Tonight, the piano has pulled into London Bridge Station,
where we'll be looking for the next brilliant amateur pianist
to play at our final concert.
TANNOY:See it. Say it. Sorted.
Last time in York...
PIANO KEYS CLASH
Aw! That was my favourite bit.
..Mika and jazz piano superstar Hiromi chose Harry...
No way! CHEERING
..to perform at the final concert.
But he might not be York's only pianist
headed to Birmingham Symphony Hall.
So this year, we've given ourselves the opportunity
of holding back one place at the final concert
to give a second chance.
If there was somebody who really impressed us,
then we have the option of a wild card.
We chose...
..Gwilym. Well done. APPLAUSE
This is not what I expected.
Hopefully they felt some of the emotions
that I was trying to get across.
Yeah, that's so exciting.
Now we're at one of the busiest stations in the country.
Mika!
London Bridge Railway Station - one of the oldest, I think.
It is the oldest.
It's almost 200 years old.
It doesn't look it.Well, no, not this bit - they've redone it. OK.
The bit that looks like a church does.
OK, fine.
Tell me about the mentor.
Who do we have today?
I'm so...I'm just personally so happy.
HE SHRIEKS
There is no other way to say this - he is a national treasure.
He has championed music for decades in all genres.
He's truly inspiring, and a brilliant pianist -
it is Jools Holland.
CLAUDIA GASPS
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you. Ah!
Jools Holland!
Lovely to see you.
Jools, welcome to The Piano. I'm delighted to be here.
Jools Holland, everyone!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you.
Platform 14 for the Southern line service to...
First things first, can I just apologise, Jools.
We are so excited to have you,
but you are actually in the ticket office.
I mean, this is less glamorous than usual,
and that's saying something for us.
I'm just delighted to be in an operational ticket office -
it's quite exciting.
If you do want to hand out some tickets...
Yeah, or some information. ..happy for you to do so.
The information I'd quite like to play, though.
Yes. Oh, gosh. Yeah, we'll give you the tannoy.
What will you be looking for?
When you talk about music,
it's not necessarily somebody's...
..the way their hands fall on the keys... Yeah.
..or what they're reading, or what you hear -
it's how it makes you feel and how your spirit interprets it. Yeah.
It just lifts you up.
But that's what I think you're looking for.
That they have music in them. Good luck.Thank you.
I will bring some sausage rolls.
Welcome to the family.Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, Jools Holland is in the house,
and we are ready to get the first piano performance going.
Are you ready, Jools Holland? I was born ready.
LAUGHTER
First to play for us will be 19-year-old Grace.
I have quite a big group of supporters with me today.
I've got...
..my mum, my two sisters, my best mates,
my grandparents...
Growing up, we were always dancing around to '80s music, '90s music.
My whole life has just been music.
My tics started when I was about 11.
It just started with a small face scrunch,
So I was just like that.
My tics blew up.
And just...I was just exhausted.
I just want it to go away.
I just want it to stop.
I've been in some very dark places.
Even a year ago, I didn't think I was going to be here.
Gonna BLEEP myself. BLEEP. Ha!
I'm very excited to meet Claudia,
but I'm also worried about what my tics might say to her.
You smell like poo BLEEP!
Hello. How are you?
It's so lovely to meet you.You too.
Have a seat, Grace. I'm Claudia.
I've met your entire family.
What are you going to play today and why?
Um, so I'm playing a French piece
called Je Te Laisserai Des Mots by Patrick Watson. Yeah.
Beautiful piece.
It's considered really healing for so many people around the world.
Is it a hard piece? Was it difficult to learn?
I also have, um...
..absence seizures. Yeah.
It means that when I'm going to play the piano,
if there's any seizure activity going on in my brain,
I forget everything.
So for me to come here and play the piano,
knowing that there's a chance
that I might just forget it all, is really scary.
Yeah, it's brave.
You can do it as many times as you like.
We could stay here till next Wednesday.
We can go off and get a burger and then come back.Yeah.
Let's live our lives.Cool. All right.
SHE TICS Thanks so much, I will.
THEY GIGGLE
An enormous amount of anxiety she's going through to do this.
But she has no idea what's going to happen.
Three, two...
Look at that.
Have you seen how her facial expression has completely changed?
Yes.
This piece - it's like an escape.
I just let my mind go into the piano.
And it's just me and the black and white keys - the end.
It's so great that she's found this thing that helps.
