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I'll get the DIGITAL issue as soon as possible, will post here Radio Times Pressreader https://pressreader.com/article/281801404017769 PDF file The most joyful show on TV As The Piano makes a swift return, hosts Claudia Winkleman, Mika and Lang Lang reveal the secrets of the show’s success. No glitz, no make-up, no pathos, it’s all about the music… Central – a photographic studio in west London, where Claudia Winkleman and Mika are recovering from throwing shapes under strobe-esque lighting against a dazzling backdrop of blackand-white 1960s Op Art à la Bridget Riley. There are a few serious moments but mostly it’s wise-cracking verbal ping-pong. Claudia, peering out from under what she calls her “Unapologetic Fringe”, is munching through two bags of crisps and a packet of mini-Oreos, for which she apologises quite often. Then, witnessing my fa¹ng with tape recorders while dealing poorly with a cup of tea (lack of spoon, saucer and so on) as Mika is talking, she quietly slips it away and dispatches the damp tea bag in what I suspect is a characteristically kind and unobtrusive intervention. These are two of the three faces (I meet Lang Lang later in the week) of what is surely the most joy-filled television series of recent times: The Piano, the Channel 4 gem that went out early last year following a most unusual music competition between amateur piano players invited to perform on public pianos at major train station across the length of the country, from London’s St Pancras to Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow. The participants – of all ages and from all backgrounds, with the most tremendous back-stories, playing every genre of music from classical to pop and rap – were under the impression that they were being lmed for some kind of documentary presented by Claudia. Unbeknownst to them, the world’s leading classical piano player, Lang Lang, was hidden away in a small room, usually next to the public toilet, alongside the beguiling performer and pop star Mika. Both men were judging their performances with a view to selecting one pianist from each location to appear in a concert at the Royal Festival Hall, where an overall winner would be announced. Last year this was stand- out star, blind 13-year-old Lucy Illingworth from West Yorkshire, who is unable to communicate in conventional ways because of her autism and other conditions. Her transformation when she started playing the piano (Chopin’s Nocturne in B at Minor) with such tenderness and artistry was deeply aecting, moving viewers at home and in the station to tears, including the judges. The rst series had the highest ratings for the channel since 2017, with three million viewers, and in July last year it was announced that the show had been recommissioned for both a second and third season, as well as a Christmas special and a documentary on what came next for Lucy ( The Incredibly Talented Lucy is coming soon to Channel 4). Sitting across from me, Mika looks like the offspring of Stephen Mangan and Beatrice Dalle, while Claudia’s vibe is more Carine Roitfeld, the deliciously dishevelled and very rock ’n’ roll French fashion editor. We talk a little about an old clip that has emerged, of Claudia looking very different in her 20s [she’s now very happy to be 52 – “I love being older”], without the famous fringe and tan, and with a dierent way of talking [she calls it her “university voice”, adding of her time at New Hall, Cambridge: “I did go to a quite fancy university”]. She looks quite Sloaney? “Very,” she agrees. So when did she develop rock ’n’ roll Claudia? “Well, I don’t feel rock ’ n’ roll at all. I’m denitely not.” It started with the fringe when she went to a hairdresser and said, at 28: “‘I think I’d like a fringe’ and he gave me – you’re both going to feel nauseous when I say this word – a wispy fringe and I said, ‘I think I need an unapologetic fringe.’ And once I had that, everything else followed.” The black eyeliner? “I think I had that already but not in that clip because I was doing telly and I had no idea what I was doing and they said, ‘Let’s make you up like this’ and I was like, ‘OK,’ but I was always a bit Emo.” Maybe a bit Goth, too? “Oh I was very Goth– even now, a pointy boot and a long duster coat...” she swoons. W¦§¨ ©ª«¬ ¬¦« make of Nick Cave and his wife Susie Bick, who used to rock that Goth look. “Love. I met Susie once and I mounted her. I don’t think I’m allowed to meet her again. I also love Ozzy Osbourne and in the end, I just want to eat a bat.” One of the reasons we love Claudia – apart from her sense of mischief, warmth and genuine curiosity – is that she is an original. I mean, honestly, who says the things she says routinely – particularly now – and gets away with it? The journalist Stuart Heritage captured her presenting style brilliantly, writing that she is “the concept of free jazz made corporeal” and “has made a career of appearing to say whatever happens to be ambiently ¯oating through her head at any given moment”. I remind her that she actually said, “My ovaries just clacked” on The Piano when she spotted a baby. Mika is aghast: “Did she really say that? She does get very, very excited around babies. Honest l y, she’s the ▷ babysitter at the station.” “I don’t remember that,” Claudia says. “We never watch it.” Is she desperate to be a granny? Is she already encouraging her children (Jake, 21, Matilda, 17, and Arthur, 12) to become young parents? “Yes I am, and if they were here now they would be, like, ‘Please just tell her to relax!’” She travels with her youngest on the Tube to school every day and this is when she listens to music – “and once I’ve kissed him and tried to lick his eyebrows in front of his friends – which by the way is not what one should do but it’s my job to be embarrassing – then I put my headphones on and listen to music very loud. I want Missy Elliott, I want Dr Dre and rap and – BOOM! – it wakes me up. “At home, I’ll usually have Radio 4 or Radio 2 on if I’m cooking or just pottering around, but I don’t normally listen to music then because I’m usually pestering the kids. Am I being boring?” This is typical of her. Claudia is self-deprecating to a fault. I was berating her about it when we met for an interview 14 years ago, but she’s even worse now. S integral part of The Piano’s appeal (as she is in Strictly and that other successful series The Traitors, for which she won a Bafta last year), but she demurs. Isn’t it about time, dear Claudia, to own your success? “I’m super-happy and super-grateful, but I’m just the conduit who says, ‘Hello.’ The Piano is about these extraordinary people who come to play, it’s about the instrument and it’s about Mika and Lang Lang – [she turns and says to Mika] Don’t respond!” “She knows me!” he laughs. “I love this conversation – I’m serious, I really mean it.” He clearly agrees about her tendency to put herself down. “I feel quite secure in the stuff that I know I can do,” she responds. “Reading out loud on Strictly. Greeting a lovely person who’s come in and might be a bit nervous to play the piano. Walking around a round table. What I really can’t bear is ‘ Yeah, I’ve got this’. I’m allergic to any form of arrogance. “I love a healthy bit of imposter syndrome and I am a big believer in being bad at things. When my kids were like, ‘Mum, shall I learn a musical instrument?’ I said, ‘I wouldn’t. Not unless you really want to.’ I want them to be bored and I just want to say aloud, ‘It’s OK not to be good at stuff.’ You know, I’m not good at parallel parking – ¥ne.” We move on and touch on the wars raging around the world. Claudia’s response is to donate and keep informed: “Read about it from every angle so at least you feel informed, not ‘I just can’t look at it’.” Her personal solace to sorrow is to wrap herself around the people she loves, which is her family. For Mika, it is music. “There has always been this association with processing the inexpressible through something that allows you to deal with it in a di¨erent way. There was this ¥ne line with my family between tears and joy, and music was always this form of poetic resistance, which can have huge and strong consequences.” The bare bones of biography can mislead. Read that 40-year-old Mika was born in Beirut, moved to Paris, then Pimlico adjacent to London’s Chelsea, went to the famous Westminster School in London, with an American father in banking, and it paints a picture of gilded ease. The reality was rather di¨erent. In 1990, during the war in Kuwait, Mika’s father, Michael Holbrook Penniman, was trapped in the US embassy for seven months. He returned to his family a shell of a man: heavily bearded, gaunt and troubled. Mika didn’t call him Dad again, I read? “I called him ‘Mike’ because I didn’t recognise him. It was hard to understand that he had trauma but then when everything fell apart and he lost his job... “There were five of us children and we lost everything, then we started again. We knew every phrase to say to be within the law to make sure the bailiffs didn’t come into the house. At a certain point, it became too much and we kind of ran away from France and started again. We didn’t run away, sorry – we left. And then we lived in a bed and breakfast near Pimlico for two years.” His parents managed to stabilise things, but it was still bumpy. Mika was suspended four times at Westminster, for quite long intervals, because his school fees couldn’t be paid. This led to almighty rows between his parents and he would tell his mother – American-born Lebanese-Syrian Joannie – that he would be happy at any school. However, when the family first moved to London the nine-year-old Mika had attended the Lycée, where he was so badly bullied that he was home-schooled for a while by his mum, to whom he was particularly close and who sadly died three years ago. “She was very eccentric,” he says, affectionately. “Home was music, colour and tears all mixed together. My father was an amazing partner to her... you can’t really speak about one without speaking about the other. There was turbulence but he was the perfect partner to her hurricane of colour.” M¯ °±²³´ and as a child had reading and writing issues – but he speaks five languages and broadcasts regularly in at least three of them. He also has a wonderfully evocative turn of phrase. I am particularly taken by “the crutch of snobbery”. But back then, life was more of a challenge. “I stopped communicating with the world around me. I was hardly speaking. I forgot how to read and write. My path out of it was music – it allowed me to start rebuilding and gave me another sense of value. I may have been failing ‘I’m a big believer in being bad at things... I can’t parallel park’ CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN ‘Mum was eccentric; home was music, colour and tears’ MIKA ◁ at the spelling exam and having a hard time, but I’m not worthless – ‘Look, I can do this!’” To which Claudia is keen to point out: “Mika hid in the music room from the bullies.” Music comforts him still. He suggests you give the same attention to it as you would reading a book or watching a film – one song and you absorb yourself in it totally. It could be Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You or Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique: “All those colours, all those textures – you can’t listen to that in the background while you’re making your tomato sauce!” “Mika and I get on so brilliantly but you’re about to go off me!” Claudia announces. Addressing him she adds: “So this is how I listen to music... I don’t like anything new. I stopped listening to bands in probably 1995 and those are still my favourites. That period of Brit Pop with Oasis, Blur, Pulp. We would run around university singing Wonderwall at the top of our lungs and that is the music I revert to.” T between Claudia and Mika is evident for all to see – but what of his relationship with his fellow judge, the renowned pianist Lang Lang? Initially he had seemed very reserved in contrast to Mika’s exuberant chattiness, his sherbet-coloured shirts and bold necklaces. But over the weeks it was clear that an endearing friendship had developed, almost a bromance. “There are moments when Lang Lang is quite tactile and you wouldn’t expect that,” Mika says. “When he’s ¡nding something really funny he can’t control himself. He’ll laugh and he starts stroking my face and I’m, like, ‘Oh my God!’ There’s very few situations in my life where I’m having a nice time, especially with a man, and he just strokes your face out of a£ection.” All three of them are clearly, and quite rightly, proud of the show: “We’re a beautiful little poetic success – there’s no big shiny floor, there’s no mechanic of pathos,” Mika says. “They haven’t had make-up or been zhuzhed,” Claudia adds. “There isn’t a floor manager saying, ‘Come in and please introduce yourself.’” But now everyone knows how the The Piano works, did that change the dynamic for season two? “I was so worried that they’d come in a ballgown waving – ‘Lang Lang! Mika! I’m here!’” Claudia vamps. “But actually because you can’t see them, they’re sort of forgotten.’” So the authenticity remains... “It’s beyond that,” Claudia says. “I’m holding their bags!” “And they’re sitting at the Costa co£ee shop or Greggs!” Mika adds. “But once they play,” Claudia chimes in, “it’s not humdrum.” Mika smiles: “Exactly. It’s magic.”

