new level of focus.
Oh, let me tell you, I'm a happy guy right now.
Now, the hard work begins.
We are five weeks out.
We currently have nothing.
We've announced that the tickets are available.
Our performance is already selling out.
We've got a full house with more than 2,000 people.
We need to get a concert together.
Today, Mika and Lang Lang will begin preparing their chosen four...
You're finally here!
..and try to turn our street pianists...
Hey, Lucy!
Lang Lang.
..into concert pianists.
This is Jay. Pleasure to meet you. Nice to meet you, man. Sean.
Nice to see you. This is Danny. Nice to meet you, mate.
Now, we have to prepare a show,
and today we cannot leave this place
without knowing what each one of you is going to be playing.
We met Jay in London.
Jay!
Nice to meet you.
Whose life has been transformed by songwriting.
We was always going to raves and I used to do a lot of MDMA.
I watched most of my friends fuck up their lives
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've just put all my energy into music.
And in three minutes at St Pancras, his song Fire changed everything.
# She takes the fire with me
# She takes the fire with me... #
That is interesting.
This is a unique experience.
Are you set on Fire being the song
that you're going to sing at the Royal Festival Hall? No.
Show me what else you can do. OK.
I don't even know if I remember this one - I'm going to go for it.
All right. What's the song called? A Heart That's Cold.
# A heart that's cold
# She saw me crying, yeah, she's on a roll
# She saw me dying She, she's all alone
# She thinks she's flying
# We lost what we had Needs to know I'm trying
# Oh
# You want to go... #
No, I forgot it again, man! I forgot that one...
It's all right. Just go for it.
# Sunlight Say to go
# And live her fine life... #
OK. It's... This, it's a really good song.
What it sounds like to me is that
it's about something really, really sad.
Right? Yeah.
More than just a heartbreak,
it's like something profoundly life-changing.
And what I love about it is that you make your message more powerful
by contrasting the jolliness... The two... ..of the music
and the sadness of the subject.
That's what's weird about me, though.
I feel like my life's sort of black and white, like,
good and bad - always.
Life is complicated for everyone
but especially for Jay.
He's got a job that makes him wake up at five o'clock in the morning.
He's working on a construction site every day from 6am.
There's a...a lot of life going on.
And the guy adores the piano.
It's a refuge but it is also
a way of articulating things that he finds very hard to say out loud.
You know, some of the happiest songs
that I've written are about the saddest things...
Saddest things, yeah. ..that have happened to me in my life.
I was so unhappy when I was a teenager.
The only medicine that I had was to write. To write music.
Cos I was like, "If this melody sticks in someone's head,
"maybe they'll actually listen to me.
"Because if I tell them my problems, they seem to not care."
Yeah. Maybe if I sing 'em... They do care.
So, sit up straight.
Breathe, open up your shoulders.
Be proud of yourself.
You're a storyteller and you're here to tell us a story that's important.
OK.
You're already playing better.
Let go.
Use your hands, use your arms.
Yeah!
Jay's not the only pianist hoping to play something new.
Hi, Lucy. It's Claudia.
At Leeds city station, Lucy stunned Mika
and Lang Lang with Chopin's Nocturne.
It's unbelievable that she can play this piece.
Lucy was diagnosed with cancerous tumours of the eyes.
She hasn't got any vision at all.
She's globally developmentally delayed as well,
so she struggles with communication.
She can't hold a conversation - not really.
But everything changed for Lucy when she found her piano teacher, Daniel.
DANIEL: I've never met anybody who has the same depth of understanding
of music.
Music is the way that she communicates.
Since Leeds station, we've been sort of working on Arabesque.
Like this.
So, the main thing, initially, is that she knows which hand
is playing which notes.
Teachers like Daniel I have only the great respect
because Daniel work with her since Lucy was three years old.
At the Royal Festival Hall, Lucy's hoping to perform
Arabesque by Debussy.
This piece is slightly harder.
because the Chopin Nocturne, it's easier to control the speed.
This piece has to be...
GENTLE VOCALISATION
It's like you open a treasure box.
