Word was sent to area choruses and churches, and by Friday 28 groups had signed up. They assembled in rehearsals Saturday morning in the Wanamaker Building's Greek Hall, then were sent into Macy's before noon to be girded by Peter Conte and Fred Haas in a four-hand arrangement at the mighty Wanamaker Organ.
"It was phenomenal - really unique," said Gloria Elnitsky of Fishtown. "I'm thinking, 'Where are those voices coming from? They're coming from all over the place.' "
"It's a great way to get music out to people, and the more acts you do when you bring music to the public, the more it might spark an interest," said Adenike Webb, a Mount Airy member of the Philadelphia Singers chorale and one of the volunteer stealth singers.
The Opera Company is preparing a video of the seemingly spontaneous "Hallelujah Chorus" and plans to post it on YouTube by late Monday.
"This isn't about audience development per se. It isn't about harnessing new technology per se. They are collateral benefits," said the Opera Company's executive director, David B. Devan. "What is at the heart of this is bringing joy into people's lives with the widest platform possible."
(Devan artfully acknowledged that the iconic chorus from Handel's oratorio, composed in 1741, isn't opera: "Although opera is at the core of what we do, there are some soft edges around that.")
The Messiah at Macy's was the encore to an ambush the Opera Company staged at the Reading Terminal Market in April. Singers dressed like any other Saturday morning cantaloupe thumper fanned out across the selling floor and, on cue, broke into the "Brindisi" from La Traviata.
Shoppers froze, visibly tickled or moved by the stunt, or went about their business as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening.
