VIDEO: Flash Mob from Harry Potter Orchestra Manages Mischief

In anticipation of the new J.K. Rowling film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Berklee's Harry Potter Soundtrack Orchestra performs, flash-mob style, for unsuspecting bystanders in the Berklee Dining Hall. Warner Brothers Studios collaborated with the orchestra on the project.

November 16, 2016

"Lumos maxima!" is not what anyone expected to hear when they went to lunch in the Berklee Dining Hall on Thursday, November 3. But Gabriela Sofia Gomez-Estevez called those words out as she took to the college's Jackson Browne Stage to conduct the Harry Potter Soundtrack Orchestra (HPSO) in a surprise performance. Planned with Warner Brothers Studios to precede the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which hits theaters this Friday, November 18, the brief show drew cheers from the crowd and had many students filming as they listened to the HPSO's arrangement of "Hedwig's Theme." 

Watch the flash mob video:

 

Gomez-Estevez, HPSO's music director, was contacted by Anasofia Benavides, a studio intern from Warner Brothers’ Boston team, in early October to ask about a collaboration to celebrate Fantastic Beasts. A flurry of emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings later, Gomez-Estevez and Andrew Bustamante, the HPSO marketing director, had created their plan for a flash mob performance in the Berklee Dining Hall. Thanks to the efforts and cooperation of many people from the Berklee community, including the Percussion Department, Dining Services, and Student Activities, the entire undertaking was successfully pulled together in only a week.

This is the HPSO's second exciting collaboration in less than a year. The first was April's meeting with film composer Patrick Doyle, who was a visiting artist in the Film Scoring Department. The composer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, among other renowned films, Doyle attended an hour-long recording session featuring his songs “Hogwarts’ March” and “Hogwarts’ Hymn,” and he inspired students while discussing the power of encouragement in starting and sustaining a career in film scoring. 

As for the future of the HPSO, Gomez-Estevez has high hopes for more collaborations to come. "We had never done anything like the flash mob," she said. "It was a lot of fun and a good collaboration, which is a good measure of success."

Watch the performance of "Harry's Wondrous World" from the Harry Potter Soundtrack Orchestra's sold-out concert, "Symphonic Sorcery: A Celebration of Harry Potter," on Monday, November 21, 2016.