A Furtwängler On Every Street Corner

I’m a sucker for Improv Everywhere. They’re a blast. (And their mission statement moonlights as a description of The Susanka Seven. “Prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places?” I’m living that every day.)

But their latest offering hits new heights of awesome, even for them.

For our latest mission, we put a Carnegie Hall orchestra in the middle of New York City and placed an empty podium in front of the musicians with a sign that read, “Conduct Us.” Random New Yorkers who accepted the challenge were given the opportunity to conduct this world-class orchestra. The orchestra responded to the conductors, altering their tempo and performance accordingly.

Wonderful stuff, especially the way the troupe alters its tempo and mood in response to the conductors. I realize that “I am Sokoloff!” or “I am Stokowski” doesn’t have quite the pop-cultural cachet of its cinematic counterpart. Not yet, anyway. But I do know that my life-long dream of becoming a conductor just got a whole lot closer.

HT to Laughing Squid, and images courtesy of the Improv Everywhere site itself.