Face the Music

When Queen Victoria visited the Crystal Place on the opening day of the first World’s Fair —the Great Exhibition — in 1851, Her Majesty was serenaded by a 600-voice choir that burst forth with Handel’s "Hallelujah Chorus" echoing through the Palace, whose length ran a third of a mile.

Yet that’s a small karaoke night compared to the opening for Expo 2025 debuting in Osaka last Sunday: more than 10,000 people sang Beethoven's soaring Ninth Symphony to celebrate the start of the six-month event.