Latest news with #Piano
Wales Online
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
The Piano viewers 'in tears' as 87-year-old widow fulfils life-long dream
The Piano viewers 'in tears' as 87-year-old widow fulfils life-long dream Channel 4 viewers were left in floods of tears during the final of The Piano Viewers of The Piano were left reaching for their tissues as 87-year-old widow Diana captured hearts, realising her life-long ambition to perform for a large audience. During the final episode of the Channel 4 hit show, host Claudia Winkleman returned to present the final alongside celebrated figures Mika and Jon Batiste. Audiences witnessed seven amateur pianists confront their ultimate challenge, performing in front of a capacity crowd at a bustling auditorium. Diana, one of the hopefuls, stirred emotions across the nation when she spoke before her heartfelt performance. Ascending the stage, Diana commenced: "The music I'd like to share with you tonight is my own composition, dreams." The Piano viewers couldn't contain their emotions watching Diana BBC Death Valley viewers switch off within minutes as they make same complaint READ MORE: She elaborated: "This piece was born out of loss and grief. Dreams have also taken on another meaning because even from a young age I dreamt of being a pianist and it has taken all of my 87 years to finally realise that dream." Article continues below In a touching moment, she declared: "So my message is to never give up on your dreams." As she played her self-penned piece, there wasn't a single dry eye in sight, and those watching from home quickly took to X, previously known as Twitter, to express their emotions about the stirring segment. One emotional fan penned on X: "This is gonna be emotional. Got my Kleenex at the ready. #ThePiano." Someone else commented: "Why does #ThePiano make me cry?" Yet another viewer confessed: "The programme has barely started and I'm already crying. I'm rooting for you all #ThePiano." The Piano contestant revealed that she was fulfilled her life-long dream Viewers were deeply moved by Diana's stunning performance on 'The Piano', with one fan commenting: "So moved by Diana's beautiful performance, so many tears #ThePiano. That piece of music was so simple but so hitting, 87 years old. #thepiano." Another shared their admiration, writing: "#ThePiano 87 years old and plays the piano majestically." Meanwhile, another viewer remarked: "Not a dry eye in the house." In a triumphant conclusion to the show, Diana was declared the winner of the competition. As she stood on stage alongside her fellow contestants, she received a thunderous round of applause from the audience. Visibly touched, Diana confessed: "I really don't know what to say because everyone who played tonight is worthy. I have to thank Mika and Jon for everything. Thank you all so much for your wonderful reception to my music, it's just unbelievable." Article continues below As she fought back tears, Diana found it difficult to continue, saying: "I find it very hard to.. I just can't believe it." For those who missed it, 'The Piano' is available for catch-up on Channel 4.
RTHK
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTHK
Billy Joel cancels dates over brain condition
Billy Joel cancels dates over brain condition The legendary musician's team says recent concerts have made his condition worse. Photo: AFP Pop music legend Billy Joel is cancelling a series of global tour dates after being diagnosed with a brain condition that worsened because of recent performances, his staff said on Friday. "Billy Joel has announced that he will be cancelling all scheduled concerts following a recent diagnosis of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH)," the Piano Man's team wrote on his website. The Alzheimer's Association says that NPH is "is a brain disorder in which excess cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain's ventricles." The dates include several in Britain, as well as a packed schedule crisscrossing the United States from July 2025 up until July 2026 when he was due to round off his ambitious string of dates in Charlotte, North Carolina. Joel's team added that "this condition has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision, and balance." The "We Didn't Start the Fire" legend wrote "I'm sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for understanding." (AFP)
France 24
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Top-selling French rapper laid to rest after death aged 31
Werenoi, his real name Jeremy Bana Owona and born in a Paris suburb to Cameroonian parents, was the top selling artist over the last two years in France in terms of album sales. He was buried in the suburb of Montreuil in the Seine-Saint-Denis district northeast of Paris, with fans hailing him as an artist they could relate to who spoke of the realities of daily life. Standing in front of the green gates of the municipal cemetery, Nicolas, 25, said he thought it was "great that he's buried here, in his neighbourhood". "It really touched me that an artist born here, originating from Cameroon like me, won so much hype. I loved how he layered his words with instrumental music." Guards allowed no telephones or cameras at the funeral, with 800 people showing up after prayers in a packed mosque. Following a meteoric rise, the artist died suddenly at the age of 31 in a Paris hospital, with no cause of death specified. His death was announced Saturday by his producer in an X post. His eyes hidden by sunglasses, Werenoi was discreet about his private life, and his massive popularity among French youths contrasted with his absence from traditional media. "People identified with him because he was credible, it wasn't a false image," said Moussa, 33. "He grew up on the streets here." A few hours after the announcement of his death, all his music videos were removed from YouTube. Only the audio tracks remain online, including his last duet ("Piano") with the rapper Gims.
