FLASHMOB STREET PERFORMANCE REALLY IS AN ‘ODE TO JOY’
Apologies for not discovering and posting this until now. It’s a video from May 2012, and since then already has been seen by more than 65 million people on YouTube – but I just stumbled on it by accident. Turns out it’s a stunt by a Spanish bank, Banco Sabadell, which conspired with more than 100 musicians and singers from local arts organizations to congregate at the Placa de Sant Roc in Sabadell, Spain (north of Barcelona) to surprise people in the plaza with an impromptu, slowly building performance of the “Ode to Joy” movement from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. An “Ode to Joy” as an unexpected, outdoor experience? Joy, indeed. That little girl who dropped coins in the solo musician’s hat at the start sure did get her money’s worth. – David Bianculli