With big artists set to perform live at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff over the course of the summer, music students will be taking to the station piano at Cardiff Central to play classical adaptations of some of the well-known songs that the artist’s and bands will be performing at the live concerts.

P!nk will be the first band to perform this Tuesday, with Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters and Billy Joel also set to make appearances over the next couple of weeks.

Transport for Wales partnering up with the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, will enable Chloe Clayton and Jason Sones to play the classical adaptations of those popular songs on a classical piano on the station’s concourse.

The songs Chloe and Jason will be covering include, ‘You Belong with Me’ by Taylor Swift, “getting the party started” by P!nk, ‘Piano Man’ by Billy Joel and ‘Best of You’ by the Foo Fighters.

Adapting any of these songs from their own genres into a classical format is very tricky, but in recent years there has been an uptake of classical pieces being edited into Electronic Dance Music (EDM) showing that it can work both ways and that there is scope to adapt any song into any other music genre.

It may sound different to what most fans of well know artists are used to, but taking songs and playing them in a different genre can give a whole new or perception or meaning to an already well known song.

“We’ve already successfully delivered the rail services for a range of major events this year including the six nations, football qualifiers and most recently the Bruce Springsteen gig. For each event we bring tens of thousands of people in and out of the city within a small timeframe.

“We really excited about the gigs this summer and we’re prepared to provide rail services for those coming in and out of the city.

“It’s been great to welcome students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to Cardiff Central and have them play the piano for our customers. Wales is known for its love of music and what a way to celebrate.”

Marie Daly, Chief Culture and Customer Officer at TfW

“I really enjoyed playing in such a special venue, to a different audience of people either passing by or stopping to listen’

“And it was lovely to spend time transposing pop songs. This was different for us, as our classical training at RWCMD means we usually play classical music, but exploring how this training could apply and adapt to the pop and rock genre was really really enjoyable.”

Chloe, final year student at RWCMD