Conductor of the Odesa Philharmonic Orchestra Hobart Earle, along with musicians and singers, sneaked into the fish rows of Odesa’s legendary Privoz market and staged a musical flash mob. The musicians performed ‘Ode to Joy’ by Ludwig van Beethoven, which is the anthem of the European Union since 1993. The musicians wanted to express their protest of conflicts and support Ukraine’s unity, so they selected a song with a text dedicated to unity and brotherhood.

“First I heard a cello amid the silence, I even thought I imagined it. And then in the midst of a trade hall I saw Hobart Earle, the women nearby started taking out violins, and after a few moments the whole Privoz was enveloped in the sounds of the symphony. It was an incredible feeling, everyone stopped and listened, forgetting why they came to the market in the first place,” Odesa resident Mariana Ihoreva told the newspaper Segodnya.

After the orchestra finished playing, it received many rounds of applause as if at a real concert.

Source: segodnya.ua

Translated by Alya Shandra, edited by Mariana Budjeryn