01x04 - Birmingham New Street

[bunniefuu]

This programme contains references
to drug taking and discussions

about anorexia and suicide which
some viewers might find upsetting.

We are at Birmingham New Street,

and we have invited
some brilliant amateur pianists

to come and play this for
all those who are in the station.

This is The Piano.

So our amateurs think they're
just playing

for those people who are in
the station

but actually hidden away
in a secret location,

an empty fast-food restaurant,
are two of

the world's greatest piano
performers, Lang Lang and Mika.

I missed you. I've missed you.
Where have you been?

Are you good? Yeah, good.

Today Lang Lang
and Mika will need to choose

the final undiscovered pianist

to perform in their unique concert
at the Royal Festival Hall.

This is the kind of station
you'd see in China, you know.

Yeah, yeah, it's huge, yeah.
It's massive.

This is really Grand Central.

There's literally
every kind of shop.

So the competition's kind of high,

because to get people's attention
is quite something.

I know, this is hard for them.

Like where are you gonna go,
are you gonna get a taco,

are you gonna get a handbag or
listen to someone playing the piano?

Hello! Hi. Hi. Boys.
Welcome to our hideout.

Thank you, I love this.
What do you think?

They'll never know that you're here.

You're creating the final piece now.
Yes.

What do you want
Birmingham to give you?

We already have some
really wonderful musicians already.

Lucy, one of the strongest
musical moments

we've experienced in recent years.

Yeah. Yeah. Both of us.
Yeah. We had tears.

Sean. Quite unique,

and he's not completely aware
of his music abilities.

We have rap with Jay.

But we don't have a singer there.
We don't have a singer.

What would be amazing would be
someone who could sing and...

Play in the same level.
Yeah, in harmony.

You couldn't take one away
from the other. Yeah. Yeah.

And that's one thing
that we have with Jay.

The rap on its own is not as good,
the piano on its own is not as good.

Put the two together,
you've got something magical. OK.

But if we could find someone
who's actually singing, it'd be
interesting. We're greedy.

OK. I'm off. We're hungry. Goodbye.

My name's Matthew. I'm 34 years old
from Wolverhampton.

Hello, Matthew. Hey, Claudia.
How are you? Lovely to meet you.

So lovely to meet you.
Have a seat, please.
Thank you very much, thank you.

Now you feel quite passionate
about pianos, don't you?

Very much so. Yeah, it's my life.

When I first started,
I went to this piano teacher,

and they discovered I had
this rare gift of perfect pitch.

Perfect pitch!

HE WHISTLES
Hey!

I don't have perfect pitch,
I have perfectly pitched teeth.

That's good enough.

If I look away and
you press a note so... OK.

That's an A. That's a B.

Right, OK, hold on.

That's a D. How do you know that?

It's just a sense to me.

I was the age of five when
I went to my first piano lesson.

It was like opening
a whole new world.

Because I lost the sight
from when I was born,

the hearing has made up for that.

And I can remember pressing
the notes for the first time

and discovering
this wonderful sound.

I work as a piano tuner.

And I go across the West Midlands,
and I service all the pianos.

When we press these two notes
like this...

..very faintly, there's another
note going on which is going...

I'm gonna press that again,
see if you can hear it.

It's extremely faint.
And that's what I'm listening to

basically when I'm tuning the piano.

I feel like keys have got a meaning.

They're not just pitches.
It's like another language.

It's like another form
of communication.

I can express emotions through
those keys.

HE PLAYS PIANO

Nice ornamentations.
Yeah, it's like Celtic meets Disney.

CONTINUES PLAYING PIANO

Really charming. He got some chops.

When I'm playing this song,
I immediately reflect back

to when I first started
learning the piano.

Going through school,
going through life,

the different break-ups from,
you know, childhood sweethearts

and the loss of loved ones.

It's both happy
and sad moments as well.

Change!

That's a key change.

I don't know how to describe
his technique.

Seriously, Lang Lang, this is like
he could be composing music for...