The fact that it's a waltz takes you into a slightly different, you know,
one, two, three. It just...it changes time.
We're so used to four to the floor - one, two, three, four.
And then suddenly a waltz comes along
and goes... One, two, three.
BOTH:Two, two, three.
She's gravitated to this piece
because it plays with time differently,
and that makes it even more comforting for her.
And if you're walking by in the station,
and you're just hearing this being played
by someone with such a serene smile on her face,
you would never, ever know...
But for her, this is a massive, massive step.
Yes! Amazing! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
You're brilliant.
Grace, everyone. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Well done, baby. You can go to your family.
Well done.
Grace!
Oh, my God, well done.
I love you.
You were so good. I'm so proud of you.
That was perfect.
Well done, her. What a great job.
I love you.
You were brilliant. Brilliant.
CHEERING
You can talk about the healing qualities of playing the piano,
but to physically see it,
to see somebody transform
whatever their problems are - it's fantastic.
And that is empowerment.
And the piano is empowering. Yeah.
I mean, I hope people enjoyed it.
But like, even if they didn't,
I had a really, really good time.
And I feel very...
..um...
..very proud of myself,
which isn't something that I find...
..I'm not very good at accepting that...
..like, feeling pride for myself, but I feel very proud.
I did it! CHEERING
Woohoo! Go, Grace!
I'm so happy there was no tannoy during Grace's performance.
Yes. That's all I'm gonna say. Yes, exactly.
Yeah, a security announcement,
that's right, it would ruin the whole vibration. Honestly,
I would have gone and ripped the speaker out.
# It's all about you
# It's all about you. #
Nice voice. Sweet voice.
It's got a slight plaintive vulnerability about the voice. Yeah.
# I would answer all your wishes
# If you asked me to
# But if you deny me one of your kisses
# Don't know what I'd do... #
This is a really important song to me.
It's my younger brother's favourite song when he was growing up.
We went on a holiday, and we went to this aquarium... Yeah.
..and there was an octopus in the aquarium,
and he sang this song to this octopus... Oh.
..for hours on end,
and changed the words to It's All About You, Brian.
Brian the octopus.
Good name for an octopus.
# So hold me close
# And say three words
# Like you used to do
# Dancing on the kitchen tiles
# Yes, you make my life worthwhile
# So I told you with a smile
# It's all about you... #
I mean, if Brian could hear this now.I know he'd be happy.
He'd be delighted.Yeah.
# It's all about you. #
You can send a video.
Now, who are you? What's your situation?Play now.
Play now. What would you like? You want the piano?Play now. Yeah.
Come on then. Come on then.
Come on then.
Is this the next pianist?
Yes, good one.
Look at that. That's great.
That's what a piano does.
Ray Charles actually said this to me.
He said, "You put a piano in the corner of a room.
"Everybody comes up and they touch it."
Round of applause, please.
My name is Run, I am 26 years old,
and I grew up in London.
CHEERING
Run, hi, I'm Claudia...
Claudia, lovely to meet you. ..lovely to meet you.
I have to say...Oh, my gosh. ..we've never had such a brilliant welcome -
your four sisters. Oh, they're super supportive.
I am third out of six. Yeah.
I'm three out of five. You? First out of three.
Middle child syndrome?
Me? Yeah. Never.
THEY LAUGH
Growing up there were six kids... Yeah.
..in a three-bed council flat, so it was pretty chaotic.
Uh-oh. It's so messy. DOG BARKS
It was crazy growing up here,
because this is only a three-bed house for eight people.
You can imagine, it was, like, absolute chaos.
Have you seen my shoes?
I actually don't know where my shoes... What shoes?
Hey! I'm back! Yay!
We shared rooms, we had arguments.
My son for his A-levels, he studied here.
And he was sleeping in the folding bed by the corridor.
He was sleeping there. SHE LAUGHS
Were you quite a strict mum?
Mm, that's a good question.
Straight.
She was very regimented,
telling us we've got to do our homework,
do these extra homework books, and also the chores - endless.
We had a piano growing up.
I think one of my mum's friends donated it to us,
and if I can get everything done, I'm allowed to play piano.
Being a Chinese mother,
we always think, "How about their future?"
She always said to me that music is my side dish.
Piano is my side dish.
It was very much, I'm doing the sciences and I'm doing maths.
I did a master's in biology,
and then I got a job in process biotechnology.
It's very interesting, but it's not my passion.
