ABC’s feel-good format The Piano is playing its final note this weekend—and it’s not going quietly. The unscripted series wraps with a live concert event that gives five amateur pianists their first professional stage debut at Sydney’s City Recital Hall.
The finale airs Sunday, June 8, at 7:30 PM, and positions itself as an emotional crescendo to a season that’s leaned into intimate storytelling, public discovery, and musical transformation.
Guiding the five finalists from station pianos to concert grand are mentors Harry Connick Jr. and Andrea Lam, who have quietly worked behind the scenes to prepare the players for this culminating performance. Amanda Keller hosts the event, framing each set with the story that brought the performer to the keys.
Among the standout pianists is DJ, who relearned to play with one hand following a stroke. Grace, recently engaged, used songwriting and piano to help her recovery from an eating disorder. John turned to music as refuge during difficult school years, while 12-year-old Stefania is already juggling ambitions of medicine and music. Vincenzo, the oldest of the group, channels deep grief into his playing after the loss of his wife, Elaine.
These five were chosen by Connick Jr. and Lam from open public piano auditions across the country—a low-fi scouting approach that speaks to the show’s charm and accessibility. The experts have since shaped the finalists’ sound and presence to be concert-ready, culminating in this weekend’s national showcase.
The Piano closes out with what is essentially a televised recital, but beneath the polished stagecraft is a throughline that’s powered the whole series: finding music in unlikely places, and turning ordinary lives into stories worth hearing.
