Mika on The Piano's Final Four - finale airs tonight

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


NEWS PROVIDED BY
Channel 4

MIKA ON THE FINAL FOUR

JAY

‘I found Jay really touching. There’s a certain kind of freshness to what he was trying to do. He’s a really, really, really good piano player, a really good storyteller and crazily able to write a catchy melody. And then, when you put it all together: his background, his job working on construction sites… his life is not easy. His life is not simple. Even to write music and to practice is a challenge with the amount of hours he works, how early he starts and how late he finishes. He doesn't even have a piano at his house. So, there was something really amazing about him. You felt: ’Well, if he's doing this against all odds, there must be a reason. He must need it. It must make him feel better.’ I love that. I love the idea it made him feel more powerful. It made him feel like he could express himself better. To hear that urgency when he's rapping, when he's playing his really well composed pieces. Music has been his saviour. It gave an urgency, a realness, to his playing and composition. I felt this amazing sense of gratitude towards the piano.’

LUCY

‘Magical things happen with music that are against all odds and all limitations. It's astonishing when it happens. When it happened in Leeds, when Lucy performed, it was jaw-dropping. It was the most humbling thing you could possibly see. We didn't expect any of this. She's not playing to be a superstar. She's not playing to sell millions of records or get millions of streams. This is an intimate, wonderful, magical thing that's happening. A thing you have no idea is happening in some living room somewhere with a bunch of people that love her. There's actual magic happening at a piano with this person and now you have the privilege of being able to witness it yourself. It's as grand and as humble as that.

‘She’s doing it for the joy, but she’s also doing it for love. She’s doing it to express emotion. She’s doing it to communicate.

‘For a lot of people, the piano is their voice. It comes back to this really important thing. We make music to express what we cannot express with words. Whether we don't have the words or we don't know how to use them, it doesn't matter. We still make music because we need to express certain things and we listen to music to express what we dare not say and feel a little bit less alone.’

SEAN

‘Sean is a good example of that as well. When you listen to Sean play, it goes at 150 miles an hour. It's virtuosic, it’s complex and it's extremely nuanced. There's a huge, dynamic, emotional range and it's so intense. He has so much to say, and he's so good at saying it musically, that what you get is quite thrilling. It’s definitely not music to put you to sleep. It’s more like 45 shots of espresso. He’s emulating programming. He's emulating synthesisers. He's emulating clouds. He's talking about how the music represents concrete and different textures and, all of a sudden, he's like, “And this is a typewriter.” You're talking about not just landscape, not just mood, but objects represented in the way he's playing. Why not? By doing this, he says: “It's just nice to be able to talk about the world around me.”’

DANNY

‘Danny is a remarkably talented and very nuanced piano player and songwriter. You have this perfect mix of the words, the melodies he sings and the music he's playing. They’re perfectly in harmony. And so, when he starts to play, you feel really secure. You feel you're in the hands of a great storyteller. That’s amazing – especially when he explains it’s the complete opposite of what he feels like sometimes. When he tells a story, he transcends all his insecurities and he’s a very reassuring presence. You go from this kaleidoscopic, frenetic and intense landscape that Sean is performing to this giant, reassuring, beautiful hug that Danny’s offering. Again, we go back to the idea the music you're listening to in the show is music that is urgent. It’s music these people need to be making. And it happens to be really good music.’

‘I don't know if any of them will pursue playing as a career. That's not for me to say. What I can absolutely say, without a doubt, is they have this thing they were doing completely for themselves, thinking that maybe it was useful and magical to bring the piano into their life. Well, they certainly got confirmation of that. It's only cemented the idea of a piano as a magical transformative thing that can change your life. That music can change your life. I find that really, really, really important and inspiring – not just for the four people we selected to go to the Royal Festival Hall, but also every single person who took part. All the 80+ pianists who presented themselves at stations. I’m certain it will inspire other people, who’ve never played before, to try.’

~ ENDS ~

About

Claudia Winkleman presents a unique talent search with a twist - unearthing some of the UK’s most exciting amateur piano performers. In this unforgettable celebration of the nation’s favourite instrument, passionate amateur musicians took to public pianos in train stations across the UK. What our pianists didn’t know was that they were being secretly watched by two of the world’s most respected performers, Lang Lang and Mika. Their search began in London at King’s Cross St Pancras station, and then onto stations in Leeds, Glasgow and ending in Birmingham.

At the final concert at The Royal Festival Hall can Claudia Winkleman, Mika and Lang Lang get our four amateur pianists ready for the biggest performance of their lives? The finalists rehearse and prepare before making the walk out onto one of the world’s greatest stages in front of a packed house. Who will win the performance of the night? Mika and Lang Lang have got one last surprise up their sleeves…

Grand Final airs on Wednesday 15th March at 9pm on Channel 4

Source Channel 4

March 14, 2023 8:05pm ET by Channel 4  

,

  Shortlink to this content: https://bit.ly/3ZEsBgZ

SHARE THIS

Latest Press Releases