Walmart shoppers were surprised for the second year in a row when the MasterWorks Festival Orchestra and Chorus performed a flash mob at 3 p.m. Saturday inside the store. In 2013, the orchestra students performed Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero.” This year, with the addition of a chorus program to MasterWorks, Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” was performed at the front of the store. The piece features a choral part, sung in German. A flash mob is defined by Dictionary.com as “a group of people mobilized by social media to meet in a public place for the purpose of doing an unusual or entertaining activity of short duration.” Director Patrick Kavanaugh conducted the orchestra standing on a pedestal in the clothing aisle. Before the performance, he said the ensemble for this year’s flash mob was larger than last year because of the addition of the chorus. There were about 70 instrumentalists and 20 choir members, he stated. Additionally, three videographers filmed the performance. “It’ll be interesting,” he said before the performance. “It starts with one cello, who is then joined by other cello players, bassists, etc., until everyone’s in. It lasts about five minutes.” He said he appreciated Walmart being so nice in letting the MasterWorks students perform inside the store. The employees moved stuff around to make performance space and the “muzak” in the store was turned off. “I’m so thankful for the great working relationship we have with Walmart,” Kavanaugh said. To prepare for Saturday’s event, he said he’s been working on the parts of the piece for months. The orchestra and chorus have been rehearsing the arrangement all week. “It’s most entirely students. There are some faculty who wanted to be in it because they’ve never been in a flash mob before,” he said. Michael Tavani, from Virginia, started the flash mob by taking a seat in the middle of the aisle and playing the cello. “It should be fun,” he said ahead of the performance. “We’ll see how people react. But I’m going to have fun.” Tavani said he had performed in a flash mob before as a college prank, but not with an orchestra. As for the piece selection, he said Beethoven’s “No. 9” was an amazing piece. “One of the best ever written.” From Louisville, Ky., Jessie Dobson plays the double bassoon in the orchestra. Saturday’s was her first flash mob. “It’s a little nerve wracking considering we just rehearsed it today,” she said before the performance. Marcus Tavani, Pennsylvania, is a singer and audio tech intern with the Festival. He had been in a flash mob once before with a theater group. “It should be interesting. I feel like people who go to Walmart don’t know classical music too well,” he said. After the performance, violinist Gabby Getty, of Indiana, said, “I think it went pretty good. It was decent. I was not really nervous.” Another violin player, Elizabeth Vogel, of Mississippi, said, “It was fun. I enjoyed it. It was interesting. It was fun with the chorus.” A video of the performance is available on the Times-Union website at www.timesuniononline.com or Facebook page. For more information about the MasterWorks Festival and its schedule, visit www.masterworksfestival.org
