Viewers of Channel 4's The Piano were left 'speechless' as blind teenager Lucy wowed the whole of Leeds Train Station with her skills.
Lucy, 13, gobsmacked show judges Mika and Lang Lang with her rendition of Chopin's Opus 9 Number 1 - and was chosen by them to perform at London's Royal Festival Hall. Lucy, from Halifax, was diagnosed with cancerous tumours of the eyes after she was born and has no vision.
She is also neuro-diverse, and is developmentally delayed - meaning she can't hold a conversation. Her incredible skill on the piano was first discovered when she played a perfect rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a toy keyboard she had.
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Her mum got her a teacher who specialises in working with blind piano players, and Lucy has been developing her skill since then. Silence fell over the station, where the Channel 4 show was visiting this week, as Lucy played, with a large crowd gathering to watch.
The show sees amateur pianists play public pianos as the judges watch in secret, and then decide which of them to take to perform at Royal Festival Hall. Claudia Winkleman presents the show.
Lang Lang said: "I never see anything like this" and "this is impossible - I'm speechless." Mika added that he felt very lucky to have heard her play, saying: "If you'd told me I would live one of my strongest musical experiences of the last few years sitting in a station in Leeds I would've told you you were out of your mind."
Both judges were brought to tears by Lucy's performance. And many viewers were too.
Martyn Clarke tweeted: "#ThePiano with Lucy. Never seen anything like that, no words needed. Me and the better half in bits @ClaudiaWinkle @Channel4."
Similarly Andrea Astbury wrote: "#ThePiano wow how moving was Lucy’s performance. The best thing I’ve seen on tv -ever! Beautiful."
"Tears and goose pimples watching Lucy on #ThePiano amazing talent!" Tweeted Sharon Miller. And Elayne Grimes said: "Watching #ThePiano with the beautiful Lucy playing #Chopin - not a dry eye in this house."
Al Warren said: "#ThePiano Lucy - that’s one of the most outstanding things I’ve seen in my life!"
Lucy's piano teacher said: "I've never met anybody who has the same depth of understanding of music. Music is the way she communicates and makes her place in the world."
The episode also featured performances from 14-year-old Josh, who keeps chickens all named after chicken shops, Arron, who makes up all his own songs because he's never had any teaching, and Liam, 71. Liam made his own travelling piano to play during lockdown, and the judges said he 'played like a poem'.
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