YouTube Symphony Orchestra

The modern media age has allowed for a number of technical innovations to take place within the music industry. Indeed, the internet, in particular, serves as the perfect meeting place for musicians and music fans alike to get together, share their views or even form partnerships and bands.
However, one man took this a step further when he made a call for artists of varying genres to audition for the first-ever YouTube Symphony Orchestra.
Launched on December 1st 2008, the online collaborative orchestra asked musicians to post a video of themselves playing the ‘Internet Symphony No. 1 Eroica’ – written by Tan Dun – along with a second talent video of themselves playing a preset audition piece to the video sharing website.
Musicians of all cultures were encouraged to audition – even if the instrument which they played was not included within the original score.

Following the initial audition, finalists were selected by a judging panel comprised of some of the world’s most renowned orchestras and a public vote on YouTube.
Winners were then invited to travel to New York in April 2009, to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra summit and play at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.
“Really the most important part of this is how the world out there on the internet will be experiencing our performance and that it will be developing over time,” he explained to the BBC.

In total, over 3,000 musicians posted audition videos online and 200 finalists were selected before YouTube viewers voted for the winners.