This sounds like, uh, Pirates... For
a computer game. ..Of Caribbean.

I like that one. He's good with it
because he... Arpeggio going down.

Exactly. Like da-da-da-de-de-de.
Like, uh, Fantasia. Yeah.

APPLAUSE

Matthew, that was amazing!
Thank you very much, Claudia.

It was. So your parents are
absolutely beside themselves there.

Thank you. There is a massive crowd
here. That's wonderful.

When you said, "I'm gonna play
my own composition,"

I thought it was gonna be like,
I dunno, a bit polite.

That, that was very powerful.

All the different emotions. Yeah.
Yeah. All of them.

I kind of like
the over-theatrical nature of it.

You know, like, tremolo
in the bass kind of octaves.

And then changing the key.

What I hear in my head,

transfer that through my fingers
to the piano.

And to have the public react like
that was spell bounding,

just amazing.

I'm thinking maybe we should keep
him as a one of the candidate.

I think he definitely is
to consider. Yeah.

SHENEL: Performing on street pianos
isn't something

I've done much before.

But I have a younger brother
who also plays the piano,

so when we see a public piano,
we'll both play around on it.

But I've never done a proper
performance on a street piano.

I'm curious.

SHE PLAYS PIANO

# Tastes like strawberries
on a summer evening

# And it sounds just like a song

# I want more berries
and that summer feeling... #

I like her. I like her a lot.

This is a beautiful moment.

# Breathe me in

# Breathe me out

# I don't know
if I could ever go without

# I'm just thinking out loud,
I don't know... #

Close your eyes,
and you are not in a station.

# Go without watermelon sugar high

# Watermelon sugar high

# Watermelon sugar high

# Watermelon sugar high

# I just wanna taste it,
I just wanna taste it... #

Her voice is quite amazing.
Everything.

Just the simplicity,
even the piano's so basic,

but it's there for a reason.

# Tastes like strawberries
on a summer evening

# Watermelon sugar high. #

You're so good! Thank you.
It was so good.

This is a beautiful moment. Wow.

And all these people were watching.
You have such a beautiful voice.

Thank you.

This is the first singer

really touched my heart
from the first phase.

Very soulful, you know, it's like
everything is... Effortlessly.

Yeah, it's just right there,
I mean,

you feel the beautiful mood,
beautiful emotion,

and the voice has come
from the heart. Mm-hm.

I sort of had trouble
hearing myself.

It sounded strange
on the microphone.

To me anyway.

But, yeah, I hope it went OK.

Enormous potential. Yeah.

And it could be amazing at
the Royal Festival Hall. Yes.

In all its simplicity and purity.

Or...we could be plucking someone
way too soon, before they're ready.

The piano I mean,
obviously it's not there,

but for this voice it's perfect.

It's such good raw material. Mm-hm.

So is it ready?
Or can we get it ready?

Let's see, I don't know.

# All that shaking going on

# Well, shake, baby, shake... #

The street pianists
at Birmingham New Street Station

don't know it,
but Lang Lang and Mika are watching.

It's a good voice. Yeah. Very nice.

And he's projecting. Yeah.
He's like a street singer.

They're looking
for one last performer

for their special concert
at London's Royal Festival Hall.

I'm performing a song called
Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On.

It makes you move, you know,
that's why I love playing it.

It's from the 1950s.
I was born in the wrong era.

# So now shake!

# Oh, shake, baby, come on, baby! #

Yeah, I just love rocking, man,
you know.

You know what the shaking
really means? Shaking? Shake.

Yeah. Think about it.

Ah, OK. Ha-ha.

ANNOUNCEMENT: For the purposes of
security and safety please note that

Birmingham New Street Station
operates 24-hour CCTV monitoring.

My name's Ciana Marie, and I'm
from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

How are you? You look amazing.
Thank you. I'm Claudia.

Nice to meet you. Lovely to meet
you. Tell me about you and piano.

It's probably like the reason
I'm still here today.

It's played such
a big part in my life.

It's always the thing, even like
my boyfriend whenever I'm...

