Nearly two million people watch Philadelphia Orchestra’s impromptu Dvořák on a grounded aircraft.

When a group of string players from The Philadelphia Orchestra found itself delayed on the tarmac for three hours waiting for a flight from Beijing to Macao, a few of the musicians decided to give the other passengers a ‘pop up’ performance to help pass the time.

Violinists Juliette Kang and Daniel Han were joined by Che-Hung Chen on viola and, by a minor miracle of spatial engineering, Yumi Kendall was able to manoeuvre her cello sufficiently into the aisle to complete the quartet.

Their effervescent performance of the finale from Dvořák’s American String Quartet has become the latest viral classic with 1.94 million people viewing it on YouTube this weekend.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is on its 2013 Residency and Fortieth Anniversary Tour of China.

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