YouTube Orchestra Gathers For Carnegie Hall Performance
On Wednesday, an international orchestra consisting of 90 musicians, all of whom auditioned on Google’s video-sharing Web site YouTube, will perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall after three days of rehearsals.
The members of the YouTube orchestra hail from 30 different countries, and have been receiving online lessons from some of the world’s top musicians in preparation for Wednesday’s event.
Orchestra members met for the first time on Sunday.
"Everyone in the orchestra clearly has had a lot of experience playing their instrument," said Michael Tilson Thomas, a Grammy-award winner, and conductor for the YouTube orchestra.
"Some of them are vastly experienced ensemble players in chamber music and orchestral music, some have much less experience," he told Reuters News.
"Some have other professions, including being physicians, poker players and financial analysts."
The group will perform works by Gabrieli, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Villa Lobos, John Cage, and Tan Dun, the Oscar-winning composer for the Chinese film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
"This is a modern, ancient arranged marriage by Google and YouTube," Dun said. "This is a dream come true."
Over 3,000 auditions for the orchestra were submitted during December and January.
The number was reduced to 200 by judges from some of the world’s most renowned orchestras. The winners were then chosen by viewers on YouTube.
According to the company, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra channel has been viewed by over 15 million people from over 200 countries since its unveiling in December.
YouTube will release a video of the special performance on Thursday.
—
On the Net: