Posting this video has become an annual tradition here at Legal Insurrection, but it holds special value this year.
The video features an event that took place in 2010, long before the pandemic which has closed businesses and shuttered people in their homes, apart from each other during the holiday season.
In 2010, multiple choral groups and companies came together to do a surprise performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah at a Macy’s in Philadelphia, delighting the unsuspecting shoppers.
Since then, others have tried to replicate the effort but this one remains the gold standard.
Here’s the YouTube description of what happened:
On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation’s “Random Acts of Culture” at Macy’s in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ – the world’s largest pipe organ – the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah” at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers.
Watch it all below and share with others as a sign of hope this Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
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