{"id":551,"date":"2010-12-21T15:49:39","date_gmt":"2010-12-21T15:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=551"},"modified":"2010-12-21T15:49:39","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T15:49:39","slug":"coming_to_a_mall_near_you_pote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2010\/12\/coming_to_a_mall_near_you_pote\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming to a mall near you: potentially dangerously popular Hallelujah Chorus performances!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh hello! It’s me, your delinquent blogger friend! It’s been rough-going this month, with Sondra in Tosca<\/a>, Helene’s new CD<\/a>, and the Chamber Music America conference<\/a> coming up in the new year. <\/p>\n

I break my silence, though, to tell you about how a “well-publicized” Hallelujah Chorus performance resulted in the evacuation of a California mall. From CNN<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

\n

The Sacramento Choral Society was holding what police called a
\n“well-publicized” event to sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” in the mall’s
\nfood court, scheduled for 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

“Come join our large Chorus
\nof area Singers as they burst into Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus much to
\nthe surprise and delight of Shoppers in the Food Court of the recently
\nreopened Westfield Galleria at Roseville,” the society’s website
\ntrumpeted ahead of the event.<\/p>\n

But less than an hour beforehand, too many people had crowded into the mall.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I love, by the way, how the CNN <\/i>URL includes the word “CRIME”: http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2010\/CRIME\/12\/21\/california.mall.evacuation\/?hpt=T2. <\/p>\n

Turns out, the free performance was a bit too well-publicized. <\/p>\n

“At 6:45 p.m., the Roseville Police and Fire communications center
\nreceived reports that people in the food court heard popping noises and
\nfelt floor movement,” a police statement said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, the performance did go on in the parking lot after the mall was evacuated. Lovely California weather and massive parking lots save the day yet again. <\/p>\n

Well done, though, Anna Molander at the Sacramento Choral Society & Orchestra<\/a>!  I can safely say you are the only classical music marketing and PR person I know whose efforts have resulted in evacuation. You get the first-ever LIfe’s a Pitch <\/i>PR Glitch Award!<\/p>\n

In another mall farther north, Seattle Symphony<\/a> Music Director Gerard Schwarz joined forces with Nordstrom to present a version of the Hallelujah Chorus themselves. The performance involved the Seattle Symphony Chorale and over 500 local singers. Here’s the video:<\/p>\n

Though not quite a “flash mob,” per se, kudos to all involved for getting this together! And if you don’t know what a flash mob is (and you should, they’re All The Rage), here’s Modern Family <\/i>to explain it to you:<\/object><\/object><\/p>\n

This clip cuts out the best part, which is, “You cheated on me with choreography, and that is the Worst Kind.”<\/p>\n

Update! (12:11am Wednesday): I’m told Nordstrom<\/a> has hosted two other performances of the Hallelujah Chorus: in Santa Anita, California with the LA Master Chorale<\/a>, and in Dallas, Texas with the Dallas Bach Society<\/a>. Who knew Nordstrom was such a supporter of random acts of song? Be sure to do all your last minute Christmas shopping there as a gesture of solidarity. <\/p>\n

Here’s Santa Anita:<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/object><\/p>\n


And here’s Dallas:<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh hello! It’s me, your delinquent blogger friend! It’s been rough-going this month, with Sondra in Tosca, Helene’s new CD, and the Chamber Music America conference coming up in the new year. I break my silence, though, to tell you about how a “well-publicized” Hallelujah Chorus performance resulted in the evacuation of a California mall. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}