Mancunian Matters https://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/news/22042024-watch-the-piano-from-channel-4-is-back-with-a-celebration-in-manchester-arndale/ 22 April 2024 WATCH: The Piano from Channel 4 is back with a celebration in Manchester Arndale Channel 4 installed a giant seven-metre piano in Manchester Arndale on the weekend to celebrate the second series of its talent show, The Piano, hosted by Claudia Winkleman and featuring music stars Mika and Lang Lang. Famous faces from Manchester and beyond joined members of the public in attempting to play tunes with their feet on a seven-metre piano. Joining the fun were media personality Christine McGuinness, Love Island All Stars winner Molly Smith, Hollyoaks actress Jorgie Porter, Celebrity Big Brother winner David Potts, media personality Scott Thomas and The Traitors runner-up Jaz Singh. The community had a blast with the oversized piano, with a few individuals showcasing their improvisational skills. Anthony Thomas from Gorton, aged 43, started playing piano 15 years ago: “I saw the first season of The Piano, and it blew me away. “Everyone is talking about Lucy, and she is amazing. “It blew me away to see somebody learn in a completely different way than everybody else. “That show is fantastic; it optimises the piano to no end.” Performer Danny Wilsher, who had appeared in the first series of The Piano, collaborated with Jaz Singh, further enriching the musical experience with their dynamic performance in the heart of Manchester in the weekend. The Piano returns to Channel 4 for a second series on Sunday, 28th April. Claudia Winkleman, world-renowned pianist Lang Lang, and international chart-topper Mika are again looking for talented pianists who display their talents on pianos at train stations across the UK, and they will have a chance to perform in a concert at Aviva Studios in Manchester.

