‘Water Orchestra’ allows visitors to control City Hall fountains and channel their inner ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’

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The splash fountains in Dilworth Plaza at Philadelphia City Hall are now under your control.

Anyone can conduct “Water Orchestra,” an interactive public art installation that allows the opportunity to conduct the array of waterspouts like a conductor leads an orchestra.

“This program makes classical music accessible right in the heart of our city,” said Preema Gupta, CEO of Center City District, which created “Water Orchestra” in collaboration with the Montreal-based design firm Ottomata Studio.

“It allows people of all ages and all backgrounds the opportunity not just to enjoy the transformative power of music, but to discover their inner maestro,” she said.

Passersby in Dilworth Plaza stand on a designated platform, which scans their body movements and transfers them to the waterspouts embedded in the concrete, acting like an orchestra pit.

It’s a little clumsy. The system cannot react as fast as, say, a string section. But anyone can feel the power of making something happen just by waving their arm through the air.

“It’s extremely fun,” said Mary Spencer of Abington, who spent the day downtown for a little sightseeing and stumbled upon the launch of “Water Orchestra.”

She had never conducted music before.

“In my mind, yes. I usually do Beethoven’s 6th in my living room,” she said. “I’m fantastic.”

Like many people, Philadelphia Orchestra CEO Ryan Fleur grew up wishing he could conduct like Mickey Mouse.

“I was two years old and my father took me to see ‘Fantasia,’” he said. “When I heard ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice,’ I was hooked.”

Mickey Mouse’s disastrous turn as the curious but doomed apprentice is the inspiration for Water Orchestra. In 1940, the Philadelphia Orchestra performed the soundtrack for Disney’s “Fantasia,” as it will again later this year at Marion Anderson Hall as part of its landmark 150th season.

The Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin will also conduct a pop-up performance at “Water Orchestra.” Whether he will perform wearing a peaked sorcerer’s hat was not disclosed.

If you’ve never conducted before, former Philly Orchestra Assistant Conductor Liza Gonzales-Grenados has a tip.

“Conducting is just being able to speak music,” she said. “If you are able to connect your heart with your hands, there’s going to be something getting out of it.”

“Water Orchestra” will be active until Oct. 3.