Music is my passion.
But growing up, we actually used to have a radio
and just Classic FM always.
We were not allowed to listen to pop music.
I just told them, "No."
In my memory, I'm pretty sure she told me it was evil.
But I feel it's too loud, and, like a firework - it's too much.
SHE LAUGHS
My mum would love to come to watch, but she's a very hard-working lady,
so she's going to be working that day.
I'm going to play The Nights by Avicii.
It's a pop song which, to my mum, is no-go zone. No-go zone.
In school, everyone would just know pop songs,
and I was so confused, like,
"How do you guys even know these songs?
But, yeah, slowly, slowly, I've been expanding my library.
This is an Ibiza global smash banger.
She's playing it in the romantic style, isn't she? Yeah.
In other words, she's not playing it with a pulse,
which I suppose it would be in Ibiza.
This is kind of folk romanticism.
She's pulling out the folkiness of that melody. Yes.
The Celtic kind of folk.
It's got a nice touch.
Proper dynamics. Yes.
She's not afraid to play the piano, to play it out. Yes.
And is immersed - she's feeling the music.
The message of that song is, "These are the nights that never die,
"Live a life that you will remember."
And despite all of her nagging, my mum has done a phenomenal job.
She's instilled a sort of drive in me because there's life
to be lived every single day.
You are very amazing, my daughter.
Eh? No way. No way? Is really, really.
She's never said this many nice things in one go.
Well, thank you. You light up our family.
Xiexie, Mama. That's very kind words.
CHEERING
Amazing! You are brilliant. Run, everybody!
You're amazing.
A tiger mum in a council flat with six kids, prohibiting pop music.
And that's the best way so you're not allowed to do it,
and then they'll do it. Exactly, they'll do it.
And that's the only way you can play anything.
You've got to love it, haven't you?
If you don't love it, no point in playing it.
We listen to amateur pianists, and amateur means love.
"Amo, amas, amat. Amamus, amatis, amant." Right?
That's the only thing I know in Latin.
Yeah. They do it for love, not money. For love.
And if you don't love it, don't play it... Yeah.
..because we're going to hear it. Yeah.
Do you see that in Birmingham? She's a great player,
so I think I could easily see her in Birmingham.
Bye! Bye! Bye!
UPBEAT MUSIC
We're at London Bridge station, where Mika and Jools Holland
are searching for the city's best street pianist.
Is this the next pianist? The dog in the pram?
Oh, Jesus.
It's an English bulldog in a pram. What's he going to play?
My name is Edwin. I'm ten and I'm from East London.
So my mum and my dad are here. They're just there.
Hello. Say hello.
# I know you wanted me to stay
# But I can't ignore the crazy visions of me in LA... #
I love him already.
# I'm having wicked dreams of leaving Tennessee
# Hear Santa Monica I swear it's calling me
# Won't make my mama proud... #
The mother's singing every word. Better than any DNA test.
Who's the mum? No DNA test necessary.
MIKA LAUGHS It's sweet.
# "You're a pink pony girl, and you dance at the club"
# Down at the Pink Pony Club
# I'm gonna keep on dancing at the Pink Pony Club... #
The piano means a lot to me because it allows me
to connect with people that I would otherwise never meet.
And when you hear a familiar tune, it's like, "Oh, I enjoy this."
And you can just kind of relax to it and just, you know,
sit in your favourite chair and just go, "Ah-h-h..."
Come here to the London Bridge. I want you all to join in.
One, two, three, four!
ALL:# Pink Pony Club
# I'm gonna keep on dancing at the Pink Pony Club... #
Oh, my goodness! What has he done?
London Bridge is clapping and singing Pink Pony Club
with a ten-year-old.
Look at the joy that this lad is giving.
Even the crew! Even the Piano crew. I couldn't do this when I was ten.
# I'm gonna keep on dancing
# I'm gonna keep on dancing. #
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
Well done! Edwin, everyone!
You're amazing.Thank you so much.
You brightened up this entire station! Edwin!
Well done, Tyland.
He's very sweet. He's really good, but you can't make comparisons
with him with others cos he's a sweet kid who's got
a whole life of great talent ahead of him.
He needs to come back in five years' time,
once he's lived a little bit of a life, doesn't he?
Yeah. But instead, we're capturing that innocent, nascent beginning.
One of Squeeze's first gigs was at a pub in Islington, a tiny pub,
and us and U2 were doing the gig together.