RTL2 https://www.rtl2.fr/jeux/mika-en-concert-tres-tres-prive-rtl2-au-blue-cargo-a-bidart-comment-y-assister-7900375258#20240422070000 22/04/2024 Jeux Mika en Concert Très Très Privé RTL2 au Blue Cargo à Bidart : comment y assister ? Vendredi 17 mai 2024, des auditeurs de RTL2 auront la chance de voir et d’écouter Mika au Pays Basque dans un cadre exceptionnel . RTL2 la radio du live, vous offre un Concert Très Très Privé en plein air le 17 mai. Sur la plage, les pieds dans l’eau, retrouvez Mika sur scène au Blue Cargo à Bidart, tout près de Biarritz, dans un décor exceptionnel avec l’océan Atlantique en toile de fond. Lieu mythique de la côte basque, le Blue Cargo fait rimer élégance et détente sur la magnifique plage d’Ibarritz. Il n'avait pas sorti d'album depuis 2019 et My Name Is Michael Holbrook. Mika est enfin revenu dans les bacs avec un 6e disque intitule Que ta tête fleurisse toujours. Sa pop y prend pour la 1re fois un goût 100% francophone. Dans cet album aussi joyeux qu’intime, aussi touchant que dansant, le chanteur ouvre une porte sur ses souvenirs et ses émotions, sans perdre sa force si universelle. On y retrouve l'artiste pop qu’on aime. Les tubes s’enchaînent (C’est la Vie, Jane Birkin, Apocalypse Calypso..) tout en laissant l’émotion et les frissons nous rattraper parfois (30 secondes, Passager, Moi Andy et Paris..). Qui mieux que Mika pouvait réussir le tour de force de faire vibrer la langue française sur ses envolées et ses mélodies pop incomparables ? Dès votre réveil, écoutez RTL2. Dès que vous entendez le dernier titre de Mika, envoyez par SMS "RTL2" au 74900 (0,75€ par message) et gagnez peut-être vos places pour le Concert Très Très Privé de Mika le 17 mai au Blue Cargo à Bidart. La radio pop rock s’occupe de tout : transport et hébergement compris. Le concert sera également à suivre en direct ce vendredi 17 mai 2024 à partir de 21h en audio sur le site RTL2.fr et l'application mobile RTL2 ainsi que sur tous nos réseaux sociaux (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). Fin de l'opération le 26/04/2024. Google translator Games Mika in Very Very Private RTL2 Concert at Blue Cargo in Bidart: how to attend? Friday May 17, 2024, RTL2 listeners will have the chance to see and listen to Mika in the Basque Country in an exceptional setting. RTL2, live radio, offers you a Very Very Private Open-Air Concert on May 17. On the beach, with your feet in the water, find Mika on stage at Blue Cargo in Bidart, very close to Biarritz, in an exceptional setting with the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop. A legendary place on the Basque coast, the Blue Cargo combines elegance and relaxation on the magnificent Ibarritz beach. He had not released an album since 2019 and My Name Is Michael Holbrook. Mika has finally returned to the stores with a 6th album entitled Que ta tête toujours. His pop takes on a 100% French-speaking taste for the first time. In this album, as joyful as it is intimate, as touching as it is danceable, the singer opens a door to his memories and his emotions, without losing his universal force. We find the pop artist we love there. The hits follow one another (C’est la Vie, Jane Birkin, Apocalypse Calypso..) while letting the emotion and thrills catch up with us sometimes (30 seconds, Passager, Moi Andy and Paris..). Who better than Mika could achieve the feat of making the French language vibrate with its flights and incomparable pop melodies? As soon as you wake up, listen to RTL2. As soon as you hear Mika's latest track, text "RTL2" to 74900 (€0.75 per message) and maybe win your tickets for Mika's Very Very Private Concert on May 17 at Blue Cargo in Bidart. Pop rock radio takes care of everything: transportation and accommodation included. The concert will also be followed live the Friday, May 17, 2024 from 9 p.m. in audio on the RTL2.fr website and the RTL2 mobile application as well as on all our social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). End of operation on 04/26/2024.

