What’s better than an impromptu performance from an artist?
An impromptu collaboration between two artists, of course.
This young man was practicing his skills on a public piano at a London train station.
He wasn’t expecting company.
He’s award-winning pianist Aurélien Froissart.
He has been making waves on the internet through his viral videos.
Each video features him playing to an unsuspecting public and mesmerizing them with his sheer musical talent.
There are encounters, however, that prove to be much more significant than his solo performances.
Froissart was at a London train station playing a piece on the public piano. Performing in public places and doing impromptu piano solos are what propelled him to online fame.
He said in his YouTube bio that he wanted to make classical music enjoyable and more approachable to the public.
Through his personal crusade, he also met various performers who wanted to share their talents with the world, much like his encounter with a violinist.
As he was performing, a woman approached.
The woman tapped Froissart and asked him for a favor. She asked him if she knew Summer, one of the four parts that made up Antonio Vivaldi’s well-known piece The Four Seasons.
The Four Seasons is a violin concerto that translates the visuals, moods, and energy of each season.
The piece has four distinct tones and movements with Summer being one of the most energetic.
Froissart answered with a few notes.
The woman, confirming that Froissart knows the piece, nods and smiles enthusiastically. Then, the video cuts to her taking a violin out of its case.
The public doesn’t know it yet but they’re about to be treated to a rare spectacle of two musical savants performing a complicated number for free.
The duo began strong, as the piece required.
As the woman shredded the first notes of Summer, the bystanders, and other passengers can’t help but search for where the music was coming from.
What was more astonishing was the fact that Summer is filled with vivacious rhythm.
The two musicians skillfully read each other’s style and tempo on the fly as they have never worked with each other until now.
Froissart even pointed out the most complicated parts where the piece requires the piano to pause. He had to rely on his memory and instinct to know when to join in again.
Without missing a beat, Froissart nailed it.
Meanwhile, the violinist, later identified as Ugne Liepa Zuklyte, never showed signs of slowing down.
She skillfully played through with so much gusto and passion and you can hear it in her music.
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Zuklyte, originally from Lithuania, studied music in the United Kingdom through the Royal College of Music.
She’s quite extraordinary.
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Froissart, on the other hand, studied in France through the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.
He has been playing the piano since he was 12. Since 2009, he has won awards in 11 national and international competitions for young pianists.
Their training and talent gleamed throughout the performance. And by the time they concluded the piece, they’d left people’s jaws open in awe.
People on the internet were equally impressed, so much so that Froissart dubbed the video as “the video that broke TikTok.”
The video gained 20 million views in just 2 days.
Watch their internet-breaking impromptu performance below!
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