Channel 4 in the UK has announced a fourth series of popular reality series The Piano will come to screens soon.
Hosted by Claudia Winkleman (Traitors) and singer-songwriters John Batiste and MIKA, this year the show — which discovers amateur pianists from around Britain and has them performing on public railway station pianos — will also feature five famous musicians who will mentor the participants.
Five Mentors
The mentors are:
Tiffany Poon
American classical pianist whose work centres on interpretation, atmosphere and emotional precision.
International Piano Magazine praised her for her “beautiful sound, sensitivity and expressive nuance.”
Her recent album Nature was recorded at Miravel Studios with Grammy-winning producer Damien Quintard, and is contemplative and intimate. Gramophone praised her “astonishing virtuosity and tongue-in-cheek humour”, and the album reached number one on Apple Classical.
Her recording of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C# features on the Industry season 4 soundtrack.
She will join The Piano team at Birmingham New Street Station.
Jools Holland OBE
Jools has had a long and illustrious musical career. More recently known for his TV shows Later…, which has been running for over 20 years, and the annual Hootenanny celebration, he has also presented other musical shows such as Channel 4’s The Tube.
He was a founding member of the English rock band Squeeze, after having started his musical career as a session musician.
Born in London, he could play the piano fluently by ear from age eight, and by his early teens he was performing regularly in southeast London pubs.
He will accompany the amateur musician search at London Bridge station.
Hiromi
Hiromi Uehara is a Japanese jazz composer and pianist, known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances and blending of musical genres such as stride, post-bop, progressive rock, classical, nu jazz and fusion.
She began playing the piano at age six and was introduced to jazz by her music teacher when she was eight. By age 14 she had played with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and when 17 she met Chick Corea in Tokyo (by chance) and played at his concert the following day.
She studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, mentored by Ahmad Jamal. She released her first album, Another Mind, in 2003, and graduated later that year. The album shipped gold in Japan and was named Jazz Album of the Year by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
Hironi plays a Yamaha CFIII-S concert grand piano, Nord keyboards including the Lead 2, Electro 2 73 and Stage piano, and a Korg microKORG.
She will be based at York Station.
Alice Sara Ott
Pianist Alice Sara Ott was born in Germany to a Japanese mother who had studied piano in Tokyo.
She began piano lessons aged four and by just five she had reached the final stage of the youth competition in Munich, playing to a full house.
At age seven she had won the Jugend musiziert competition in Germany, and in 2002 she was the youngest finalist at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan — she won the Most Promising Artist award.
She has made recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and performs regularly in concert tours in Europe, Japan, and the US.
She will be mentoring at Manchester Piccadilly Station.
Jamie Cullum
English jazz/pop singer-songwriter and pianist has had an illustrious career which has included recording nine studio albums and presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2.
He failed his Grade 4 piano exam and claims he can barely read music, but this hasn’t hampered his success.
After graduating from Reading University, he released his first album Pointless Nostalgic in 2002, before going on to sign for Universal.
Cullum often makes use of a stomp box and a looping machine at his concerts, as well as regularly beatboxing.
He will mentor at Glasgow Central station.
The Pianos
Birmingham New Street Station
The piano is available within the station. A public reviewer recently stated that the instrument is present but sometimes the bench isn’t, and that the keys are sticky, making it borderline unplayable, with the sustain pedal not working either.
According to another post, the piano was donated by Fair Deal Music and is a Yamaha instrument.
Presumably that’s going to be fixed before the show.
London Bridge Station
The piano is located at the heart of the station concourse. It’s sometimes used as part of art installations.
York Station
This bright blue upright acoustic piano was installed in January this year, as a collaboration between train company LNER, Miller’s Music, and the Richard Shephard Music Foundation.
It forms part of the Piano Equals reuse project and is designed by LazenbyBrown.
Manchester Piccadilly Station
The public piano at Manchester Piccadilly is made available thanks to a partnership with Forsyth Music Shop.
It’s part of a city-wide piano trail, with instruments also found at Victoria Station, Trafford Palazzo and other locations.
It has had mixed public reviews, including “it’s a fantastic piano, with smart branding on it. Plays really well and nice bright tone” and “unplayable. Close to the toilets though.”
Public reviewer “J” said there are actually two pianos — one by platform 1 and another at platform 10. One has a few out of tune or silent keys and some inconsistencies in key weight and volume. The other is about the same but without a working sustain pedal!
Some of these reviews were from a few years ago and the presence of a TV crew is likely to have seen replacements or repairs.
Glasgow Central Station
Located in the “piano garden” area, this piano was donated and is maintained by McLaren’s Pianos.
It’s a Yamaha acoustic upright piano.
Broadcast Date
At present there is no fixed date for the show’s return. Previous series have started in mid to late spring.
Last year’s show, Series 3, which was won by 87-year-old Diane Newell, can be watched in the UK on Channel 4 catchup.