TV 24 https://tv24.co.uk/p/the-piano-season-2-episode-1-qdqqrr The Piano Series 2 Episode 1 Claudia Winkleman, Mika, and Lang Lang return to unearth more of the UK's most exciting amateur pianists, starting at Manchester Piccadilly station, where they discover a classically trained boxer and an 80-year-old romantic who breaks their hearts. Original air date 2024-04-28

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Added new links REPLAY Episode - 10 Battles - 3 ( 20/04/2024 ) d000d.com Battles - https://d000d.com/d/ydvz4t8uq932 Le Talk - https://d000d.com/d/odmfvcgq5t9b VK 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚𝙨 𝘽𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨（3） 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 2024.04.20 "Keep It Simple" Mika & Vianney The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 FC2 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚𝙨 𝘽𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨（3）part-1 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚𝙨 𝘽𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨（3）part-2 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 2024.04.20 "Keep It Simple" The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠

IG story Danny Wilsher ( Season One's finalist ) https://www.instagram.com/stories/danieljameswilsher/

INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/p/C5bGaW7oudH/ February work at @leviathan_works making these gorgeous wings for MIKA’s tour. Absolute blast! First thing I ever made that made me want to do what I do for a living was a pair of pretty basic flappy wings! To get to make a pair again, like this with so much more to them was a dream and worth every pin prick and needle stab into the fingers!

@Antoine gave us the DOWNLOAD links. Thanks a million as always !! Mikawebsite DOWNLOAD links « The Voice » saison 13 – « Prime » n°10　Télécharger « The Voice » saison 13 – « La Suite » n°10　Télécharger

BBC ONE https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yc2y 19/04/2024 The One Show YouTube ( 720p HD )

IG stories https://www.instagram.com/stories/bradkella/3350999753380957775/ Claudia is ready for the concert ! r1BBFtbuNn3nyPsc.mp4

The Irish Mail on Sunday Sunday, April 21, 2024 Page 80 MAGAZINE Page 83 + 84 We thought it was a charming one-off... HOW WRONG WE WERE! Claudia Winkleman, Lang Lang and Mika on how The Piano's success took them by surprise-and why the amateur musicians' stories make it so heartwarming

Daily Mail Weekend Magazine INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5-ZXFuI1ld/ TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymailuk/video/7343999771721354529 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymailuk/video/7344012787091311904 Here is a merged video. Thanks a lot for reminding me @Anna Ko Kolkowska

REPLAY Episode - 10 Battles - 3 ( 20/04/2024 ) TF1 + Part - 1 https://www.tf1.fr/tf1/the-voice/videos/the-voice-2024-prime-du-20-avril-2024-partie-1-63163489.html Part - 2 https://www.tf1.fr/tf1/the-voice/videos/the-voice-2024-prime-du-20-avril-2024-partie-2-79397583.html Le Talk https://www.tf1.fr/tf1/the-voice/videos/the-voice-2024-prime-du-20-avril-2024-le-talk-65243444.html Mikawebsite DOWNLOAD links « The Voice » saison 13 – « Prime » n°10　Télécharger « The Voice » saison 13 – « La Suite » n°10　Télécharger d000d.com Battles - https://d000d.com/d/ydvz4t8uq932 Le Talk - https://d000d.com/d/odmfvcgq5t9b VK 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚𝙨 𝘽𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨（3） 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 2024.04.20 "Keep It Simple" Mika & Vianney The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 FC2 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚𝙨 𝘽𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨（3）part-1 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚𝙨 𝘽𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨（3）part-2 2024.04.20 The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 2024.04.20 "Keep It Simple" The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 Team MIKA Battles FC2 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗠𝗜𝗞𝗔　Mewhy et Okali "Là-bas" 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗠𝗜𝗞𝗔　Orange et Lance Priester -"Night in white satin" VK 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗠𝗜𝗞𝗔　Mewhy et Okali -"Là-bas" 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗠𝗜𝗞𝗔　Orange et Lance Priester YouTube Jean-Jacques Goldman - Là-bas - Mehwy et Okali | The Voice 2024 | Battles Keep It Simple by Mika & Vianney from Le Talk 2024.04.20 Keep It Simple Mika & Vianney The Voice Ep.10　𝙇𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠.mp4

IG stories https://www.instagram.com/stories/bradkella/ The_Piano_setting.mp4 MIKA dressing room LANG LANG dressing room CLAUDIA dressing room

This clip is a part of shooting. TiKTok

Daily Mail Weekend Magazine INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5-ZXFuI1ld/ YouTube SaveIG.App_3350226710663747933.mp4