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
Machynlleth duo entertain Aberystwyth with unique piano bike performance
He said: 'John and I were featured in the 'Piano', series two, and Mika and Lang Lang [who filled the roles of judge and mentor on the show] rode off on our piano as part of the program.
BBC News
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The pioneering building that scandalised Paris
The daring, radical Pompidou Centre was derided by many when its design was first unveiled – yet it has continued to influence the architecture of public buildings ever since. As the building approaches a major renovation, its co-creator Renzo Piano recalls the furore. This summer, the Centre Pompidou will close for five years, as Paris's popular polychrome landmark undergoes changes necessitated by current requirements in terms of health, safety and energy efficiency. French studio Moreau Kusunoki Architects, Mexican practice Frida Escobedo Studio and French engineer AIA Life Designers will undertake a major overhaul of the six-storey arts centre, containing Europe's largest museum of modern art. Its renovation will add usable floor space, remove asbestos from all facades, improve fire safety and accessibility for people with reduced mobility, and optimise energy efficiency. As far as possible, the original building will be conserved as it was before. To do otherwise might be considered cultural sacrilege – after all the Pompidou's identity is indivisible from its original architects, Renzo Piano, and the late Richard Rogers. The duo set up their practice, Rogers + Piano, in 1970, and submitted a design to a prestigious competition instigated in 1971 by Georges Pompidou, France's President from 1969 until 1974. Its jury was headed up by Jean Prouvé, a metalworker and self-taught architect, and included such stellar architects as Philip Johnson and Oscar Niemeyer. Piano and Rogers' design was chosen from 681 competition entries. The result caught the duo, then unknowns in their 30s "with Beatles haircuts", as Piano puts it, by surprise: "We didn't think we'd win, we entered the competition for pleasure," the Italian architect, now 87, tells the BBC. "We never planned to create a revolutionary building. Our idea was a museum that would inspire curiosity, not intimidate people, and that would open up culture to all." In fact, the duo's insouciance may help to explain the building's uninhibited boldness, flamboyance and ludic quality. Its structural elements and services were placed on its facades, allowing it to maximise its internal, open-plan spaces – and prompting the futuristic structure to be dubbed the world's first "inside-out" building. Its exoskeleton of tubes and periscope-like pipes were playfully colour-coded: blue for air air-conditioning, yellow for electricity, green for water and red for pedestrian circulation. Visitors streamed up escalators – encased in transparent tubing affording panoramic views – that were designed to reinforce the museum's connection to the city. "Our idea was for the building to take up only half the site, allowing for a welcoming outdoor place – a piazza – where people could meet," says Piano, whose other projects include the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco (rebuilt in 2008), the Shard (2012) in London, and the recently completed Paddington Square, also in the UK capital, a mixed-use building and public square. "Our credo was a place for all people – for the poor and rich, the young and old." The Pompidou's transparency, accessibility and adjacent piazza chimed with new ideas about democratising culture. "Street theatre and concerts in public spaces were rising in popularity at the time," says Piano. Inside the building, visitors had access to the Bibliothèque Publique d'Information – Paris's first free public library – the Musée National d'Art Moderne and the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/ Musique (IRCAM), dedicated to research of music and sound. Piano and Rogers' winning entry provoked consternation and fury when it was announced at a press conference: "The room was packed," remembers Piano. "Richard and I were standing in the middle of the room being heckled. We felt elated yet terrible at the same time," says the architect. "Some people were shouting, 'Why have you designed something so horrible?' 'Why are you are destroying Paris's historic centre?'" Although surprised to have won the contest, Genoa-born Piano grew up feeling architecture was his destiny – aged 18, he told his father he wanted to be an architect. However in conversation his manner is humble, not entitled. Born into a family of builders in Genoa, he loved watching his father's work take shape. Perhaps his childhood experience of seeing buildings materialise successfully made him feel that architecture is open to all possibilities. "Building is a beautiful gesture," he once told The Financial Times. "It's the opposite of destruction… especially when you are creating buildings for people because they are civically important." In 1981, Piano founded the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), with offices in Genoa and Paris, led today by 11 partners (in the spirit of a collective). In 1998, he won the Pritzker Architecture Prize. More like this:• The swinging 60s icon who revolutionised