# Dee dah dee
# Tee... #
Wow! What is this?
So, I need a little bit more openness,
to release energy, rather than...
Sometimes the wrist goes up -
then, the sound quality become a little bit harsh.
In music, you need to breathe in and out.
If you're playing like this, it's like... SHARP BREATH
So, this has to be worked.
LUCY PLAYS: Arabesque by Claude Debussy
This is a challenge, this piece.
But no challenge, no fun, right?
We met Sean at Glasgow Central Station.
Whoa!
By the time he was diagnosed as neurodivergent at the age of four,
he'd already begun to show a remarkable talent.
Music was an absolute bingo moment for me.
The piano was such a crystal-clear way of expressing my internal world
and to understand the internal world of others.
Playing his own composition Meat Machine, Sean's performance
was the most explosive Lang Lang and Mika had seen during their search.
It's everything - one moment it's a lullaby,
the other moment it's like a dance track.
Yes, it has everything. All the styles.
Then, all of a sudden, it's brilliant anarchy. Yeah.
The big things for Sean are understanding that
fireworks are great on the piano
but it's got to come from the heart.
I'm a very passionate person.
Well, yeah, but I think you're just a big softie as well.
Uh-huh. And you can't hide that. Uh-huh.
You need to let it out a little bit more.
So, in three minutes, I want to hear angry Sean,
I want to hear happy Sean
and I want to hear absolutely tender lullaby Sean.
And if you are able to do that,
you will be a much more powerful performer.
And breathe, man.
You are not breathing when you're playing.
Let's go.
SEAN PLAYS RAPID STACATTO
Breathe.
Breathe. Take it down.
Sh!
Play softly. Soft, soft, soft.
Super soft.
Even softer.
The smallest little change, either of attitude or of technique,
can have the most enormous impact on a crowd.
SEAN PLAYS POUNDING MELODY And then, sh!
SEAN MELLOWS THE MELODY
I want to help them find the nuances
that can make a performance even more effective.
Play me one note softly.
Softer.
I don't know if it's possible.
It is. Oh! It's possible!
MIKA LAUGHS
SEAN TAPS KEY GENTLY
You see? By playing more delicately, we're going to create something
that's a lot more powerful.
SEAN PLAYS GENTLE CHORD
And play progressively louder.
SEAN PLAYS SLIGHTLY LOUDER
Keep going. Play a sequence.
And breathe in!
Go!
SEAN PLAYS WITH ENERGY
Intense not loud. Yeah, there.
Listen to that.
Clarity. Yeah, like that!
Good man! That's so different!
Do you understand how much...? It's so different.
It makes so much more sense.
You sound like you're playing the piano now. Wow.
You don't sound like you're just showing off.
And every single time I say to you "breathe",
you release a little bit of emotion that you're trying to hide.
Funny you've noticed.
And you do all these acrobatics on the piano
to try and protect yourself - like it's some kind of armour.
But you're not provoking any emotion.
But I can tell that you're almost about to burst into tears
every time I say "breathe"
because, every time you breathe, the emotion escapes.
It's crazy to think how much I've been bottling that up.
Cos it's... It is, it's robot mode, in a way.
I've not wanted to show that. You know what I mean?
Well, what's the point of making music if you don't?
Precisely.
So, shall I play a little bit for her and she can...?
DANIEL: Listen in carefully.
It's Lang Lang playing.
LANG LANG PLAYS TENDERLY
That's right.
LANG LANG SINGS
Yeah, so it's... Can you play it like Lang Lang?
Cos of everything Lucy's been through in her life, to this point,
watching her play with someone like Lang Lang, it just blew me away.
And he found a way in when she said, "Lang Lang, sing."
Lang Lang, sing.
LANG LANG SINGS
That does mean she was getting to know him properly,
cos that's how she communicates.
# Dah dah dee dah-dah-dah... #
Direction!
# Dee dee... #
Nobody can get me to sing because I'm not a good singer.
But Lucy, she's like a DJ, you know? It's like, "Lang Lang, sing!"
She's really into her world
and she want to connect that with you.
I'm so amazed by how she learn.