He's here. Yeah, there he is.

Whenever I'm... Feeling a bit wobbly
about something?

Yeah, and he'll just be like,
"Just play piano."

This is where we're gonna start.
One.

So I teach piano for work.
And the kids are just amazing.

It sounds like doh-ray-me.
Doesn't it?

I think I teach because
I never really appreciated

what my teachers were doing for me.

In school, I was always the girl
that played piano and I loved that.

I didn't like that
that was taken away from me.

When I was 16,
I never thought I was fat.

It was to do with
this deeper feeling inside of me

which I just knew wasn't right.

When I used to try and forget
about the world,

I'd use my anorexia for that.

Counting calories and
doing all this horrible bad stuff.

Such a dark time.

I just thought there was no beyond.

I didn't even know if I would be
able to play the piano again.

Physically, I just wasn't able.

And I really doubted if
I would survive at times.

I remember being upset that my
A-levels were gonna be impacted.

But then they said I couldn't play
the piano and that's when I got mad.

It was the thing that gave me
that kick-start to get better.

It was something that I just knew
I couldn't live without.

Then things started to happen.

I got into uni, which myself
and a lot of my family

and friends didn't think
was gonna happen.

I got a piano teaching job,
so I have to stay well.

I'm all good now and that feeling of
accomplishment when I play the piano

will always be so much better
than the false accomplishment

that my eating disorder
always gave me. Isn't that amazing?

It's a beautiful way
of describing it,

that when you play, you feel
genuinely good about yourself. Yeah.

Such a great message and
it's so perfectly articulated. Yeah.

Oh!

Tchaikovsky.

It's an arrangement of Swan Lake.

Interesting.
Try to break the big phrase.

She's trying to do
some interesting harmonies...

Mm-hm. ..on top of
the Tchaikovsky original work.

Definitely the ideas are there, and
the fingers are connected to...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. ..the heart.

Yeah. Her emotion's connected.

When I still get those thoughts that
come in, even though they're nowhere

near as prominent as what they were
when I was younger,

it is always music and the piano

that is the thing
that keeps me going.

Such a beautiful way to
just switch off,

have whatever that voice is
inside of you...gone.

There's always an outlet.
You know, I've found mine in piano,

and I hope that people who are going
through dark times find theirs.

Whatever it is.

Amazing. Thank you.
You were so brilliant.

Is the piano going to be part
of her life in the future? Yes.

Will that ever change? No.

Is she what the audience should
be seeing onstage

at the Royal Festival Hall?
I'm not sure. Me too.

Bye, Ciana, bye, darling.

But she is the definition
of somebody who has found

a way of giving herself value
through the piano. Yes.

Hi. She's very cute.

No, don't be sad.
I don't want you to be sad.

Who is the next?

What are you drinking? What is that
disgusting grey purple junk?

It's taro juice. What is that?

It's like potato, sweet potato.

You're drinking sweet potato juice?
Yeah, something like that.

Yeah, you...you've got a problem.

I mean you may be talented,
but you got terrible taste.

Romeo meets Juliet!

And then after that...

..we all know how that story ended.
Yeah.

I'm originally from Zagreb, Croatia.

For living, I'm a maths lecturer.

I teach at
the University of Warwick.

Maths and music,
they have this common feature

of looking for patterns
and structure.

There's quite a bit of
general similarity between them.

At least that's how I see it.

# La-la-la-dee-da...

It's a beautiful shape.

It's beautiful. I agree.
It is. He's singing. Yeah.

I like it very much. Listen to this.

If you look at the image,
it's almost the perfect soundtrack

to this kind of moment
in the station. Hmm.

No, it's great. With people walking
by living their life, he's playing.

PIANO CONTINUES

Very gentle, he plays beautifully.

He plays with a certain sensitivity.
Very beautiful, yeah. Absolutely.

So good. Thank you so much.
Did it feel good?

Oh, yes, yes. Beautiful.

The way he played is
quite intellectual.

The dynamics was there.

It was fantastic. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. OK, bye-bye.