style• The star tidying guru who transformed our homes• How to transform your home with art The Plateau Beaubourg in central Paris – a stretch of wasteland occupied by a car park – was the site chosen for the new Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne (formerly housed in the Palais de Tokyo in Paris's haut-bourgeois 16th arrondissement). "It was a place waiting for something to happen," says Piano. A moment of change France's social and political climate at the time, still rebellious following the tumultuous events of May 1968, was conducive to the creation of a building as disruptive as the Centre Pompidou, acknowledges Piano: "In Britain, society was being revolutionised by [designer] Mary Quant and the Beatles. The same was happening in Paris." The Centre Pompidou was partly inspired by the ultra-pop architecture of experimental London-based architecture collective Archigram. "The idea that France should have a 'Maison de la Culture', bringing together art, cinema, music and literature in cities was first invented by André Malraux [novelist, art theorist and France's first Minister of Cultural Affairs]. Pompidou was very supportive, too. I really believe that major shifts in architecture are only possible if you have a good client. George's wife, Claude, too, was an excellent lady." Pompidou, like Claude, was passionate about contemporary art and design. In 1972, they invited Pierre Paulin, a designer known for his space-age era furniture, to create new interiors for the private apartment of the Elysée Palace, the French presidents' official residence. The results were radically modern – the walls of the living room, dining room and smoking room were lined to cocooning effect with wool and polyester panels that obscured the residence's neo-classical splendour. Walls were hung with paintings by Robert Delaunay and other modernist artists. One impetus behind these efforts to provide Paris with a prestigious museum was that France had lost its reputation as the world's pre-eminent centre of avant-garde art. "It is my passionate wish for Paris to have a cultural centre like the ones they've been creating in the US," Pompidou told Le Monde newspaper in 1972. "It will be both a museum and centre of creation, where the visual arts take up residence with music, film, books and audiovisual research." Initially, reactions to the Centre Pompidou, frequently compared to an alien spaceship, were often extremely negative. "Taxi drivers used to say to me: 'Regardez!' before launching into a tirade against the building. With so much hostility, I had to keep a low profile among strangers," says Piano. The building, derisively likened by many to an "oil refinery", was the target of countless lawsuits. "We were sued so often – once on the grounds that Prouvé wasn't a qualified architect," he recalls. The French press initially lambasted the building. "Paris has its own monster, just like the one in Loch Ness," scoffed Le Figaro. "One day Richard and I were outside the building, as yet unfinished. We saw a woman struggling with an umbrella that had turned inside out in the wind and Richard rushed over to help fix it. When he mentioned that he was one of the building's architects, she jokily mimicked hitting him with the umbrella as if to suggest he was a naughty scoundrel." Yet after the building's opening in 1977, Parisians soon began to appreciate the museum – now one of Paris's most visited public institutions, that ranks behind only the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay in terms of visitor numbers. It also inspires architects today. "The Centre Pompidou, radical on completion, has continued to influence the design of public buildings ever since," says Hugh Broughton, founder of London-based Hugh Broughton Architects, who finds qualities in it other than its famously high-tech idiom. "It's an amazingly brave, generous building whose large public space promotes congregation, street theatre and the highest quality people-watching. Its core concept – open-plan floor plates supported by peripheral structure and services – draws upon medieval principles of castle structures, and combines this with an Arts and Crafts approach that makes a virtue of construction as an aesthetic medium. The result is a building which is dynamic, inviting, egalitarian, transparent and has awesome views – all the best attributes of great architecture. It changed the way a whole generation of architects think about buildings – placing their users at centre stage." Piano is also known for harnessing light in his projects to ethereal effect, as is the case with the Shard, which can seem to disappear in certain light conditions due to its glass skin. Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff has said of his works as a whole: "The serenity of Renzo Piano's best buildings can almost make you believe we live in a civilised world." For Piano, what is the main architectural legacy of the Pompidou Centre? "The building is proof that culture doesn't suffer from being more public. It's a place where people gather primarily. It brings together art, life and culture – not culture with a big C but culture with a small c. When it opened, it brought culture to all, and made the city a better place for it." -- For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