She gets it very fast.
Lang Lang, sing.
# Dah dee dahhhhh derr
# Dah dee rahhhhhh! #
Today, you see such a joyful person came out on this performance.
Yay!
Yeah!
Hi, Danny! It's a long walk. I'm sorry. It's a long walk.
At Birmingham New Street Station,
Danny performed a song he'd written after his father's suicide.
For that to come out of nowhere was, erm, yeah, it was tough.
# Cos I fell
# So far beneath... #
I didn't speak to anyone.
And then, I started taking drugs at kind of 17.
Then, obviously, the alcohol comes along with that.
And I began to just break, basically - physically, mentally.
The piano has been the constant through it all.
And it's interesting, the moments that have been most difficult
have been the moments where I stopped writing music.
# Maybe I could learn to live
# Maybe I could learn to live... #
And then, there was Danny. Mm.
# Maybe I could paint the sky
# From these tears I've cried... #
The thing about Danny is that he seems the most prepared
and the most cool with the situation
but he's by far the most anxious.
Close your eyes and sing.
# Cos I fell... #
Pedal.
# So far beneath... #
Breathe.
# I thought these heights I would never reach... #
Don't play too loud - you're going to squish your voice.
# Cos I... # OK.
If you... Keep playing. Don't stop.
OK. Don't stop.
# Cos I fell... #
The number one thing people always say to me is, "Dan, just relax."
I know there's things to work on and I am a perfectionist, as well,
and I really want this to be as impactful as possible.
Breathe with the pedal.
He just has to work on letting us in.
If he lets us in, he'll transport 2,000 people
that do not know him at the Royal Festival Hall.
He's got three minutes
to provoke emotion.
If he doesn't do it,
that would be such a shame.
There's just one day to go
before the concert.
Tonight, you are going to see four amazing pianists...
Play the piano.
Yeah. Come on, then.
This is the pianists' last chance to rehearse before performing
in front of an audience of thousands.
Oh, my God!
That's a bit crazy!
Shall we go this way, yeah?
We've got a show to put together. It's going to be excellent.
Cannot wait.
Shitting it.
Normally, when you prepare for, like, a big show,
it's all about fireworks and being loud. Yeah. Yeah.
And being flashy. Not this one. Yeah. Not this one.
This is about nuance and subtlety and detail.
SEAN PLAYS DELICATELY
And Sean was the biggest risk and... All over the place.
It was all over the place
but he realised that, by being a little bit more controlled,
that he could be so much more expressive as a performer.
SEAN PLAYS GENTLY
SEAN PLAYS WITH URGENCY
It's so organised now. Yeah, exactly.
Stopped all this. Yeah.
And I hear so much humour there...
..also, you know? So much humour, so much happiness,
so much sadness, so much discipline. Yeah.
So much emotion.
It's a real piece of art. What has happened, Sean?
LUCY PLAYS SUBTLY
Back in London, when we first met
Jay and Sean and, obviously, she couldn't be there.
To watch her this morning - that was powerful.
And I was sat there
and, honestly, it just seems like she's at another level.
I'm hearing so many new things... From you.
No, no... She remembered everything you said.
It's fantastic!
Oh, that was mind-blowing.
I could, I could, literally... I could watch her for hours.
I'll burst into tears.
Honestly, mate, I actually got fully...like, fully emotional.
Yeah, I know, mate. Fully.
Take a moment, Danny, man. I know, mate. It's...
WHISPERS: Bro, the way she plays.
The way that she plays. Yeah.
MIKA: Lang Lang, show people how to take a bow
at the Royal Festival Hall.
Like, you do this. He's taking a bow.
Lang Lang's bowing. Oh, oh, sorry.
She wants to feel you. This is Lang Lang. Yeah. So, here.
He's doing a bow. Yeah.
That's what you're going to do. Yeah. There we go. Applause. Yeah.
When there's applause, yeah. OK, is that good? Yeah?
For his performance, Jay has agreed with Mika
to make another change to his song.
Are we, uh, bringing the other musicians in?