He's the best pianist from today.

I think this is a good candidate
for Festival Hall.

You're right, he is playing well.
This is, this is cool.

But he could play so much better.

He hasn't gone all the way yet,
musically speaking.

OK, so... OK, Festival Hall
would be like his first real date.

Yeah. He's just been getting ready
for a while.

It was a first date
and a first dance

that inspired our next pianist.

My name is Gillian Thomas,
but I'm called Gilly.

I'm 81, and I live in the Midlands
at the moment,

but I was born in South Wales,
in Swansea.

Hello, Gilly. Nice to meet you.

Lovely to meet you.
Come and have a seat.

Darling, let's go this way. Are we
allowed to have a little chat?

Oh, right! Is that annoying?

No, I thought
you were gonna play a duet.

No, you would not want that.

Tell me about your husband.
Well, I fell in love very quickly.

Did you? How quickly? Ooh...
In five minutes? That day.

Yeah, that'll do.

I met my husband walking along
a beach in Gower.

Very good-looking -
well, I thought so.

Very good-looking, and he offered
to buy me a cup of tea,

and he didn't have any money.

We discovered that we liked
a lot of the same things.

And we went to the cinema
every Saturday

till we got married
seven years later.

I would've married him after
six weeks if he'd have had me.

Where he was, the sun shone,

and then I had my daughter Rachel
and my other daughter Maria.

And I had a magic love affair.

He had terminal prostate cancer.
He was only 54.

Far too young,
and it was robbing the girls.

What do you have there?

Oh, this is very precious,
it's a tape of my husband and I

doing our impression
of Desert Island Discs.

Me being his interviewer,
Sue Lawley,

John's Thomas Evans whatever,
and he was my castaway.

We made it about six months
before he actually died.

One wet Sunday.
It's very romantic, Gilly.

We were very romantic.

A lovely boy, he was.

Just talk into it. It's on.

Hello!

Hello, Gilly.

Tell me. Mm-hm, yes, Gilly?

Has music always been
a big part of your life?

Very big.

He was ill then,
and he knew he was going to go,

so I said you'd better
do this for me,

so I've got it to listen to
when you've gone.

In my teens,
I met this blonde bombshell.

We discovered between us
that we did like classical music.

After he died, I think I have it on
nearly every day.

You know, just the joy,
the comfort of hearing his voice.

And talking to him really, saying,
"Well, where on earth are you?

"Why did you go?
Thought you were gonna get better."

Did you play an instrument
when you were young or sing?

I learned to play the piano.

How do you feel listening to that?

Wishing he was here,
and wishing he was in there,

and wishing he'd make me
another cup of tea!

No, it doesn't seem 29 years
since he's gone.

I won't let him go, will I, really?

You get what you get in this life,
don't you? You do.

Anyway he went to university,
he asked me to go the ball.

We danced to the tune
I'm going to play. Ah.

Which is the Nearness Of You.

And this was your first dance
with your husband? Yes.

Oh, wow! First dance.

I was very much in love
with him then. Very much.

How long were you married? 30 years,
and he was taken ill and gone.

I'm so sorry. Yes. But I was
very happy for 30 years. Yes.

And a lot of people don't have that,
do they?

So I'm trying to
make the best of it.

Ella Fitzgerald sang this song.

It's like one of her big hits.

She has everything.
She plays every notes correct,

but very peaceful in a way,
very comfortable.

With a lot of restraint too,
it's like...

..I'm not going to be overdramatic
or melodramatic,

I'm just gonna play this nice tune.

Maybe in her heart this is the style
that she's bringing emotion. Yeah.

Do you ever think about him
when you're playing the piano?

When I play,
I'm looking at the piano, aren't I?

So I can have anybody
I like up here, can't I?

So I could get him back,
couldn't I, up to a point?

So I suppose...I use music a lot
as company, you know. Yeah.

Gilly, that was so beautiful. Look!
Was it all right?

Better than all right.
It was beautiful.

The idea of stepping into her life
was so good. Was beautiful story.