The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review Saturday 20 Apr 2024 Pressreader https://pressreader.com/article/281900188261304 WEB https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2024/04/20/the-piano-channel-4-lang-mika-claudia-winkleman-interview/ ‘The good pianists are like a magnet’ Judges Lang Lang and Mika explain why station-set talent show The Piano has captured our hearts Walk into any major train station in Britain and you will no doubt, among the hustle and bustle, bells and whistles, hear the sound of someone tinkling the ivories. Sixteen years ago, the British artist Luke Jerram launched his Play Me, I’m Yours installation, putting public pianos into railway stations across the world. They are now as familiar a site as ticket barriers and pigeons. At Liverpool Lime Street station on a chilly late February afternoon, Claudia Winkleman is doing the two-step to Elton John’s Rocket Man. Alongside, three-year-old Harry is swinging a Home Bargains shopping bag and copying her every move. Alas, this is not an audition for Strictly Come Dancing Juniors. Winkleman has traded stilettos for Dr Martens and is encouraging amateurs of a very different disposition. Watching intently from on high in the first-class lounge are classical concert pianist Lang Lang and polyglot pop star Mika, the secret “judges”. We are all gathered for the filming of the second series of The Piano, a talent search in Britain’s railway stations for the next top amateur pianists, which culminates in a grand concert finale. The programme comes from Love Productions, the makers of The Great British Bake Off, and has been a huge success for Channel 4, gaining an average of 2.7million viewers, becoming its best-rating new format since 2017, winning a Broadcast Award for Best Original Programme and being nominated for the Memorable Moment Award at next month’s TV Baftas. “I know nothing about music,” says host Winkleman, who conducts the pre-performance chats. “But what I find emotional is standing next to the players’ families. There was a girl playing a Tori Amos song – I turned to her mother and tears were streaming down her face … I was gone.” “My favourite part is when someone misses a train,” she continues. Indeed, young Harry had been shopping with his grandmother when the pair met 20-year-old tracksuit-clad Dan, the Rocket Man, only moments earlier and decided to stay for the afternoon to support him. In front of me, a couple, arm-in-arm, sway in time to the music, while a lady to my left tells me that she’ll “get the next train” because a smartly dressed elderly gentleman playing a jazz standard reminds her of her father. “If he was here now, he’d be up there on that piano for sure – he used to play anything and we would crowd round and listen. A bit like we all are now,” she says, just as a crane camera swoops over our heads and a make-up artist quickly combs Winkleman’s trademark fringe. Another member of the crew wipes some pigeon poo off the gleaming Steinway. “Being in the station is fascinating,” adds former child prodigy Lang Lang, who has performed with major orchestras around the world since the 1990s and last week received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “The good pianists are like a magnet and crowds flock to watch and listen. If you are in a concert hall, you don’t see this effect.” Last year, blind, autistic and nonverbal 13-year-old Lucy Illingworth blew everyone away at Leeds train station when she played Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat minor. “It’s unbelievable that she can play this piece,” Lang Lang remarked at the time. “How – how – does she study? This is incredible.” Lucy went on to win the competition. “You have to be an open person to appreciate classical music,” explains Lang Lang. “Because sometimes you do not know a culture, but through a great work you can understand. It’s like reading Shakespeare – as a Chinese person, you feel the same as the British on a human level.” At one point in his career, Lang Lang was performing up to 140 concerts a year. “There is a huge cultural difference between the places that I visit, but people are much friendlier to musicians. I met Her Majesty [the late Queen Elizabeth II] here in Liverpool for the Royal Variety Show in 2007. She told me that my hands moved very fast and that she would have liked to have had my fast fingers – she was very humorous.” The 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, at which a 26-year-old Lang Lang was the star performer, was a great opportunity to showcase classical music, he explains. “Musicians can only do so much. We are not politicians. We want to make the world more relaxed and peaceful, and more uniform. I am a messenger of peace,” he says. He’s referring to being awarded the role of United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2013 – an honour that he shares with Yo-Yo Ma, Michael Douglas, Stevie Wonder and Charlize Theron – for promoting global education through his International Music Foundation. “We don’t have a Lucy this year, but we do have a lot of good international talent,” he reveals. The wildest thing he’s seen so far this series is a baroque-style medley of Lady Gaga and Billy Joel. “There are some songs that I have no clue about, but Mika knows them all. He’s like my Wikipedia.” Your Mikapedia, perhaps? Mika enjoyed a giddy period of fame in the UK with his 2007 debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion, which spawned the hit singles Grace Kelly and Big Girl. He went on to judge The X Factor in Italy and The Voice in France. He is, however, keen to outline the purpose of this show. “The DNA of The Piano is that it’s an anti-talent show. We are not trying to make a star and no one is there to further their career. You can’t take part if you make money out of music in any way,” he explains. “We’re using The Piano to tell stories that would not normally see the light of day.” Mika and Lang Lang are not given any guidance on the participants, who apply online by uploading a video of themselves playing and are then invited to the filmed auditions in the train stations. “It’s up to us,” says Mika. “It’s amazing to see how the collection of people for the final concert came together. It was unintentional that we had three young men (and Lucy) in the end. The guys were all using the piano to help deal with challenges in their lives, whether it was money or mental health issues. It’s important that The Piano has this healing power. And it’s not sad – it’s empowering. It’s not a sob story. They’re playing the s--t out of that piano. The tension is going to be even higher this year because the concert is a real event.” Quite: this time the final, in Manchester, will be ticketed, with the money raised going towards putting new pianos in train stations. There is, of course, a central message to The Piano – that the art of music is universal. But the lack of music education in schools continues to be a worldwide problem. Lang Lang’s music foundation was set up in 2008 and upholds the belief that all children should have access to music education and opportunity, regardless of their background. As of 2024, his Piano Lab lessons feature in four UK state schools, with plans for more. “It’s easier to learn music now there’s all this technology. But it’s a tremendous effort to get it back into schools. There’s a lot of money involved. As musicians, we have to do more to encourage the community to understand that if kids have music education they will do better in other subjects. But we are getting so practical – people ask, ‘Why should I learn music? Does music help me to get more money or a better job?’” Nevertheless, Lang Lang is ever the optimist. “There are a lot of people who have big dreams in life and we are inspired by their talent. The show is a great platform to get to know each other and, despite our differences, find out how similar we are. The piano is the instrument that brings us together.” ‘We’re using The Piano to tell stories that would not normally see the light of day’