SINGERS: # Sunshine... #
That is the chorus. That's sick!
MIKA: All right, cool.
# Sunlight... #
It's not easy for Jay
because this is his first time working with the choir.
Ah! Yeah, so, so he... So, that's something new to learn.
Yeah. He has to...to kind of balance and to lead.
To lead. To lead.
But not with his voice. But with the piano. With the piano.
Which is not that easy.
You need to be the boss.
It's up to you, and you've got about 18 hours
to assume that responsibility now.
To have strings alongside something I've written,
it's been like a childhood dream.
So, to have... Yeah, to be able to hear this in a second,
I don't think I'm fully prepped for it so...
# And so my days
# Hmm, turned into weeks... #
Wow!
This is the same string quartet
that plays on pretty much all the finest pop, folk, rock albums
coming out of London right now.
And they're going to treat him exactly the same way
that they're going to treat Chris Martin or Michael Kiwanuka.
So I've got... That's...That's better. That's good. The first time
you did it was better. Yes, it was.
It was a little slower. Shall we go one more? And it's really poignant.
When you slow it down, everyone's going to listen to every note. Yeah.
So, it really works. It draws their attention back to you. Cool.
There's this thing about the stage.
It doesn't matter whether this is
your second gig... Yeah. ..or whether you're Coldplay -
once you're on the stage, everyone's treated the same.
Everybody's treated the same, yeah.
# Cos maybe I could learn to... #
I've done the wrong thing. Sorry.
I've...I've played the wrong, erm...
I've played the... I've sang the wrong bit. Sorry.
It's the day of the concert.
Do you see what that says?
It's the Artists' Entrance.
So, I take you in here
and you are following in some extraordinary footsteps.
That's what I will be doing. THEY LAUGH
And I'm excited to hear that, as well.
That is exactly what I'll be doing!
All the greatest world musicians played on that stage.
The Royal Festival Hall is so iconic.
Good. One...
Good girl. Another one. Yeah. Yeah.
Even professional musicians get really nervous
when they perform there, by the way. I just want you to know.
I mean, I play several times there. You do the top part.
INDISTINCT
Mm-hm.
Every time I want to bring the best and I get a little bit nervous.
I mean, seriously, it's not an easy place to perform.
OK, so this is the way we come.
Right.
Jesus!
Wow!
Wow! It's not small, that, is it? It's not small!
Wow!
Jesus Christ!
That's...That's...
That's sick!
Look at the size of it, mate. Oh, my God!
It's amazing.
This room is enormous.
Do you feel how big the sound is when I do this? Listen.
CLAP ECHOES
Mika - big clap.
It's a really big hall. Do you see?
So, the sound is really beautiful.
Every single part of the architecture is designed for sound.
It's about having absolutely perfect sound,
no matter where you're sitting in the venue.
So, we're going to be having, like, a lighting arrangement
as we're playing - is that correct?
Yeah. So, in the evening, the audience parts will be much darker.
You'll still see them.
It's kind of like Monet's painting, you know - it's very blurry.
LAUGHTER
Yeah, but you'll still see them.
This is all going to become real and full of people.
So, take it all in.
Get as scared as possible now
so, then, later, you can just enjoy it... That... ..as much as possible.
That's what I was trying to say - ride those nerves now
and, then, tonight it's just you
and the piano.
Live in Festival Hall. Yeah.
Yeah, live at the Festival Hall. Absolutely! Oh, wow!
One, two, two - ladies and gents, can you hear me?
CHEERING
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Royal Festival Hall
and to the final of The Piano.
We were both just saying how fortunate we feel
to have been part of this. Yeah.
It's been really...
Our time of life, you know?
What do you mean OUR time?
You're nowhere near my time of life!
At the train station, people can come over,
I guess, like, if they want to, if they want to see it.
Right? But, like, in here,
it's like everyone has, like, booked tickets to come here and that.
So, like, you know that there's going to be a lot of people there.
MIKA DOES VOCAL EXERCISES
I'm nervous for them but I'm even more excited.
OK. OK, let's go.
Sorry about the hold-up.
Breathing in and out.