You were magnificent. Bye, darling.

Well, I tried my best.

I mean, if I heard it, I'd criticise
myself, wouldn't I, a little bit?

But I think everybody is
so positive,

I can't but feel up about it all,
you know, it's lovely.

The piano is something that
you can't remove from her life,

and who are we to ever judge
or question? Yes.

That needs no judgment. Right.

That needs no comment.
No need for judgment.

I love her. But we're not spoilt
for choice yet. We need something.

At Birmingham New Street Station,

Lang Lang and Mika are still
searching for a final pianist

to perform at
the Royal Festival Hall.

Wherever I go past the station
and there's a piano,

I will literally get up
and play the piano.

It's never me performing,
it's literally me practising.

It's like football -
you see a football, you kick it.

I see a piano, I'm gonna play it.

# Running like she's running
from the police

# And running like
she's running for a trophy

# But a queen's always got
a crown on her head... #

I'm performing one of my own songs
called Walking Running.

I'd say I love ballads the most.

It's what I sort of grew up
wanting to do.

And I sort of grew up
singing love songs quite a lot.

I do love the slow mellow sound.

# But this girl's all over me

# She keeps running through my mind,
through my mind

# And I wanna be
everything you wanted from me

# And I wanna hold my baby
till she's old

# And I wanna stay with this girl
till the next day

# And she keeps running through
my mind, through my mind... #

Nice change.

Good harmonic changes.
Yeah. It's more like a meditation,

he's searching something to
get him feel better or something.

A kind of flow of consciousness.
Yeah.

I actually like it.
Some nice moment, actually.

OK, let's go back to that thing
about take away the voice.

Is the piano better?
In this case, yes. Piano is better.

Put in the voice,
the equilibrium's not quite right.

ANNOUNCEMENT:
May I have your attention, please?

Toilet facilities in the green zone
are out of use until further notice.

Who's next?

Is this her? Here she is.

Waiting for someone else. No, OK.

No!

But for the first time
at Birmingham New Street,

we're not waiting for a pianist.

Hi! Hi. Hi.

We're waiting for two.

We have a duet!

Hi, Alisa. Sasha. Hi, Sasha.
Come and have a seat. Sasha,
do you wanna sit in the middle?

Yeah, sure. So, you two,
you are sisters. Mm-hm.

Yeah, 17 and 14. Yeah.
Do you get along as sisters?

Ah, usual... Mostly.
..sibling rivalry, I guess.

We share a room, uh,
she steals my clothes, usually.

Yeah. And it takes up some space,
so I need to study,

but apart from that,
we're all good!

This is all very normal,
just so you know. Yeah, just. Yeah.

OK and do you ever play together?
Um... No. We've tried before.

Tried, yeah, but we found that we're
kind of incompatible for duets.

Oh!

We're basically polar opposites
when it comes to piano playing.

The yin and the yang.
So they count as one or two?

They'll play one by one
after the other.

We get two for the price of one.

Yeah. Great, double burger.

Oh, Amelie, oh, Amelie.
Oh, the theme of Amelie. Yeah, yeah.

So we're starting off with the
relaxing part of the yin and yang.

I started piano aged four.

It was right after we moved
to England from Russia.

How old was I in this one?

I think around six months.
Hmm, so this was taken in Russia?

Sasha loves to play very calming
kind of romantic music.

Uh, and I really love to hear
this sound in the house.

SHE PLAYS PIANO

I tend to be quite shy,
a bit reserved, so I would say

that the style of music
resembles my personality.

My sister, she has a more bolder
personality than mine,

and I guess that's why she tends to
play the more bold dramatic pieces.

Oh! Whoa! Rachmaninoff.

Really good choice.

It's really hard to play. Great.
I really wish you good luck.

ALISA: I love playing Rachmaninoff,

apart from the actual
technical challenge of it,

the music that he writes is also
emotionally challenging too,

because you need to really feel
connected with the piece

to be able to play it well.

It's not bad.
With Rachmaninoff music,

you always kind of cry and smile
at the same time.