Daily Mail Weekend Magazine 20 Apr 2024 Pressreader https://pressreader.com/article/281543705972610 WEB https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13314503/Claudia-Winkleman-Lang-Lang-Mika-Pianos-success-took-surprise-amateur-musicians-stories-make-heartwarming.html INSTAGRAM ( pics ) https://www.instagram.com/p/C58vE_SoBfn/ INSTAGRAM ( video ) https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5-ZXFuI1ld/ We thought it was a charming one-off... HOW WRONG WE WERE! Claudia Winkleman, Lang Lang and Mika on how The Piano’s success took them by surprise – and why the amateur musicians’ stories make it so heartwarming Claudia Winkleman has spent much of this year crossing her fingers. ‘Or double-crossing fingers, if that’s a thing?’ she muses. However you describe it, she was doing it in January ahead of the return of the BBC1 cult reality show The Traitors, and she’s doing it again as she awaits series two of Channel 4’s music competition show The Piano, on which she also plays host (albeit minus her signature cloak). Hence the endless double-crossing of fingers. ‘Obviously the first time something goes out you really want people to like it,’ says the 52year-old presenter. ‘Then when they do and it goes out again you don’t want to let them down.’ What’s more – as with The Traitors – she had no expectation that The Piano, which scoured the UK to find our best amateur pianists, would be anything more than what she calls a ‘charming, lovely oneoff’, something confirmed by her colleague, singer-songwriter Mika, who is a judge on the show. ‘She said it 37 times or so when we were filming first time round,’ he laughs. ‘But to be fair we all said it.’ The show, which featured amateur musicians publicly performing on street pianos on the concourses of major UK railway stations, blissfully unaware that their performances were being secretly judged by Mika and the virtuoso concert pianist Lang Lang, was certainly a surprise hit, pulling in an average of 2.7 million viewers per episode. The judges then selected one performer from each location to play at an end-of-series concert at the Royal Festival Hall, where 13-year-old pianist Lucy, who is blind and autistic, was anointed overall winner. In a nutshell, that’s it: no record deals, no tour dates and none of the razzmatazz that accompanies other big talent show contests. And that, says 40-year-old Mika (he was born Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr, but is known by his mother’s nickname for him), is precisely the point. ‘It isn’t a traditional talent show. If anything it’s the antitalent show. People don’t come on to seek fame and fortune, it’s not about becoming a star for 15 minutes or, “We’ll get you a record deal.” And that opens the door to a whole other world of stories, people like Lucy who’d never dare present themselves on a conventional talent show. That’s what makes it so wonderful.’ It’s little surprise that Lucy’s original audition has been nominated for the Memorable Moment Award at this year’s TV BAFTAS. But there is no getting away from the fact that second time around the element of mystery has gone. While in the first series participants were unaware that two world-class musicians were watching and judging from a nearby booth, anyone strolling up to the piano this time will know. Doesn’t that mean a whole new raft of people just there to mug for the cameras? Not so, the host and judges insist. ‘It hasn’t lost anything,’ says Lang Lang, 41, who has carved out time in his frenetic global touring timetable for our Weekend photoshoot: he was performing at the Colosseum in Rome the previous evening, and at Edinburgh Castle the night before that. ‘The only change is that sometimes we pop out and say hi, or, “The left hand is not good, play it again.” But the people giving it a try are doing just that. They’re not there for the cameras.’ Claudia agrees. ‘It has kept that lovely sweetness about it,’ she says. ‘It’s not showbizzy.’ And who can argue with her, given that whether the team are in Glasgow or Godalming, the backdrop is a railway concourse and a sandwich bar chain. ‘We’re usually between an Upper Crust and a Costa, people are running to get a train, a baby’s crying,’ says Claudia, adding that she often has to hold someone’s shopping and coat when they spontaneously decide to tickle the ivories. ‘And the Tannoy doesn’t stop. That’s the main challenge actually, especially when there are an awful lot of station stops.’ ‘The Tannoy is the bane of Claudia’s life,’ laughs Mika. ‘That’s one incredible pleasure that Lang Lang and I have sitting in our booth: we get to watch Claudia Winkleman having screaming arguments with a woman on a Tannoy. She doesn’t like being spoken over. Oh, and she sneezes like a whoopee cushion on steroids.’ ‘I do,’ acknowledges Claudia. They all hoot with laughter, a reminder of the easy chemistry between a trio who, prior to the previous series, had never met and were basically put together on day one of filming by producers hoping for the best. It’s a gamble that clearly paid off. ‘We fell in love, thank goodness,’ Tannoys are the bane of Claudia’s life. She has screaming arguments with them says Claudia, recalling how the trio bonded over baguettes from a station sandwich bar after the first morning filming. ‘She loves a tuna baguette,’ says Mika of Claudia, who says he’s more of a ‘Pret salad or soup’ man. ‘We blended from the very beginning, it’s a real friendship,’ says Lang Lang, who blew the other two away when he played for them for the first time – post baguettes. ‘You never forget, once you’ve heard him play,’ says Claudia. ‘It will always stay with me.’ Lang Lang, in turn, testifies to Claudia’s ‘extraordinary ease’ with people, and to Mika’s cleverness. ‘He knows everything,’ he confides. The musicians certainly bring different experiences to the table. One’s a Chinese virtuoso who gave his first public recital aged five, the other’s a Lebanese-born, self-taught, platinumalbum-selling artist whose family had to flee their war-torn homeland. ‘I’ve been playing piano my whole life, but I don’t read music,’ says Mika, whose hit single Grace Kelly was the third best-selling in the UK in 2007, and sat at No 1 for five weeks. ‘I play by ear, so I’m an example that you can play really simply, and it can change your life. I always say that the piano gave me my voice.’ Mika wrote his first song aged seven when living in Paris. When the family relocated to London for his father’s work, the chipboard piano they had rented from a local Parisian company, and which the company gave to them when it went bankrupt, was one of the few things they brought. Now homed at his cottage on the south coast, it is still his working piano. ‘My mother thought I was out of my mind, but I painted it white when we arrived in London, and I still have it. It’s in a cottage outside of Hastings.’ Lang Lang, by contrast, was given a piano at the age of two by his father, who played the erhu (a Chinese fiddle), and started lessons at three, leading to that recital aged five. ‘I loved being on stage, the lighting, the focusing of the moment and of course the tension,’ he says. ‘When you sense everyone is listening to you it creates some kind of magic. It’s like the world stops, but they’re breathing with you.’ His talent was prodigious – at 13 he was performing as a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra – but it also went hand in hand with phenomenal amounts of work. ‘We all need to sacrifice at a certain level; as a kid I probably suffered more than the regular kid because they don’t need to concentrate six hours a day,’ he says. ‘But the reward is good; once you’re successful you’re travelling around the world.’ Even today, Lang Lang never goes longer than two days without playing as his fingers start to seize up. ‘It’s OK if I don’t play one or two days, but after that the hands feel very wrong,’ he says. Of course, Lang Lang’s mastery is some way from people strolling up to a station piano, but as Mika says, that’s the point. Calling it ‘the ultimate democratic instrument’, he says the piano’s beauty is it is for allcomers. ‘We easily forget the impact the piano has had on our culture,’ he says. ‘It’s as appropriate in a church as it is in a pub, and it revolutionised music. It was so common to see pianos in people’s living rooms, and almost every pub in the UK had a piano, but most have disappeared.’ Yet the public’s love for the instrument remains robust, if the numbers who want to display their skills on the show is anything to go by. ‘What I love is that nobody knows what’s going to come next,’ says Lang Lang. ‘You might have a pianist who looks like some urban hip-hop guy, but he starts playing Ravel. And then there might be a lady who looks so classical, and she’s doing Alicia Keys. You can’t judge by their look.’ Nor can you fault their ambition: no Elton or Billy Joel crowd-pleasers here, with many playing their own compositions. ‘It’s bold – you’re not tapping into something people know,’ says Claudia, who admits she can’t play a note. ‘But they see it as their one shot, and they want to play something that means something to them.’ Many are self-taught. ‘I remember a guy called Jared who was a truck mechanic, and he just came in his lunch break,’ recalls Claudia. ‘His hands still had oil on them, and he put down his toolbox and he was a bit unsure. But then, oh my goodness!’ There are similar ‘goosebump’ moments in the new series, according to the trio – including one contender in Glasgow who caught everyone by surprise, although more than that they won’t say. Now the judges have been ‘outed’, they are not beyond intervening if they think someone isn’t doing themselves any favours. ‘Someone played ABBA’S The Winner Takes It All in the most astonishingly depressing, sad version. I had to ask her to play something else,’ says Mika. ‘I said, “Honestly, you’re going to regret this for the rest of your life.”’ Is there something specific they’re looking for? ‘Pure talent,’ says Lang Lang. ‘It doesn’t need to be technically perfect, but no matter how amateur or professional they are, we want to see the real talent shine.’ Mika points out that Lang Lang can be quite strict about certain technicalities. ‘But that’s normal,’ he says. ‘I mean, he’s been world class since he was ten.’ There are gaps in his knowledge, however. ‘We’re trying to teach him lyrics to songs he doesn’t know,’ says Mika. That includes Sophie Ellis-bextor’s hit Murder On The Dance Floor, which popped up during filming. ‘They enjoyed that,’ testifies Lang Lang. ‘I’ll admit there were a lot of songs I didn’t know. So it’s been a fun education.’ "Tannoys are the bane of Claudia’s life. She has screaming arguments with them" - Mika INSTAGRAM ( pics ) https://www.instagram.com/p/C58vE_SoBfn/ INSTAGRAM ( video ) https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5-ZXFuI1ld/

