Street pianist Julien Cohen was sitting at a public piano in Liverpool city centre playing a Mozart piece when a young boy came up to him and asked him if he could play ‘All You Need Is Love’ by The Beatles. Julien appeared to be about to launch straight into the number until the boy asked him to wait a moment, turning back around to the crowd sitting behind him. What appeared at first to be an impromptu request was suddenly revealed to be a carefully orchestrated performance.
To the complete surprise of the people around them, a small group of children suddenly stood up and sang the song’s opening choral section. Then more groups stood up and joined in. Before long, Julien had joined in with his piano, and young singers were trading microphones between themselves to sing lead. Just when it seemed as though there couldn’t be any more surprises, a brass band appeared out of nowhere to join in too. The amazing performance received over 120k views in just 10 days.
One of my favourite parts of the performance was seeing how the crowd around the performers responded. The looks of amazement and joy that crossed the listeners’ faces just kept growing as the surprises kept coming. I found it truly touching to see how much joy this performance brought to listeners, clearly brightening their day in an entirely unexpected way. It was beautiful to see how much joy the performers themselves found too, the children grinning and dancing as they sang.
Performed on Global Beatles Day, ‘All You Need Is Love’ was the perfect choice for this Liverpool performance. However, Music Man fans who already know Julien’s work will know that this isn’t the first time he has collaborated with young performers to give members of the public a surprise musical performance they will never forget. His version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, for example, highlighted the talents of a mind-blowingly talented young guitar player taking on Brian May’s iconic solo.
Designed to take audiences by surprise, Julien Cohen’s public performances clearly bring joy to all those who hear them. It’s also clear that they bring joy to all those involved in performing them. There is a sense of powerful connection in each performance, as the singers and musicians get to share their talent with members of the public, and listeners react with absolute astonishment. For both the listeners and the artists taking part, these surprise performances are something that they will hold close to their hearts for a long time to come.