Beethoven’s Ninth on a Spanish Plaza (video)
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Let’s make no mistake here; this is a commercial for Banco Sabadell. And, yes, it’s a majestic, highly orchestrated flashmob organized by one of Spain’s largest banking groups. But, when I get an evening email from our founder and host confessing to shedding “happy tears” when watching it, I figure I better check it out.
And, if you read the comments on YouTube, you’ll see much more of the same sentiment being expressed.
On May 19th at six in the evening, what appeared to be a single, tuxedoed street performer playing a bass for people strolling around Plaça de Sant Roc in Sabadell, Spain (just north of Barcelona) turned into a mass ensemble performing a movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony — including more than 100 musicians and singers from the Orchestra Simfònica del Vallès, Amics de l’Òpera de Sabadell, Coral Belles Arts, and Cor Lieder Camera.
The production is lovely and highly produced, but it’s the fascination and pure joy of the passersby that makes the moment quite magical. Non?