And just enjoy. That's it.
Yeah, they will do it beautifully.
In all honesty, I'm even nervous for Claudia.
I'm going to be sick on myself.
This place, it's scary even for someone like her
who's done absolutely everything in this country.
TECHNICIAN: We're all set. Standing by.
COMPERE: Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome your host - Claudia Winkleman!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Good evening!
KNOCK ON DOOR Ready to go side of stage.
This story started about a year ago
when we invited amateur pianists just to come to train stations
and give it a go.
What they didn't know is that they were being secretly watched
by two of the most respected
and loved piano performers in the world today.
They are Mika and Lang Lang.
Ladies and gentlemen,
please go nuts
for the one and only Mika!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
MIKA PLAYS: Grace Kelly
# I could be brown, I could be blue violet sky
# I could hurtful, I could be purple I could be anything you like
# Gotta be green, gotta be mean Gotta be everything more
# Why don't you like me? Why don't you like me? Walk out the door... #
That's right. We're going to up the steps now, into the wings.
You ready?
CHEERING
Good evening, everybody.
My new best friend -
Lang Lang, ladies and gentlemen!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
You all right, boys?
Yeah, yeah. They're on your side.
Enjoy it now.
First, it's Jay, and then Lucy.
LANG LANG PLAYS: Ritual Fire Dance by Manuel de Falla
It's pretty surreal, to be fair,
watching them and, then, to think
that I'm coming out after them is just mind-blowing. It's... Yeah.
CHEERING
Lang Lang and Mika!
So, before we meet our four amateurs,
you saw over 80 pianists -
they are here with us tonight.
Please will you stand up, all of you, for a round of applause.
These were our pianists.
Hi, Harry!
Thank you so much for playing then
and for being with us tonight.
Talk to me about the performance of the night.
You would like to mark one of our amateurs this evening.
So, there is no winner as such.
In a performance, inevitably, there will be some magic that happens.
We're just going to tip our hat and recognise it
and underline it with the performance of the night.
It's almost our provocation -
make magic.
This is an incredible opportunity.
Now, take us somewhere special.
Ladies and gentlemen, Lang Lang and Mika!
We're going to ask you, please, to take to your seats.
Thank you, Claudia.
You've got three minutes. All right? Yeah.
So, we started off at St Pancras and we met Jay.
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's sort of happened to me
in the last couple of months.
Thank you.
# I guess I don't know a thing about living
# Good and the bad... #
20 seconds, yeah? 20 seconds.
Remember the end - just take your time.
Oh, my God!
Yeah.
Please welcome to the stage,
it's Jay!
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
Fucking hell, man!
Woo!
Fucking hell!
Woo!
Thank you.
All right, I ain't going to do much speaking.
I'm just going to get straight to it.
This is my song, A Heart That's Cold.
All right.
# A heart that's cold She saw me crying
# Now she's on a roll and she saw me dying
# Yeah, she's all alone Thinks she's flying
# We lost what we had Please know I'm trying
# No
# She's stopped on a road and she can't let him go
# She's taken my heart Now she's taken her soul
# Oh, yeah
# We're heading away from the way we're going
# She's heading to hellfire and you know
# Now that we find it in time
# Before then I'm losing my mind
# I've always said that I'd take you places you want to go
# Then I'll be waiting
# I never said we'd be forever
# She's always dreamed we'd be together
# Cold, yeah
# It's all right Yeah
# I hope to find an angel from your sunlight
# Yea-ah-eah
# Moonlight... #
Go on, son!
# She's always told me that I'm happy... #
Ah, his foot's going as well - he's enjoying it!
# Your sunshine, yeah
# Go and live a fine life
# Yea-ah-eah... #
Jay playing the piano.
# All my life all I wanted was the fame
# And now I'm looking in the mirror Man, I know it's gonna change
# It's kind of mad I feel this lost I was afraid
# Now, I'm sitting on this piano and I'm playing on this stage
# Time's ticking out of chances I have one left
# I had a vision I'm going to head off through the sunset
# I said I love you like no other Now I let you go
# Hard to keep the straight face when you're on the road
# And everyone around is changing but you're changing slow
# You try and make it to the end You never made it home
# Home All right
# Yeah
# Hope to find an angel from that... #
Oh, yes.
