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

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Claudia Winkleman?has spent much of this year crossing her fingers. ‘Or 二塁打-crossing fingers, if that’s a thing?’ she muses.?

However you 述べる it, she was doing it in January ahead of the return of the BBC1 教団 reality show?The 反逆者s, and she’s doing it again as she を待つs series two of Channel 4’s music 競争 show The Piano, on which she also plays host (albeit minus her 署名 cloak).

Hence the endless 二塁打-crossing of fingers. ‘明白に the first time something goes out you really want people to like it,’ says the 52-year-old presenter. ‘Then when they do and it goes out again you don’t want to let them 負かす／撃墜する.’

What’s more ? as with The 反逆者s ? she had no 期待 that The Piano, which scoured the UK to find our best amateur ピアニストs, would be anything more than what she calls a ‘charming, lovely one-off’, something 確認するd by her 同僚, singer-songwriter Mika, who is a 裁判官 on the show.?

‘She said it 37 times or so when we were filming first time 一連の会議、交渉／完成する,’ he laughs. ‘But to be fair we all said it.’

The Piano, which is 支援する on 28 April for a second series, is hosted by Claudia Winkleman (権利) with 裁判官s popstar Mika (centre) and virtuoso concert ピアニスト Lang Lang (left)

The show, which featured amateur musicians 公然と 成し遂げるing on street pianos on the concourses of major UK 鉄道 駅／配置するs, blissfully unaware that their 業績／成果s were 存在 内密に 裁判官d by Mika and the virtuoso concert ピアニスト Lang Lang, was certainly a surprise 攻撃する，衝突する, pulling in an 普通の／平均（する） of 2.7 million テレビ視聴者s per episode.

The 裁判官s then selected one performer from each 場所 to play at an end-of-series concert at the 王室の Festival Hall, where 13-year-old ピアニスト Lucy, who is blind and autistic, was anointed 全体にわたる 勝利者.?

In a nutshell, that’s it: no 記録，記録的な／記録する 取引，協定s, no 小旅行する dates and 非，不，無 of the razzmatazz that …を伴ってs 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 愛称 for him), is 正確に the point.?

‘It isn’t a 伝統的な talent show. If anything it’s the anti-talent show. People don’t come on to 捜し出す fame and fortune, it’s not about becoming a 星／主役にする for 15 minutes or, “We’ll get you a 記録，記録的な／記録する 取引，協定.”?

'And that opens the door to a whole other world of stories, people like Lucy who’d never dare 現在の themselves on a 従来の talent show. That’s what makes it so wonderful.’

It’s little surprise that Lucy’s 初めの audition has been 指名するd 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 関係者s were unaware that two world-class musicians were watching and 裁判官ing 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 襲う，襲って強奪する for the cameras?

Brought together for the first time for the 初めの series, the trio became friends straight away, 社債ing over baguettes from the 挟む shop in the 駅／配置する where they were filming

Not so, the host and 裁判官s 主張する. ‘It hasn’t lost anything,’ says Lang Lang, 41, who has carved out time in his frenetic 全世界の 小旅行するing 時刻表／予定表 for our 週末 photoshoot: he was 成し遂げるing at the Colosseum in Rome the previous evening, and at Edinburgh 城 the night before that.?

‘The only change is that いつかs we pop out and say hi, or, “The left 手渡す 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 背景 is a 鉄道 concourse and a 挟む 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 chain.

‘We’re usually between an Upper Crust and a Costa, people are running to get a train, a baby’s crying,’ says Claudia, 追加するing that she often has to 持つ／拘留する someone’s shopping and coat when they spontaneously decide to tickle the ivories.?

‘And the Tannoy doesn’t stop. That’s the main challenge 現実に, 特に when there are an awful lot of 駅／配置する stops.’

‘The Tannoy is the 禁止（する） of Claudia’s life,’ laughs Mika. ‘That’s one incredible 楽しみ that Lang Lang and I have sitting in our booth: we get to watch Claudia Winkleman having 叫び声をあげるing arguments with a woman on a Tannoy. She doesn’t like 存在 spoken over. Oh, and she sneezes like a whoopee cushion on steroids.’

‘I do,’ ackn owledges Claudia.

They all hoot with laughter, a 思い出の品 of the 平易な chemistry between a trio who, 事前の to the previous series, had never met and were 基本的に put together on day one of filming by 生産者s hoping for the best. It’s a 賭事 that 明確に paid off.?

Lucy (pictured), who is blind and autistic, blew the 裁判官s away when she played for the first time. The 13-year-old went on to become the 全体にわたる 勝利者 of the series

‘We fell in love, thank goodness,’ says Claudia, 解任するing how the trio 社債d over baguettes from a 駅／配置する 挟む 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 after the first morning filming. ‘She loves a マグロ 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 f or the first time ? 地位，任命する baguettes.