I think we were on first. You and U2? Yeah.
And there was literally three men and a dog in the audience.
Three men and a dog? Then U2 watched us...
Squeeze and U2? Oh, my God. U2 watched us and we watched U2,
and then this man and a dog.
And I remember the man left, and then after a bit, the dog left.
That's the beginning of showbiz for you.
Look, who is this?
Ronnie! What kind of doggy are...?
Oh, wow. Just licked my tongue. You might not want that, sorry.
Just licked my tongue.
How old is he?
He's two-and-a-half. Very difficult being so sweet.
I can, but I just feared that I would just sit and lick him
and breast-feed him.
And nobody wants that.Not a good look. Not at 54.Not a good look.
My name is Liia and I'm 16 years old and I'm from Ukraine.
Liebestraum, which is "dreams of love".
Yeah, it's beautiful, but it's difficult.
My parents introduced me to music school.
It was hard because Ukraine itself was a part of the USSR before,
so they kind of had this method of teaching.
You were forced to play what they want you to play,
and I was so desperate to just leave it and never touch piano again.
But then in the middle of a school year, the war broke out.
But when I moved to the UK, I was not forced to play pieces
that I didn't want to play.
This piece, it's probably one of the first songs that I started learning
just for myself.
Since I've gained that love for music back,
when I play, I feel that I'm, like, in another world completely.
I think she's playing it beautifully.
I love the way her hands are lifting right off the piano.
They're lifting almost too much because she's not leaving
herself enough time to get back to those notes. Yeah.
She's a little bit out of sync.
Except I would say perhaps if there's somebody
that's never heard this piece of music before,
they'll go, wow, that's amazing.
The same way as my aunt, when I was little, would play Bach.
I thought it was the best thing ever.
And I've never heard Bach sound better than when she did it.
It's never touched me more. Yeah.
But it wasn't that she was, like, a great concert pianist.
Sure, sure. It's often that it's the first version that you hear
that is the one that would affect you.
The thing I love about it is that she's liberating herself
from an authoritarian, overly strict teacher,
but she can go so much further.
But she's only 16. She will. Yeah. She's got to fall in love,
have her heart torn into a thousand pieces,
and THEN play Liszt. Yeah.
Yeah, just one minute. I just sent.
Next to play for us will be Fuad.
I think I'm ready. Yeah.
Just will put to the silent motor everything.
Hi.Hi. How are you? Good. Thank you.
Fuad, lovely to meet you. I'm Claudia.I'm pleased to meet you.
Have a seat. Thank you so much for coming.
Tell me about you and the piano.
Piano is my hobby since I was five or six years old.
You grew up in Azerbaijan? Yeah. I have been.
Beautiful country.Thank you.
What do you do when you're not playing the piano?
I am a satellite communication system engineer. Amazing.
To be a satellite communications engineer,
it requires a good knowledge of physics.
It's full of spreadsheets with various technical analysis.
There's limited interaction with other the people.
It wasn't easy to move eight years ago from Azerbaijan.
I did not have connections. I miss my family.
I felt...loneliness.
But I found a lot of public pianos in train stations.
Playing helped me to meet people so my social network
slightly becomes better.
CREW: Make sure the height's right. Yeah, I will make adjustments.
It's really hard to know what he's going to play, yeah?
Ah, Charles Aznavour. Oh, I love Charles Aznavour.
It's very French sounding. It's Romantic French. I'm in Paris.
And she's left me... Whoever it was. Yeah.
Look at the romance that's bubbling in it.
Listen to that. Oh, lovely.
If you saw him walking in the street,
would you think that was in his head?
No. Absolutely not. And in his heart. No.
INTERVIEWER: Would you say you are a romantic person?
Er...
I don't know, to be honest.
Romanticism, for each person, is different.
His love language, like, matches with my love language
He is enough romantic for me. He shows that in the way he plays.
I met my wife in social networks because she was
in Azerbaijan and I was in the UK.
We never missed any day without having a call.
When I was very unhappy, like, in these days before
we met in real life, he was playing the piano for me,
like, to cheer me up, like...
And he could.
Was it love at first sight?Yes.
I travelled to Azerbaijan, after a few days made a proposal.
It was very quick.
When people meet Fuad, they see this dry man, like...
Like robot.
But his name is originally Arabic and it means "soul".
I feel that soul, thanks to God.
The song A Life Of Love has new feelings in myself.
Since one of the best feelings in my life,
last year my daughter was born.