# All right
# Yeah, moonlight she rocks She's always told me
# That-a your heartbeat don't stop
# She's been heading for the Your sunshine, yeah
# All right, all right... #
CHEERING
Yeah! Woo!
Good on you, son!
And meet my choir.
Thank you.
Thank you. That was brilliant.
Woo!
Damn, man!
Woo!
How was that?
Oh! Could've went better, I feel like.
It was a bit rusty but... I was a bit rusty that time
but I thought it was good. Yeah. Glad I've actually done it, though.
Can we have another round of applause for Jay?
With his own composition.
Phew! Thank you, everyone. That was brilliant.
Must feel so good. Yeah, I feel good.
You did amazing. Well done.
Thank you. Thank you, Laura.
So, next we went to Leeds.
And I cannot wait for you to meet Lucy.
I'm more nervous, actually, for her.
When she was born, we were told that there was something wrong.
It's sensory so it can be mental health. Yeah. It can be...
Getting ready to go onstage. Stand up. Yeah, stand up. Come on, then.
You've really been through it,
but there is one thing that makes Lucy feel calm and happy.
The piano.
Nervous.
Nervous for her.
You know what? Yeah?
I think she's going to be great. Yeah, great.
I think she's going to be amazing.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Ready?
Lucy.
Please welcome Lucy and her teacher, Daniel.
We're nearly at the piano.
Nearly at the piano. Hold your cane properly.
Hold your cane properly.
Well done. Holding it properly.
Hold your cane properly. OK.
Right, nearly at the piano.
Get ready. There's the piano stool.
WHISPERS: OK, treasure.
Now, find the pedal.
Find the pedal.
OK. Now, wait. Wait.
That's right.
Come on, Lucy!
Come on, baby.
All right. Here we go.
Sean.
Danny.
Claudia.
Oh, Lucy!
Mate.
God!
Wow!
Mummy's here. That's right, yes. Mummy's here. Yeah.
It's so delicate.
Wow!
Bravo! Bravo!
Oh, my God!
Bravo! Bravo!
Can I have a look?
Oh!
Oh, my God!
Another bow. Yay!
Look at how happy she is as well. I've not seen her smile like that
throughout the whole thing.
Oh, my God! I can't believe it.
Isn't that amazing?
She's unreal.
Bless her.
Well done, Lucy. That was brilliant.
I'm so proud of you. Well done, treasure.
Well done, you were brilliant.
Lucy!
Lucy you just got a standing ovation. Yay! Yeah.
Oh, well done! Well done!
Ladies and gentlemen, that is Lucy.
THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
Unreal. Tell me about it.
You were amazing! You were incredible!
Erm, yeah, I am, actually. Yeah.
It's... But, mind you,
Lucy's playing always has that effect on me.
So it's, erm... Cos it's wonderful.
It's just a fabulous thing that
makes you glad to be alive, really.
Incredible!
Yeah, you did get a big...
You got more than a big round of applause, darling.
Next, we went to Glasgow
and we met the very wonderful Sean.
Thank you.
Tell me all about you and the piano.
Ah, well, I'm 26 now so I've been playing the piano for 20 years
and it's, erm, very important to me.
Good luck.
You OK? 30 seconds.
He's letting us into his head. Yeah.
You know, we're literally stepping into this guy's brain.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage - Sean!
Enjoy it.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Wow!
Oh, brilliant!
Woo!
Thank you. Thank you so much for being here.
It certainly means a lot to myself.
Oh! Watching Lucy play certainly makes me emotional, I have to say.
Lucy, it's Claudia.
You were amazing!
You see, I am indeed also on the autistic spectrum.
There's a lot of people that have our condition
but yet you're able to see us here because we're able to make a noise.
But there's a lot of us that don't.
Beautiful.
Throughout my life, emotion - to understand it
and to communicate it has been extremely important to me
and it's why music has been my paramount fascination.