‘You never forget, once you’ve heard him play,’ says Claudia. ‘It will always stay with me.’

Lang Lang, in turn, 証言するs to Claudia’s ‘驚くべき／特命の／臨時の 緩和する’ with people, and to Mika’s cleverness. ‘He knows everything,’ he confides.

The musicians certainly bring different experiences to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. One’s a Chinese virtuoso who gave his first public recital 老年の five, the other’s a Lebanese-born, self-taught, platinum-album-selling artist whose family had to 逃げる their war-torn 母国.

‘I’ve been playing piano my whole life, but I don’t read music,’ says Mika, whose 攻撃する，衝突する 選び出す／独身 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 簡単に, and it can change your life. I always say that the piano gave me my 発言する／表明する.’

Mika wrote his first song 老年の seven when living in Paris. When the family relocated to London for his father’s work, the chipboard piano they had rented from a 地元の Parisian company, and which the company gave to them when it went 破産者／倒産した, was one of the few things they brought.?

While Mika wrote his first song at the age of seven and Lang Lang gave his first piano recital at the age of five, Claudia 収容する／認めるs to not 存在 able to play a 公式文書，認める

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, 主要な to that recital 老年の five.?

‘I loved 存在 on 行う／開催する／段階, the lighting, the 焦点（を合わせる）ing of the moment and of course the 緊張,’ he says. ‘When you sense everyone is listening to you it creates some 肉親，親類d of 魔法. It’s like the world stops, but they’re breathing with you.’

His talent was prodigious ? at 13 he was 成し遂げるing as a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra ? but it also went 手渡す in 手渡す with phenomenal 量s of work.?

‘We all need to sacrifice at a 確かな level; as a kid I probably 苦しむd more than the 正規の／正選手 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 wor ld.’

Even today, Lang Lang never goes longer than two days without playing as his fingers start to 掴む up. ‘It’s 承認する if I don’t play one or two days, but after that the 手渡すs feel very wrong,’ he says.

Of course, Lang Lang’s mastery is some way from people strolling up to a 駅／配置する piano, but as Mika says, that’s the point. Calling it ‘the ultimate democratic 器具’, he says the piano’s beauty is it is for all-comers.?

‘We easily forget the 衝撃 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 ありふれた to see pianos in people’s living rooms, and almost every pub in the UK had a piano, but most have disappeared.’

Claudia and 裁判官s Mika and Lang Lang are 確信して that テレビ視聴者s will experience 'goosebump' moments in the new series?

Yet the public’s love for the 器具 remains robus t, if the numbers who want to 陳列する，発揮する their 技術s 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 ピアニスト who looks like some 都市の hip-hop guy, but he starts playing Ravel. And then there might be a lady who looks so classical, and she’s doing Alicia 重要なs. You can’t 裁判官 by their look.’

Nor can you fault their ambition: no Elton or Billy Joel （人が）群がる-pleasers here, with many playing their own compositions.?

‘It’s bold ? you’re not （電話線からの）盗聴 into something people know,’ says Claudia, who 収容する／認めるs she can’t play a 公式文書，認める. ‘But they see it as their one 発射, and they want to play something that means something to them.’

Many are self-taught. ‘I remember a guy called Jared who was a トラックで運ぶ mechanic, and he just （機の）カム in his lunch break,’ 解任するs Claudia. ‘His 手渡すs still had oil on them, and he put 負かす／撃墜する his toolbox and he was a bit 自信のない. But then, oh my goodness!’

There are 類似の ‘goosebump’ moments in the new series, によれば the trio ? 含むing one 競争相手 in Glasgow who caught everyone by surprise, although more than that they won’t say.?

Now the 裁判官s have been ‘outed’, they are not beyond 介入するing if they think someone isn’t doing themselves any favours.?

‘Someone played ABBA’s The 勝利者 Takes It All in the most astonishingly depressing, sad 見解／翻訳／版. I had to ask her to play something else,’ says Mika. ‘I said, “Honestly, you’re going to 悔いる this for the 残り／休憩（する） of your life.”’

Is there something 明確な／細部 they’re looking for? ‘Pure talent,’ says Lang Lang. ‘It doesn’t need to be technically perfect, but no 事柄 how amateur or professional they are, we want to see the real talent 向こうずね.’

Mik a points out that Lang Lang can be やめる strict about 確かな 専門的事項s. ‘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 含むs Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 攻撃する，衝突する 殺人 On The Dance 床に打ち倒す, which popped up during filming.?

‘They enjoyed that,’ 証言するs Lang Lang. ‘I’ll 収容する／認める there were a lot of songs I didn’t know. So it’s been a fun education.’

• The Piano starts on Sunday 28 April. Stream or watch live on Channel 4.