The magic of piano is now music has a new flavour for me.
The love even will grow.
Very romantic to have this on a station.
See, he's switching the atmosphere in that station to a romantic dream.
But that's what music does. It's the effect it has on you.
It's how it makes you feel.
The way he's playing takes me into another place.
Yes!
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
Thank you. Well done!
It was lovely. It was lovely. We needed a bit of that, you know?
You know, what I liked was the spirit of what he was playing.
He got up and took me somewhere, you know? Yeah, exactly.
Fuad, everyone!
Thank you. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Brilliant. I like his music. I like his name and his music.
I have never met anyone with this kind of passion,
extreme music in my life.
I think he'd be beautiful at Symphony Hall,
and I think he'd have them crying and weeping and snogging.
I think... But perhaps you don't want that in Symphony Hall.
Perhaps that's not in your agenda. No. He would be magical.
Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye.
I love him.
# But first of all, please let there be love. #
UPBEAT MUSIC
Oh, this is not just a great piece of songwriting, a great composition.
This melody is timeless.
I've always struggled to read music, so I learnt by repetition
after repetition, and it really was a struggle.
But it wasn't until grade seven where I found this piece
that I absolutely fell in love with. And I said to myself,
"I didn't know piano could sound like that."
It was a jazz piece.
Jazz music is what you make it.
There are no boundaries, no guidelines.
And it speaks to my soul more than any other genre.
I love the intention.
He's got quite a sophisticated New York 1970s kind of approach.
Quite complex though. But that's his voice. Yeah.
He's got a lovely vibration, you know.
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE Yes! Brilliant!
Isaac, everyone!Thank you!
How fantastic. That was lovely, cos it was his truth, you know.
I enjoyed him and I thought he played it very beautifully.
But if he'd just simplify it a little bit,
he would be so much more moving.
Yeah. And you can't overthink it.
It's a bit like riding a bike or anything like that.
If you start thinking about it too much, you fall off.
Yeah. And there's nothing worse than falling off
in front of over 2,000 people in Birmingham Symphony Hall.
I can't imagine ANYTHING worse.
Next to play is Maria.
Looks like my mum.
Hello, Maria. I'm Claudia. Lovely to meet you.
Lovely to meet you, too. You look gorgeous.My God. You do.
Hi. Nice to meet you.My grandson. My grandson, Jan.
Hello. Hello, grandson. Nice to meet you. Hi, Jan.
Darling, come and have a seat.
Tell me about you and this instrument.
How long have you been playing? I am 84. No!
I've been playing all my life. I am originally from Poland.
My parents enrolled me in music school.
After some time, they regretted.
I was a very bad student, very unruly, because I play only by ear.
Have you ever played at a station before?
Yes. You enjoyed it?Yes, very much, because I like a large audience.
Yes! Well, you deserve a large audience. I can tell.
How? You've got an excellent vibe.
My God, you will be disappointed. No, Maria.
You're wearing the best hat I've ever seen in my life.
Well, I love her vibe. So charming.
But she's got a fire in her. I mean... Yes.
I think she might be playing with more ferociousness than we expect.
We're travelling in time and to another part of the world.
She's very precise, too.
And the way she's got the pulse of the left hand is an entire
rhythm section on its own, which only you can do on the piano.
Roll Out The Barrel is sung in all European countries
and was produced in 1927 by a Czech - Jaromir Vojvoda.
And I know this melody from my childhood.
In Poland, I wanted to be different, but there is no free speech.
There is no free dressing.
Probably people would laugh at me, but not here.
I am living here more than 35 years.
England is absolutely fantastic country to feel free.
She's got good syncopation. She's got fire.
She's got fire and she's got rhythm.
And I like the way her hands look on the piano.
The way she holds her fingers is she's not, like,
classically trained. They look like they're at home.
Nice set of rings like Fats Domino as well.
Yes!
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
You are brilliant!Thank you.
Music keeps people young, keeps your mind working.
And I think the piano, if you can physically keep playing,
if your fingers keep working and your heart's in it,
it's really fantastic.
There's another part of it, too, which is the idea
that as you keep on playing the piano,
you're taking part of your past with you into your present.
Yes. And so often the secret to staying happy as you grow older
is finding that balance between the past and your present. Yeah.
How did you find it?
I like it, I like it.
Really? It is, yeah.
I'm an osteopath, and I have treated so many artists,
and I have friends who play the piano and other instruments.
