undercover opera
 

Hi.. wondered if anyone here had seen the verdi flashmob done in grainger market uk by amateur musicians..200 of them...Undercover Opera flash mob Verdi grainger market - YouTube

Re: undercover opera
 

Perhaps the singing would have been more enthusiastic if they'd ditched the Italian, and sang The Fog on the Tyne.

:D

We're pretty hard to please round here.

After being spoiled by our own fantastic flash mob event.

:rolleyes::D

Re: undercover opera
 

Flash mob of Ravel's Bolero in Copenhagen is much better, Accy's chav mob is a close second!

Verdi's "Va Pensiero" is usually sung with a bit more verve! It's aka The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves and is from his opera " Nabucco". It's a great favourite in Italy and is seen as a bit of a patriotic song (always on at Xmas concerts!)

Found the following translation but as with so many things it's better in the original language!

Fly, thought, on wings of gold;
go settle upon the slopes and the hills,
where, soft and mild, the sweet airs
of our native land smell fragrant!

Greet the banks of the Jordan
and Zion's toppled towers...
Oh, my country so beautiful and lost!
Oh, remembrance so dear and so fatal!

Golden harp of the prophetic seers,
why dost thou hang mute upon the willow?
Rekindle our bosom's memories,
and speak to us of times gone by!

Mindful of the fate of Jerusalem,
give forth a sound of crude lamentation,
or may the Lord inspire you a harmony of voices
which may instill virtue to suffering.

Re: undercover opera
 

These Frenchies performed it with a bit more gusto.

Flash Mob Opera Nabucco, Giuseppe Verdi, Toulouse, France - YouTube

The one in Grainger market, I don't think can be called a flash mob, with an orchestra already set up there.

Re: undercover opera
 

Groove thinks the flashmob phenominum is highly entertaining.

Re: undercover opera
 

strange you should mention the bolero flashmob.. as I was involved in a very very similar happening last year... when we did undercover orchestra which was a bolero flashmob in a bus station.. coincidence!

orchestra..Undercover Orchestra 'Bolero' classical flash mob 'kinda' - YouTube

Re: undercover opera
 

Perhaps it is just as well that I don't visit shopping malls and stations with all this Ravels Bolero music about. I love it, but it brings on a 'Meg Ryan' (as in When Harry met Sally)

Re: undercover opera
 

I would be interested if anyone on these boards was invovled with the Copenhagen work as it was so close to our efforts I am interested in how they got the idea

Re: undercover opera
 

Thanx for your PM antnhec -afraid I was sent the link by a friend -I can ask her if she knows anyone..It is quite similar in some ways -though the acoustics in Copenhagen are better and - no offence, the tuning of the instruments too in some parts!

In any case anything that brings classical music closer to the general public is a good thing. Most people think that it is not for them but nothing can beat live music of any sort, as these kind of events show.

Keep up the good work!

Re: undercover opera
 

Frenchie "en plein aire" not bad G, thanks.

Try watching this one -it's how they do it in Italy for a big occasion -The Festa dell' Unità in Rome this year in March to mark the 150 Anniversary of the Unity of Italy (Garibaldi biscuits all round!) -directed by Riccardo Mutti.

Starts slowly and builds up incredibly after about 3 mins -even though it's a Hebrew Chorus you get a full blast of Italian Nationalism!
NABUCCO "Va pensiero" (Festa dell'Unità d'Italia) - YouTube

Re: undercover opera
 

It's only a flash mob if the performers appear, and subsequently disappear, back into the crowd they came from.

If the flautist had suddenly pulled her instrument out of a frozen turkey, tucked away in her shopping bag, then it could conceivably be called a 'flash mob'.

Was there any cost to the tax payer, for these events in the north-east?

Be interesting to know, so we can weigh up the value of art.

:D

Re: undercover opera
 

It'd have to be a pretty big Turkey!

These kind of things may be considered priceless:)

What price the emotion felt ...cannot be quantified, methinks.

Re: undercover opera
 

I myself prefer the idea of a happening rather than a flashmob... I make lots of stuff in the north east.. I like to work with amatuers and also non professionals.. Just having an event on the street isnt the means and the ends, its more about getting peoples personalities into the work.. I did this one a while back about a tower block...Not a flash mob but is about getting peoples personalities across int he music by using non performers..

Tower Block Musical: residents sing their lives - YouTube

Re: undercover opera
 

Realise the Italian version isn't a Flash mob, G -when would Mutti have the time for such things....

Don't think they've cottoned on to Flash mobs in Italy -perhaps i could introduce them as a medium....:D

Re: undercover opera
 

Happening makes more sense artistic sense.

Interesting film.

Though setting it to music jarred with me. I'd have prefered to hear the stories as straight poems.

Who funds these events?