Hmm, exactly. You need to have
some anger in your heart.

And push more on the piece,
especially the bass note.

ALISA: I feel connected,
because when I was learning it,

I was doing my exams,
a very kind of turbulent time.

And once you listen to the piece,
you'll know.

It's almost calm in a way.

Anyone can relate to the sounds
being like a scary time, right?

It was kind of an escape,

playing piano
is a form of escapism for me.

And that's when it all
really comes together.

Dark water.
HE SINGS

Struggling, struggling.

Struggling. Struggling. Yeah.

Now she's like bah! Yeah.
Volcano.

Bah! Bah!

Bang. Boom!

Boom! Nice, nice, I like this one.

HE SINGS

Louder!

Who said suffering wasn't fun?

Glorious, wonderful...t*rture.

Good playing, good playing.
Not bad at all.

Yeah, good playing, good playing.

So good! Thank you so much.

Both of you so different,
but so good.

Yeah, well, like I said!

Could Alisa be in the running for
a place at the Royal Festival Hall?

Yes, yes. But we need to free
her heart a little bit more.

We need to say, "All right,
you share a piano with your sister,

"you share a room with your sister,
you have enough sensitivity

"and musicality to sit down at
that piano when it's your turn."

Mm-hm. "And absolutely
pour your heart out

"and wreak havoc in the house."

Mm-hm. "Own it more."

It's like me and my wife practising.

But you each have your own pianos.
We actually share a piano.

What? At home, because I mean,
it's an apartment, you don't,

we don't have so many pianos
at home, so...

I just figured you'd have a piano
in the bedroom, in the bathroom.

No! That's too much, no, no.

We just split the practice hours.

Are you tough with her? No.

Is she tough with you? No.

Why? Then it's a w*r at home,
come on! Yeah, yeah.

Last to play for us is Danny.

Hi, Danny. Long walk! I'm sorry.

It's a long walk. Hello. I know. I'm
so sorry, hi, Danny. I'm Claudia.

Lovely to meet you. Can we have
a little sit here before you play?

We can indeed, we can, hello.
Thank you so much for coming.

He's nervous.

Nerves is good,
it means it's important to him.

When did you learn
to play the piano?

My grandma used to always have
a piano in the house,

and she would obviously play,
and I would see that growing up.

In high school,
I used to kind of shut myself in

the music rooms every break,
every lunch and teach myself.

Were all your friends like "Come on,
we're gonna play football,"

and you were like "Sorry, mate I'm
going to go and compose something"?

Yeah, they knew where to find me.

It was nice, cos it was just kind of
that peace for me.

But the biggest thing for me
is the outfits. Has to be.

Outfits and the hair, I think.

Yeah, yeah,
the outfits and the hair.

I think that's my favourite one
of me and Pops.

Yeah. I like this one
because I love the sea.

Yeah, I do, do you know what?
It is nice, that is nice.

Some of the most fond memories
I've had when I was young,

probably the holidays.

I remember we went to this island,
and we was on the beach with my dad.

My dad was, uh, he was a lovely man,

really, really larger than
life character, a real joker.

My dad ended up actually
leaving our house quite early,

so he divorced my mum
five, six years old.

He was my best friend at the time.
He told me he was leaving,

he wouldn't be living
with us any more.

But we made things work as any
family kind of does,

and it was fine for a long while,

but unfortunately
there were things brewing.

When I look at these pictures,
you're a happy child.

But look at the difference
in these photographs.

You can see the struggle
in your face there.

This is probably nine years old.

So that's before Dad k*lled himself,
obviously.

He ended up taking his life.

So for that to then
come out of nowhere

was a massive, massive shock.

But, um...yeah, it was tough.

In the week before,

he actually called to speak
to everyone in the family

and he spoke with my mum
on the phone.

But when the phone was passed to me,

I didn't actually answer,
cos I was angry at the time.

I was trying to show him,
"Look, I'm not good, I'm not OK."

