Meet St Pancras station’s viral piano star who began as a boy soprano

24 October 2025, 12:57

Camden Stewart, the pianist who grew up singing in a world-famous boys’ choir, is now taking TikTok by storm with his performances on public pianos.

Camden Stewart has earned himself a huge TikTok following by sharing videos of himself playing the public piano in London’s St Pancras train station, surprising commuters with his pianistic flair.

The 21-year-old had his training in the classical world, attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, taking private piano lessons and singing in the world-famous Libera boys’ choir until he was 17 years old.

“I was with Libera for about ten years,” he tells Classic FM. “That really sparked my interest in the choral and classical world. Without that, I don’t think I would have pursued the classical journey as much.”

Camden began posting videos of himself playing music by his classical inspirations, Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninov – but has since been discovering his own original sound, a blend of contemporary classical piano with licks of operatic vocal. One of his piano tracks, ‘lost’, now has over a million streams on Spotify.

“The best is to keep simple,” Camden says of his compositions. “I began improvising short motifs, and from there I developed it and eventually it was long enough to be called a composition.”

As for genre labels, he says: “If it’s called classical, neo classical – fine. But I just write music which I like, and I try to blend other influences where I can.”

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Pianos have increasingly become part of the furniture at UK train stations, a boom celebrated in the much-loved Channel 4 show The Piano. Camden loves that they give space for anyone to play, and crucially, for anyone to listen.

“Public spaces erode the barrier between the performer and the listener,” he says. “That’s why I love performing in public, because there’s no separation. It’s that much intimate with the listener.

“Maybe they’re having a tough day and just listening to my playing sets them up. That’s what I can do to help. So many people wouldn’t appreciate even classical music if it wasn’t for public pianos and public music. So it’s vital that we have them, for the number of people who start to listen.”

The St Pancras piano was where it all started for Camden, as the first public piano he ever saw. His mum had to encourage him to go up and play it.

“Whilst I was preparing for my Grade 8 exam, my mum just said, go and play that piano,” Camden says. “And I was like, absolutely not. But I tried.

“The first piece I played was Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor, and it was very daunting. But you try it through repetition and eventually it gets easier.”

Camden began filming his sessions at the piano, and was able to build up an online audience, which also acted as a support network. After experiencing an incident of verbal abuse while he was playing the station piano, his fans rallied around him.

“For me social media is a dream come true,” he says. “I mean, it’s a tool, so you can use it for good or for bad. For me, social media has really helped me connect directly to fans and reach people who may not listen to classical music or contemporary music. So it’s really allowed more visibility for classical music, which I think is essential.”

Camden also wants to use his voice now to challenge preconceptions of who ‘should’ be into classical music.

“There are lots of misconceptions around classical music. I think that’s actually a key factor to why the younger generation are a bit disinterested in classical music. It’s seen as only for a certain class, but that’s just absolutely not the case. Music is music. Classical music is for all. And that’s what I try to do through the public pianos.

“I think the future of classical music is very bright,” he adds. “It just needs more young people experimenting and not feeling scared by the facade and aura of classical music. It should be taken and explored in new ways, hopefully blending the traditional with also the contemporary, so we have more composers and more people appreciating the work.”

Finally – any advance Camden would give to aspiring young musicians today?

“I’d say have fun, and have patience – because some days you don’t feel like practising or getting up. So I’d say patience and having fun through enjoying the process and not being too attached to the outcome.”