And today I cannot wait to play for you
my favourite instrument. Oh, yes!
Fantastic.
Woo!
This composition I'm about to play for you is called Meat Machine
and I, uh, hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I do playing it.
OK.
There you go, man. Yeah.
Love this one. I love that, yeah. Yeah. It's sick, innit? Yeah.
Go on, son.
CHEERING
Oh, bless him!
Bravo!
Very good. Excellent. Super solid. So... Oh, my God! So solid.
Ladies and gentlemen, one more time for Sean.
CHEERING
And when's the next one? When's the next show?
It was too short - it's not enough time.
More! I have more pieces! Let's go!
It's time for our final amateur pianist.
We went to Birmingham and I cannot wait for you to meet Danny.
I lost my father to suicide when I was nine years old
which completely changed my course through... through life.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage - Danny!
Good luck, Danny! Thank you very much.
Good luck.
You'll be brill.
20 seconds.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage - Danny!
Go on. Good luck! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
So, hello, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with you this evening.
In order for this piece of music to really do its job,
I think it's important that I give some context
as to why it was written.
A few years ago, after losing a parent to suicide, I was faced
with my own battle with depression and anxiety
and things got pretty dark.
If I could travel back in time and visit 20-year-old Daniel
and give him something, anything,
that could provide him with some hope,
it would be what I'm about to play for you guys in a moment.
Oh, my God! It makes me cry.
And, finally, I'd also like to dedicate this performance
to a very special lady in this room who's been waiting a long time
to see me on a stage like this.
So, if everyone can give a round of applause to my mum,
that'd be brilliant.
Thank you very much.
Oh, my God! Oh!
SHE CLEARS HER THROAT
This song is called Learn To Live.
# And cos I fell
# So far beneath
# I thought these heights I would never reach
# And so my days turned into weeks
# I was so tired from life but I could barely sleep
# What if I found the words to speak
# And put down all this pain?
# And maybe I'd find a life worth living calling out my name
# What if I've learned I'm tired of running
# From what I can't escape?
# Cos maybe I can paint the skies
# From these tears I cry
# Maybe I could learn to live
Mm-mm
# Maybe I could learn to live Hi-ni-ni
# Cos maybe I can paint the skies
# From these tears I've cried
# Maybe I can paint the sky
# Hey, you
# With you. #
Beautiful. Beautiful.
CHEERING
That was amazing! Thought that was amazing, yeah.
Really emotional. Yeah, I'm very proud of him, very proud of him.
Thank you very much. Cheers. Yay! Thank you.
Yeah, childhood dreams! I'm thinking,
like, where's the next one coming from now?
Um, that's where my head's going because, again, that was, erm,
that was special. Really, really, really, really, really special.
I just want to be out there again.
Wow! Wow! What an amazing concert! You did it!
Yay! Well done!
Lucy! My God!
Who was your favourite performance of the night?
Oh!
We were just discussing it.
Ooh, erm, that's difficult.
Erm...
Beautiful!
My favourite has been...Sean, I think.
Yeah, cos I really like his style of music.
He reminds me of one of my favourite creators.
Brilliant! I really appreciate that.
You did so well! Well done!
I think I'd have to say Lucy.
Lucy, you were amazing. Ah, thank you, Lang Lang. Amazing.
We were saying it's impossible to choose... You can't.
..because they're all so special in different ways.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
No, darling. You were brilliant. That was special.
That was brilliant, Daniel. Did you enjoy it? It was fantastic.
Gorgeous song. I appreciate that.
She loved it, too. Good. Yeah.
While our pianists wait backstage...
What a night! What a performance!
..Mika and Lang Lang have a decision to make.
You must be immensely proud
but you're going to have to - I bet you regret it now -
choose a performance of the night.
Do you? A bit. A bit.
The audience reactions were slightly different.
You felt like the audience wanted to hug... Yeah.
..the performer. Yeah. Like with Jay.
Mate, you need to just get a demo or something and send it. Yeah, I do.
Cos I'm going to miss listening to you. Oh, man!
And they really relished the humour of someone like Sean. Sean.