But unfortunately I didn't realise

that'd be the last time
I would hear his voice,

so the guilt was
the biggest pressure for me.

At nine years old, I'm thinking,
"Imagine if I'd answered the phone,"

like, "Imagine if
I'd have spoken to him."

And this is quite soon after,
uh, what, 12, 13?

Yeah. And like my face there,
there's nothing in there.

I didn't speak to anyone.

And then I started taking drugs
at kind of 17,

and then obviously
the alcohol comes along with that.

And I began to just break basically,
physically, mentally.

The piano genuinely
has never not been there,

it's been the constant
through it all,

and after my dad's suicide at nine,
I reached this age

where I had the emotions
and I was aware of them,

and I had no other outlet
other than just writing these songs.

Having a piece at the end that says

everything that you wanna say
but couldn't say through words.

That's a really powerful thing,
I think.

And it's interesting.

The moments that have been
most difficult

have been the moments
where I stopped writing music.

# Cos I fell

# So far beneath

# I thought these heights
I would never reach

# And so my days turn 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

# Maybe I'd find a life worth
living is calling out my name

# What if I've learned I'm tired
of running from what I can't escape

# Maybe I could paint the sky
from these tears I've cried

# Maybe I could learn to live

# Maybe I could learn to live

# Maybe I could learn to live... #

And then there was Danny.

# Maybe I could paint the sky
from these tears I've cried

# Maybe I could paint the sky

# What if I learned I'm tired
of running from what I can't escape

# Maybe I can paint the sky
from these tears I've cried

# Maybe I could learn to live. #

Very nice harmony.

APPLAUSE
Thank you.

You're so good. They loved it.
It was a knockout.

Thank you, I'll see you again.

I love the tone of your voice.

I'm a bit nervous,
so it's not as good as usual.

You don't need to be,
I thought it was fantastic.

Did you? Thank you. Yeah.

What I like about this song

is that there's nothing about it
that felt contrived.

Right, he's making
very complicated stuff there.

He's always trying something not
like what we're expecting him to do.

He made a lot of harmony to fit
the lyrics and, uh... Yeah.

..every note has a meaning, and also
he plays the piano very well.

I've lived most of my life
sitting in front of piano,

trying to find a way
to say something with it.

When I hear someone doing that
and what they're saying is so real,

I find it really moving
and powerful,

and I think that he has
enormous potential.

We've asked everyone who played

the street piano at
Birmingham New Street Station

to gather together,
so that we can thank our performers

and reveal who's really been
watching them.

How do you feel about what
you've seen today, Lang Lang?

There's some incredible moment.
The first one is Shenel.

# I just wanna taste it,
I just wanna... #

She had this beautiful
natural voice.

We got heart strings pulled. Yeah.

In the most delicate way possible.

We liked Alisa also, because of
the potential that Alisa had.

Really good player.
This is something we needed,

the Jurassic,
big sounded personality.
The Jurassic piano player. Yeah.

# Maybe I could learn to live... #

Danny just kind of had
that combination of things.

We talk about the transformative
power of piano playing,

of music in general -
he's the perfect example of that.

I certainly liked the piano tuner.

Matthew. He was really touching.
He was so touching.

Shining a light on these people,
the mechanics

of our business is
really quite beautiful as well.

We were kind of, uh...
torn about Vedran.

He's playing the piano version
of orchestral music,

which is by default trickier,

but the question is,
did he have fire?

So you've made your decision.
We had to just follow the music.

Yeah. We just listened to ourselves

in terms of, musically,
is this powerful, is this real?

Hello! Hello. Hello, everybody.
It's utterly brilliant to see you.

Thank you so much
for your brilliant playing.

I'm gonna be honest with you now.
We haven't told you everything.

You were playing for us,

and you were playing
for the lovely people

who were arriving or departing
from the station.

You were also being watched
by the world's greatest pianist

and one of the world's
greatest performers.

Please welcome Lang Lang and Mika.

APPLAUSE

Bravo!

Wow, hello, everyone.
And firstly we're sorry.