But it's so impressive to see an 84-year-old still functioning so well
and playing such an amazing melody, such a beautiful music,
it's absolutely stunning.
What's your name? Juan. Juan? Yes. Are you Spanish?
Spanish, yes. Oh, my God. I didn't know her at all.
I was just passing by to catch my train.
Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.
You have a fan.Yes. One of the fans.
That was great to see that, and what a great and fascinating contrast
to the ten-year-old lad.
That's the great thing about it - when people play the piano,
it becomes a completely different tool... Exactly. If I say...
..in a different person's hands.
Oh, gosh, Jools, I'm so happy you're here.
It's very nice to be here.
Hi, I'm William. I'm 15 years old, and when I was three,
my family realised that my brain works
a little differently to others'.
I experience the world mostly through sound and vibration.
Hello.Hello. Hi, William, I'm Claudia.
Nice to meet you. Lovely to meet you. Have a seat.
I've met your mum and dad.Yeah.
I know that you're in year ten.
How do you find the time to play piano?
Cos I imagine, year ten, quite a lot of homework.
Yeah, I find school hard. I tend to zone out, and most
of the time the teachers think that I'm daydreaming,
but I'm conducting, like, a whole orchestra in a symphony in my head.
Yes, which is much more useful. Yeah.
Maybe we don't tell your teachers that, but...Yeah. ..it's true.
He was always fascinated with sound, listening to
the vibrations around the house.
Simple things - washing machine, hairdryer.
But we used to have a lot of meltdowns because he was
so frustrated, not being able to communicate.
Say "Mama".
Muh-mm.
That was really hard. For him, it was pretty awful, actually.
William was diagnosed with autism, and so our world really changed.
I wasn't very good at socialising cos I wouldn't really
know how to talk.
But I loved sound.
BIRDS CHIRP
I'm hearing the birds, I'm hearing trains passing, and everyone.
And then his grandmother gave him a toy keyboard.
That's how everything started to change.
The particular sounds and vibration the piano gives him
does something to the communication and language
part of William's brain, which then helped him talk.
It made his mind kind of come together.
I remember speaking, like, after trying to play
In The Hall of the Mountain King.
He started to talk around five.
Teddy bear. Teddy bear.
INTERVIEWER: Do you think you'd be speaking
if you'd never come in contact with the piano?
Honestly, I don't think so.
It was almost like I felt life moving, like, for him.
Something had happened, and it was just this wonderful feeling.
You know what? It's ridiculous cool.
He's taught himself everything.
It increased his confidence, it reduced his anxiety.
Everything that William's experienced
has enabled him to compose.
What kind of things inspire you when you're writing a composition?
I just think of sound.
And it was like he had a full orchestra going on in his head
the whole time.
CLAUDIA: What are you going to play for us today?
My own piece, which is called Prelude 2. OK.
I got inspired by the Romantic period of classical music. Yeah.
And every time I play the piece, it...
It transcends me from this world to another world where I can relax,
I'm not anxious about anything, and I'm connected.
Another fantastic thing about the piano and music.
Whoa.
It's beautiful. Amazing play, isn't it? Amazing!
Listen to the harmonies.
These arpeggios, they're this rolling wave,
and only the little pinky is playing... The melody. Yes.
That's incredible, isn't it? That is phenomenal.
Both the writing and the delivery.
When I'm composing, it's very moving.
Making pictures of paradises, water fountains or beaches,
and also being safe.
I know what it feels like to be different,
to feel like you're always behind.
Music gave me a voice.
I want to help other kids like me to find theirs too.
Yeah.
I want to help them.
Can you imagine - your kid is being called a daydreamer at school,
and then he comes home and he does that.
And if it takes the player and the writer off to another place,
it's got a good chance of doing the same thing to us, the listener.
Why use words when you can use that much better.
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE Brilliant! You're amazing!
Thank you. You were terrific.
William, everybody!
William!
I'm so happy to have heard him. Yeah, I agree.
Incredible that he's only 15 years old.
MUM:Amazing. Well done.
He said he was inspired by the Romantic movement,
which often suggests playing things very colla voce and sort of...
But actually, it felt much more like a contemporary piece of music to me.
Well done. Well done. Thank you very much.
Serious contender for the final concert.
Wow.
Wow. How was that?I'm... I'm buzzing. I feel so happy.
For somebody who has such a hard time expressing themselves,
to say that what they do is not only beautiful
and musical and sophisticated, but that its eloquent...