And, also, his technical prowess. Yeah.
And then, there was really surprising reactions for Danny.
Someone told me you'll only be able to see row four. I saw everyone!
Yeah, every single... Like, "Hi, mate. You all right?"
It was real, it was authentic. You can't cheat. Yes.
On an acoustic setting, there's no lying. You can't hide anything here.
And, then, that moment happened
that not a single person will ever forget.
Lucy. Lucy. Yeah.
Can't cry with this much eyeliner on? But, of course.
How are you feeling? Claudia first. Claudia first!
She is a real genius, I would say. Yeah. And her teacher is phenomenal.
This is kind of a life-experience concert. A life-changing concert.
Yeah, life-changing concert.
Yeah.You can imagine... KNOCK ON DOOR
Guys, we really do need you now... OK. OK.
We're ready. OK. Let's do this.
Yeah, good luck also. Don't ever say that! I told you, we never say that!
You have to say break a leg. Oh, yeah. Come on, babes.
THEY LAUGH
Lucy was taking everything in
and she thought you were all amazing.
Hmm. She did. No, honestly, Sean, she did.
I was crying. I was literally. Aw, Sean!
We were listening and watching you
and we thought you were, all of you, amazing.
Please welcome back to the stage
Mika, Lang Lang and our performers Jay, Lucy, Sean and Danny.
CHEERING
Can everyone also please just hello to Lucy's mum? Thank you.
APPLAUSE
Erm, Mika and Lang Lang, you chose
these four brilliant amateur pianists. How do you think they did?
I think they were extraordinary. We feel very lucky to have been able
to share this experience with the four of you.
You played so wonderful tonight.
Really. I mean, it touched our heart.
I know you wanted to give somebody performance of the night -
just as a nod, if you like.
Yes, and it was about just highlighting
if something extraordinary was to happen,
something that no-one would forget.
No-one on this stage but also no-one in the audience. And that happened.
So, we have chosen the person. Yes.
And that person is...
Lucy!
CHEERING
I'm going to give these to you. Yeah. Is that OK? Yeah. Thank you.
Congratulations, Lucy. Thank you! That was fabulous. Thank you.
Good girl! You're welcome.
Our four brilliant pianists have worked so hard
and we wanted to give them something else. Of course.
AUDIENCE LAUGHS
We, erm, we realised they don't have a piano at home.
Exactly. They only plays keyboard.
Erm, and, erm...
So, we decided that the best thing is to have a piano at home
for each and every one of you.
And so we're gifting you each a piano.
Whoa!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
You deserve it.
Appreciate that, Lang Lang, so much, mate. Wow!
Danny, Sean, Lucy and Jay, thank you so much.
One last round of applause please for our finalists.
CHEERING
# This is the way you left me I'm not pretending
# No hope, no love, no glory No happy ending... #
Are you joking me? A piano!
Are you joking me? An actual piano?
Yes!
An actual piano? A real one? What?!
Ooh! Sorry, but that's crazy!
# Wake up in the morning, stumble on my life... #
Lucy, well done. Well done, Lucy.
It's Danny - congratulations! Amazing. Wonderful. Thank you.
Amazing, wonderful. Amazing wonderful, you are, indeed.
Yay! Congratulations.
# No hope, no love, no glory Happy ending's gone
# And I...
I've learnt so much from it, that's the best thing.
Like, I'm just going to take so much home with me.
This ain't the end of anything,
this is the start for me - that's what I'm saying.
It means the world to me for us to be able to show people
the beauty and the...the multi-faceted, the depth, you know?
# And I... #
To learn from other musicians and to be involved in that process,
and then to have this at the end, it still feels very, very surreal.
Genuinely won't ever forget it for my entire life.
I just want to be back out there. Genuinely.
# Just a little bit of love
# With a little bit of love... #
I am beyond proud of my little girl - beyond proud.
Oh, there's a big truck outside.
JAY: And here it is.
# No happy ending. #
Bravo.
MUSIC: Arabesques, L. 66 No.1 In E Andantino con moto
Subtitles by Red Bee Media