Pianist Stuns With a Cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody”

In some parks across the world, a piano will be left out in the open for public use. That’s the case for this local Canadian park, which is set up above the city of Quebec, with an incredible aerial view of the city’s landscape. The piano is surrounded by milling crowds and great stone steps for people to come sit and enjoy the view and the music. So when Ariane Racicot, a young lady in Quebec, is visiting the park that day, she decides to put the piano to good use. She sits down at the piano bench, drawing stares from the crowd around her, and begins to play quietly.

Despite the quiet notes, you can hear right away that she’s playing a classic Queen song, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” This song has been admired by music-lovers and musical artists alike for decades for its epic transition into three various tempos, each one more complicated than the next. Complex and beautiful, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is one of the most epic songs of all time.

So to play this legendary song in its entirety for a crowd of strangers in a public park? That’s bold.

Ariane flows through each section of the song effortlessly. She has the emotion for the beautiful first act of the song; you can see she closes her eyes and clearly feels the music as she plays the dramatic chords. In the second act, she has the nimbleness to pull it off! Her fingers danced around the keys like it’s nothing – which is SOMETHING, considering how fast this second section is. And then, finally, she has the speed to capture the intensity of the final act; she brings it home with some serious passion! Ariane is quick to change tempos, dialing the volume and intensity right back down for the final, soft, “Nothing really matters to me.”

Needless to say, we think Freddie Mercury would have been proud of this gorgeous tribute to one of his most famous and beloved songs. We would encourage everyone to check out Ariane’s YouTube channel, where you can hear a few other cool covers.

Her friend, Luc Delorme, helped to film her and make this video montage of her performance. The college student was clearly completely devoted to her music as she played. The crowd shifted around her, but everyone who heard had to at least pause to listen to the music for a moment. We loved that her friend took the time to film the surroundings, too; an ice cream cart, people taking pictures, a woman getting a drink from a water fountain – with Ariane’s beautiful music in the background, it was extremely cool.

When the song finishes, Ariane receives a hearty round of applause. We would hope so! She just nailed a six minute piano epic in a public park. The musician is so humble, though, that she blushes at the applause and even covers her face! She turns to laugh at the camera, looking thoroughly proud and shocked that her song was received so well.

What did you think of this Queen cover? Are there other covers of this song you prefer? Share your thoughts on this beautiful performance in the comments section below.