35 Americans from 15 States Join Musicians from 29 Countries in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra
35
Americans are among the 96 members selected to participate in the YouTube
Symphony Orchestra, the world’s first orchestra formed entirely through online
auditions. Ranging in age from 17
to 37, the Americans include students, professionals, and talented amateur
musicians from 15 different states, from Nevada to New York and Maryland to
Mississippi. They were selected by
the global YouTube community and Artistic Advisor Michael Tilson Thomas from a
list of 200 finalists.
Violist
Alissa A. Seavey of Wayne, Pennsylvania won the audition with a video entry she
made using her home computer camera and a good-quality microphone. The 28 year-old violist got her
master’s degree at Yale, and is now being coached by Philadelphia Orchestra
violist Rachel Ku while she auditions for orchestra jobs.
Kurt
Hinterbichler heard about the YouTube Symphony Orchestra from his father, who
is a professional musician and a regular YouTube user. The 27 year-old native of Albuquerque,
New Mexico began studying the bass in sixth grade and is now a theoretical
physicist studying at New York’s Columbia University.
California surgeon Calvin Lee, 37, has barely picked up his
violin for 15 years, but dazzled online viewers playing Bach for his audition,
despite all but quitting violin before going to medical school. In a Reuters interview he said he
recently took up music again to help his general dexterity as a surgeon.
Nina Perlove, an Adjunct Professor at Northern Kentucky
University, offers flute instruction on YouTube and has had over 3 million
views of her video performances and tutorials. The former Fulbright scholar compares her experience to
conducting virtual world tours from her home in Cincinnati where she has two
very young children.
These
four are among the 96 musicians in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra who will travel
to New York City for a classical music summit on April 12-15. The summit
concludes with a concert at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Mr. Tilson
Thomas, who is also Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Artistic
Director of the New World Symphony, and Principal Guest Conductor of the London
Symphony Orchestra.
Following
is a list of the U.S. participants by current state of residence:
California:
Jonathan
J. Brummel, trombone – San Francisco
Michelle
Kwon, cello – Fremont
Calvin
Lee, violin – Modesto
Hannah
Tarley, violin –
Cupertino
Illinois:
Andrew
Chester, tuba – Chicago
Colin
Oldberg, trumpet – Evanston
Indiana:
Daniel
Stein, flute – Bloomington
Massachusetts:
Samantha
Gillogly, viola – West Brookfield
Nicholas
Fitton, piccolo – Cotuit
Tien-Hsuan
Lee, violin – Allston
Michal
Shein, cello – Boston
Maryland:
Rachel
Hsieh, cello – Baltimore
Michigan:
Andrea
Christine Jarret, violin – Saline
Mississippi:
Ana
Catalina Ramirez C., clarinet – Jackson
Nevada:
George
Durham, cello – Reno
New York:
Benjamin
Chan, violin – Albany
Kurt
Hinterbichler, bass – New York
Marc
Levine, violin – Islip
Hanah
Stuart , violin – New York
Ohio:
Karla
Donahew Perez , violin
Cleveland
Alexandra
Early, violin – Cleveland
David Z.
George, bass – Cleveland
Hyungtag
Lee, bass – Cincinnati
Joel K.
Negus, bass – Cleveland
Ben
Odhner, violin – Cleveland
Nina
Perlove, flute – Cincinnati
Pennsylvania:
Devin
Howell, bass – Harrisburg
Alisa A.
Seavey, viola – Wayne
South
Carolina:
Patrick
Chapman, snare drum/brake drum – Clover
Texas:
Wade
Coufal, bassoon – Pearland
Renee
Noel Gilliland, viola – El Paso
Jacqueline
Morant, violin – Keller
Dawson
White, viola – Waco
Virginia:
Elliott
G. Burris, slapstick/chimes/bass drum – Charlottesville
Washington:
Eric D.
Moe, trumpet – Spokane
View the
winners’ videos at www.YouTube.com/Symphony.
Speak
with Winners from Around the World:
If you
are interested in interviewing a member of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra,
please email their name to [email protected].
April 15
concert program details and guest soloists will be announced shortly.
Tickets are on sale now through Carnegie Charge at (212) 247-7800 at www.carnegiehall.org.
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A YouTube
Symphony Orchestra website specifically for the media is available at: sites.google.com/site/youtubesymphonyorchestra/
For
further information, contact:
Kate
Berland: [email protected]
Glenn
Petry: (212) 625-2038, [email protected]