I've merged 5 mikainstagram stories plus some clips at the private gig for #buccellati #theprinceofgoldsmiths in Venice on 18th April.

Mika and Claudia Wincleman on BBC The One Show https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yc2y 19/04/2024 Thanks a million for the VIDEO files @Nessaja and @jajinka5 Both of you are STAR !! mikainstagram stories X

Here is an interview with Claudia Winkleman, she talking a lot ! The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/apr/19/claudia-winkleman-on-swearing-success-and-secrets Fri 19 Apr 2024 13.00 BST Claudia Winkleman on swearing, success and secrets: ‘I had to sign a contract promising not to sing’ With three hit shows – Strictly, The Traitors and the returning The Piano – Claudia Winkleman is TV’s hottest presenter. She talks about being tone deaf, being a style icon … and why she’s allergic to praise Claudia Winkleman is convinced she gave the ick to Mika and Lang Lang, her co-stars on Channel 4 hit The Piano. “They’re so alarmed by my eating habits,” she says. “My mic’s always on and all they can hear is me munching beef-flavoured Hula Hoops.” To illustrate the point, she launches into an uncanny impression of loud crisp-crunching noises echoing down a lapel mic. Winkleman recently wrapped filming a new run of the ivory-tinkling talent search, which has meant living off train station food. “I look up each one’s eateries in advance,” she admits. “I adore a Greggs and I’ve fallen in love with Upper Crust. They do a cheddar baguette that’s almost erotic. Obviously, I always have a Burger King. A Murder King, I call it. You know you’re in a different class of station if there’s a Leon. In Liverpool, they’ve got Krispy Kreme. I crashed and burned by 9.48am because I made the mistake of scoffing a tray of Original Glazed for breakfast. I was like: ‘Guys, I need a nap.’ The producer went: ‘Can somebody get Claud a coffee? And no more sugar!’ OK, boss, fair enough.” Originally pitched as “a show about talent but not a talent show”, The Piano tapped into the street piano phenomenon by inviting undiscovered amateurs to publicly perform at mainline stations around the UK. The result was a life-affirming smash. Now it’s back – and nobody is more surprised than its host. “I presumed it was a one-series deal because Mika and Lang Lang were hiding – nobody knew they were secretly being watched by these two maestros,” says Winkleman. “But we realised the magic wasn’t the big reveals, it was the stories. Reaction to the first series totally took us by surprise. My mum [journalist Eve Pollard] would phone me crying after each episode. She says it makes her feel better and fuller. It made friends of mine vow to learn an instrument, even if it’s the triangle. The big change this time is that the concert finale is going to be ticketed, with all the proceeds going towards buying pianos for train stations and hospital receptions. It’s the loveliest thing.” The Piano is proof of the instrument’s healing powers. “People get through tough times by playing piano,” says Winkleman. “At Manchester Piccadilly, we met an 80-year-old man with dementia who played a beautiful original composition for his wife. Their love story is tremendously moving. A brilliant guy at Victoria Station told me: ‘I can’t say how I feel – but I can play it.’ An amazing woman had just retired after decades working in the NHS and spent her pension on a grand piano because it’s what she needed in her life. It didn’t even fit in her house. Her husband had to knock down walls.” Is she ever tempted to join in? “Absolutely not. I’m so unmusical, I once sang to Mika and Lang Lang and they made me sign a piece of paper promising I’d never do it again.” The debut run was won by blind, neurodivergent teenager Lucy Illingworth, who stole the nation’s hearts with her virtuoso ability. The scene when she stunned Leeds station by playing Chopin was Bafta-nominated. Is there a comparable discovery in the new series? “Lucy was one in a gazillion,” says Winkleman. “You could never recreate that but there are more moments that took our breath away. One unbelievable boy in Liverpool brought Lime Street to a standstill. A crowd of 700 gathered. People missed their trains. There are certain times when somebody plays and the whole atmosphere on the concourse changes.” She pauses and adds delightedly: “I’ve never used the word concourse in conversation before! Love that.” As presenter of three of the best-loved shows on primetime – The Piano joining The Traitors and Strictly Come Dancing in her enviable portfolio – is Winkleman on a hot streak? “Let’s not even discuss that because I’m very superstitious,” she says. “Now you’ve said it, I’m going to have to knock on wood, pull my ear and pinch my stomach. Any success has nothing to do with me.” Come on, it’s got something to do with you. “No, genuinely absolutely nothing. I don’t say that in a faux self-deprecating way. The shows are amazing. The people who work on them are geniuses. I mean, I turn up on time. Otherwise I’m incredibly lucky.” Does she consciously play a different role on each? “Hopefully I’m still me on all of them. On The Piano, my only job is to chat and make the pianists feel comfortable enough to showcase their talent. On Strictly, I’m a cheerleader for the dancers, handing round sweets and saying: ‘The scores are in.’ And on The Traitors, I scare myself. I’m cold and aloof, but a lot of that is because I’m terrified of blowing secrets. I can’t chat too much to the players or I’ll tell them everything.” The Traitors became a bona fide national obsession in January. What were her highlights? “So many! I loved Paul’s bow. He did it beautifully. That Round Table where the Faithful found him out was electric. They celebrated so wildly, chairs were thrown. Me and the crew came out physically shaking. And the final was so tense I couldn’t watch. I had to keep looking down.” How about the gloriously camp funeral for Diane, poisoned by a chalice of sparkling rosé? “All I asked for was a veil. I was like: ‘Guys, I need to go to John Lewis.’ And when Ross [secretly her son] laid a rose on Diane – extraordinary.” I mention the flourish with which Winkleman closed the coffin lid. “I don’t know what comes over me. Up in the beautiful Scottish Highlands, not going home at night, nothing breaks the seal. I’m trapped in the snow globe of Traitors World. My kids, who are the love of my life, phone me and I’m like: ‘Can’t talk now, I’m going into the conclave.’ It reaches the stage where I seriously ask for an owl. I get lost in it.” A talking point came when she called out the Traitors for repeatedly recruiting men. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done but I just had to say it. I was like: ‘Come on, boys, what you need here is a really smart woman,’ but they were threatened by them.” The castle-based franchise has entered the cultural conversation to the extent that the last two Comic Relief telethons have featured Traitors spoofs, with Suranne Jones and Dawn French playing Winkleman. “Both were utterly brilliant,” she cackles. “I wish I looked like Suranne, and Dawn was my teenage hero. I still can’t believe she wore my fringe and opened it like a curtain.”

The Piano trailer from

PRESS Actu Fr https://actu.fr/bretagne/brest_29019/photos-un-mika-tout-feu-tout-flamme-pour-finir-sa-tournee-a-la-brest-arena_60970420.html Par Rédaction Côté Brest Publié le 19 Avr 24 à 12:16 PHOTOS Un Mika tout feu tout flamme pour finir sa tournée à la Brest Arena Mika a conclu son Apocalypse Calypso tour mardi 16 avril à la Brest Arena. Un show intense de deux heures avec un artiste survolté. Et des fans au diapason. Photos ©Gaël Coupeau pour Côté Brest Grippé, Mika avait été contraint de reporter son concert jeudi 7 mars 2024 à la Brest Arena. Au grand désespoir de ses fans, qui se languissaient de le retrouver à l’occasion de son Apocalypse Calypso tour, consacré à son dernier album Que ta tête fleurisse toujours sorti fin 2023. Il l’avait promis, ce n’était qu’un rendez-vous manqué. Reprogrammé par Alias production et Diogène productions mardi 16 avril. Ovation totale Et ce mardi soir, Mika, auteur-compositeur-interprète et musicien, par ailleurs de retour dans le jury de The Voice : La plus belle voix, dont la 13e saison est diffusée le samedi soir depuis le 10 février, a comblé son public à la Brest Arena, lors de ce show, et quel show !, dernier de la tournée.

Daily Mail Weekend INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/p/C58vE_SoBfn/ As the second series of heartwarming talent contest The Piano begins on #Channel4, Claudia Winkleman, Lang Lang and Mika reveal how its success took them by surprise 🎼 @claudiawinkle @mikainstagram @langlangpiano @loveproductionspiano 📸 @nealehaynes