Yes. He's really eloquent.
It's kind of like, me and the piano, that we're like, talking.
You did it. Wow.
UPBEAT MUSIC
Everyone who played for us at London Bridge
has gathered together to hear who Mika and Jools
will choose to perform at the final concert.
You have got to choose one person who can go onstage
in front of over 2,000 people and blow them away.
I've been very impressed and it reminded me
that music is an amazing thing that transforms people's lives.
And also, you know, you've got a fantastic boy who's ten years old...
Yeah...and an incredible woman who's like 84. Yeah.
Maria represented a magic doorway into another era.
Completely contrasting to ten-year-old Edwin.
EDWIN SINGS
He's got his whole life ahead of him to learn about all this great music,
but there he was, leading everybody in song. Yeah.
What an extraordinary contrast.
Can I ask you about William?
There's just this effortlessness.
It all just kind of rolls out like these waves.
And I think it's fantastic when you see people liberated
by music from whatever the difficulties in their life.
But if you just take that out of it for a moment,
his own composition and the way he played was very unique.
I thought Fuad was really great because he took us to another place,
which is the other job music does.
That's another thing - I wasn't on this railway station.
I was in a romantic film in France and my lover had left me,
but she might come back, and it was... If he could hear you now...
And the sun is shining and I'm in my Citroen, you know?
If he could hear you now, he'd fall over.
Let me talk about Liia. She played Liszt.
What did you think?
Well, here we had a slight difference of opinion.
I saw the potential, but I felt like there was a bit of emotion
that was lacking.
But I was thinking, if you were coming through a railway station
and you heard that for the first time, you'd never heard the piece,
you'd think, "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard,"
and would want to hear her doing it again.
You've got a difficult decision to make.
I would want it to be some sort of group decision.
I mean, I couldn't just, like... I wouldn't...
Do you want Claudia to help us decide? No, no, I can't.
Yes. Yes. No, no... That's a very bad idea.
Hello, everybody. ALL:Hello.
I'm so pleased you've all got to meet each other.
Thank you so, so much for coming today to London Bridge.
Did you enjoy it?
MURMURS OF AFFIRMATION
Well, you were utterly brilliant.
You know this, that you were playing for the lovely people
who were catching trains.
You were also playing for two utter rock stars.
So please welcome Mika and the one and only Jools Holland!
THEY CHEER
I have to say, I've listened to all of you,
and I just want to... Give each of yourselves
and one another an applause... Yes...cos I certainly think
you've been fantastic.
And you'd all be welcome to come round and play at my house
any time whatsoever.
So thank you all very much.
So we are going to be planning, as always, a final concert.
This time it's going to be in one of the most prestigious music venues
in the entire country.
It's the Birmingham Symphony Hall.
And not only is it quite a daunting place
because it is so beautiful and so many great musicians
have played there, but it's also the biggest one we've ever done.
More than 2,000 people in that hall.
We're going to be choosing one person from London Bridge today
to go and perform at that final concert in Birmingham.
And we would like to hear at the final concert...
..William.
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
Good man. Thank you very much.
I'm speechless. I didn't expect all this to happen.
I have to say, it was almost impossible to choose,
because each one of them represented the human connection with the piano
and represented something completely different,
and so it was very hard and very difficult.
There were no two alike.
This is somebody who's using the piano to express himself
in a way that he can't with words.
We know that the piano can do it, but he is the most beautiful example
of that idea.
But all of that aside, let's just say you didn't know
that he was nonverbal up until a certain age.
The music speaks for itself.
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
I'm just... All the emotions, every good emotion I'm thinking of.
And do you think your parents are proud of you?
Yeah. I mean, I hope they are.
HE CHUCKLES
DAD:Wow, that was amazing. MUM:Well done, darling.
Well done, William. I'm so happy for you.
You were so good. Thank you very much.
Next week we arrive at Manchester Piccadilly...
This is the City of Music.
..where Mika will be joined by a classical music superstar.
Alice Sarah Ott!
How does that feel?
They'll hear more amazing amateur pianists...
Whoa!
I'm going to ask you to sing a few notes, if that's all right.
Me?!Yeah, yeah.
SHE SINGS: Ah-h-h!
..and the incredible stories behind their music.
I lost the ability to play.
You're now panicking, aren't you? You're now going,
"Hang on, you're here to play!"
No, we could do something else if you want.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media