Song Kang, Lee Jun-young Push Through Grueling Piano Prep for tvN's 'Four Hands'

Song Kang says his forearms burn harder at the piano than at the gym. That was one of the details shared at a preview event for tvN's new Saturday-Sunday drama "Four Hands," which premieres later this month.

The drama follows students at an arts high school for gifted young musicians as they navigate friendship, love, rivalry, and growth. Its center is a trio: pianists Kang Bi-o, played by Song Kang, and Choi Jeong-yo, played by Lee Jun-young, along with violist Hong Jae-in, played by Jang Gyu-ri.

The preview event leaned into the show's classical foundation, staged in partnership with the Seoul Arts Center's international music festival.

The first segment, "Four Hands School Showdown," was co-hosted with the classical music YouTube channel Ttomo. College pianists were handed keywords on the spot and asked to turn each one into a melody. They then split into teams for four-hands duets, the same style of shared-piano performance that brings Kang Bi-o and Choi Jeong-yo together in the drama. In four-hands playing, two pianists share a single piano.

The next segment, "Four Hands Recital," pulled back the curtain on how the show's music was built. Pianists Park Ju-young and Lee Min-sung, who handled the actual playing for Kang Bi-o and Choi Jeong-yo on screen, shared stories from rehearsals with the two lead actors.

"I remember Song Kang saying his forearms burn more when he plays piano than when he lifts at the gym," they said. "Lee Jun-young worked so hard that his fingers cramped during practice."

Both actors put in serious hours to look like real pianists on camera, working closely with Park and Lee to match their movements to the recorded performances.

The music itself was chosen to mirror each character. Park, playing for Kang Bi-o, performed Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, a piece that speaks to the character's belief that only perfection earns respect.

Lee, playing for Choi Jeong-yo, chose Beethoven's "Pathétique." The pick reflects a character who taught himself the keyboard without formal training. Together, the two contrasting styles map out the musical worlds of the two leads.

Park and Lee also performed Saint-Saëns's "Danse Macabre" and Brahms's "Hungarian Dance" in the four-hands format. Singer Jaeyeon gave the first live performance of the OST track "Where the Light Stays."

"Four Hands" premieres November 29 at 9:10 p.m. KST on tvN.