classical life

The making of a YouTube video is an amusing thing to watch, at least if Alex Boyé is involved.* The British-American singer with millions of views on the video-sharing website was in Newport Beach recently to shoot his latest, which he not only performed in, but directed as well. From an outsider’s point of view, there was a thinking-it-up-as-he-went-along quality to the shoot, though Boyé said later that spontaneity was only part of the plan.

The video was being produced by OC Music & Dance, a newly-launched community arts school in Irvine, as a way to promote its brand and to give its students and faculty, who performed in the video, experience and exposure. Musicians from Villa Park High School, various Irvine schools and the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra would also participate. Boyé would be revisiting a technique he had used before, “Africanizing” a hit song — his version of “Let It Go” from “Frozen” has more than 87 million views on YouTube — with the use of distinctive percussion, beats and vocals. This time the song was “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles.

On a gray morning last month, dozens of young musicians and parents gathered on a dock in Newport Harbor behind a large charter yacht called “Endless Dreams,” where the shoot would take place. The smell of diesel fuel hung in the air. School officials and Boyé could be seen already on board, preparing for the mass arrival. Once the students, all dressed in black, boarded, breakfast was served on the two lower decks. On the upper deck, chairs and stands for a full orchestra were already in place.

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