Because you didn't know
you were being watched,

and you didn't know that we were
following every single gesture

and listening to every single note,
but we loved it.

And each of your story was
really deeply touched our heart.

Alisa, your Rachmaninoff
was really rackingly hot.

Yeah, I mean, I really enjoyed it
so much. Yeah.

And, Shenel,
your voice is so beautiful.

Yeah, it was so touching, you know,
when you start singing

that lyrics, it's so beautiful.
Sorry, I can't hear you very well.

Can you not hear us very well?
It's OK.

I'll explain everything later but
it's really a pleasure to meet you.

Did you enjoy playing for us?
Very, very much.

Are you upset with us that we didn't
tell you that we were listening?

Oh, no. I'm choked that
it's so...so amazing.

Oh, good. Good, good.
This is Lang Lang.

This is Lang Lang.
I can't believe it.

Are you very happy to meet him?
I look at you and I hear Liszt.

Pleasure to meet you.
Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful.

Oh, I'm crying.
Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you,
thank you.

It's a lovely, lovely thing
to happen, lovely.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

We want to invite you all
as a thank-you

to be our guests at a really, really
special concert that we're gonna do

at the Royal Festival Hall later
on in the year. In London, yeah.

And we'll be your ushers
to your seats.

Gilly, Lang Lang will accompany you
to your seat.

Uh, but we do have
a extra little thing.

It's that we would love to
invite one of you

to perform on that stage.

And so we've chosen someone
that uses the piano

to express themselves
and transform reality

into something more joyful,

and that's what we think
would be really powerful

to bring onto the stage
at the Royal Festival Hall,

so the person that we have chosen...

It's Danny!

You're joking!

I mean, firstly, do you accept?

Of course, yes, I'm there. Oh, good.

Thank you very much,
thank you very much.

This feels so strange,
because just last week

I was just working doing
my day-to-day life,

and now I'm here having interviews
about music that I've written that

I've kept inside my bedroom
for X amount of time

and nobody else heard,
and that was fine for me,

but now everyone's gonna hear it
on a stage.

It's like the stuff of dreams
for me.

Wait till you tell your mum!

My mum is literally
gonna cry her heart out.

Your first dance was beautiful!

That song you played, so beautiful.

You don't know how in love I was.

# Because I fell so far beneath... #

MIKA: Each person had their story,

but Danny just has this thing
with the piano.

He plays it beautifully.

He has a musicality
which is not to be underestimated.

I don't think he realises
the potential he has.

# I could barely sleep... #

He's sharing very complicated love.

It's not just a very sweet love.

This is something
that he felt so much.

It's really reflected on
his difficult time.

The piano harmonies
was perfectly matched,

when he want to change the mood,
the keys changed.

# Maybe I could learn to live... #

When he want something colourful,
you have arpeggios, you know,

so somehow it's a perfect match
between the piano

and his lyrics of his...memories.

# Maybe I could paint the sky. #

Hi, Mum.

Hello. I have some news.

So obviously they didn't tell us
everything that was happening,

and they basically told us that...
one of us is going through

to play at the Royal Festival Hall
in London.

And they chose me to play,
I'm gonna be...

Oh, that is amazing!

..onstage and
you get to see me perform.

I'm actually speechless...
Bless you.

I think I'm gonna cry.
Here come the tears!

Don't, cos you'll make me
cry on camera,

and I said it's not happening.

So you get to
see me perform in London

in front of quite a lot of people.

From playing the public piano
to then performing at Festival Hall.

I don't know how that even happens,
I don't know how it happens.

Next time...

Tonight, you are going to meet four
extraordinary amateur pianists...

KNOCKING ON DOOR
Ready to go side of stage?

..who never thought
their journey would end here.

Our four pianists...

Shh!

..are guided by Mika
and Lang Lang...

Now you sing.
THEY SING TOGETHER

..all the way...

# Sunshine... #

..to the biggest performance
of their lives.

Once you're on the stage...
Oh, my God.

..you can't cheat, there's no...
You can't hide anything here.

So...hello, everyone!