Public Voting Now Open for YouTube Symphony Orchestra
It’s election time! YouTube™ invites the public to cast its
votes for musicians to perform in the world’s first online collaborative
orchestra, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, and convene in a classical music
summit at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in April. Since the launch of this groundbreaking initiative in
December 2008, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra’s channel on YouTube has received
more than ten million views worldwide with visitors from countries around the
world. Nearly 4,000 video
performances have been submitted to YouTube, by musicians from Azerbaijan to
Venezuela. These participants,
consisting of professional and amateur musicians of all ages and on all
instruments, represent more than 70 countries and territories on six
continents.
Following a preliminary
screening by a judging panel of orchestral experts from the London Symphony
Orchestra and the orchestras of Berlin, Hong Kong, Sydney, New York, San
Francisco and others, 200 finalists have been chosen from whom the YouTube
community can vote, at www.YouTube.com/Symphony. The
public voting period will end on February 22. Then the YouTube Symphony Orchestra Artistic Advisor and
Conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, will review the finalists and YouTube
community voting results, before finalizing the selections to create a cohesive
symphony orchestra.
Those musicians chosen to
participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra will be announced on March 2 and
invited to travel to New York to participate in a collaborative summit for
classical music on April 12-15.
They will perform in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.
“It’s astonishing to see
so many talented people being inspired to follow their dream of performing music,
not just on stage but to a global audience via YouTube. To know we have played a part in this
is an incredible feeling,” said Chaz Jenkins of the London Symphony Orchestra.
The YouTube Symphony
Orchestra marks the first program on YouTube to welcome submissions from nearly
every country in the world, and the channel has been translated into 16
different languages.
YouTube.com/Symphony also serves as a classical music channel within
YouTube where musicians can collaborate and form a virtual ensemble.
Star artists and
harmony on a global scale:
Celebrity star artists
such as Chinese pianist Lang Lang, the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra Global
Ambassador, founding composer Tan Dun, composer of Internet Symphony No. 1,
Eroica (a piece specially arranged
for this occasion), and YouTube Symphony Orchestra Artistic Advisor and
Conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, have endorsed the project and encouraged
participation. More than 3,000
musicians, from Azerbaijan to Venezuela, submitted video performances of Internet
Symphony No. 1, Eroica. Selected submissions will be compiled
into a mashup video, which will premiere at Carnegie Hall on April 15 and on
YouTube.com from April 16.
“YouTube is the biggest
stage on Earth, and I want to see what the world’s undiscovered musical
geniuses will create on it,” said Dun, Academy Award-winning composer of the Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon soundtrack.
Changing the face of
the classical music audience:
YouTube’s innovative and
groundbreaking project is attracting and changing the face of the classical
music audience. Many of the ten
million views on the YouTube Symphony Orchestra channel are from young people
between 13 and 24 years of age.
The channel provides a platform for musicians of all ages to flourish,
share their creativity, and broadcast themselves.
Mission:
YouTube is a unique
platform that connects artists around the world. Classical music brings people together and transcends
language. The YouTube Symphony
Orchestra furthers YouTube’s original mission of cultivating an online
community. The program marks the
first time anyone has attempted to bring musicians around the world together
through this type of technology.
Education:
YouTube Symphony Orchestra
partners, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, have already uploaded
educational content in the form of master classes, which can be viewed on the
YouTube Symphony Orchestra channel.
With the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, YouTube is creating a platform for creative
dialogue and instruction, to culminate in the April 12-15 collaborative summit
for classical music. Additional
institutions participating in the site’s classical music program include the
Amsterdam School of Music, Barcelona’s Liceu, the Moscow Conservatory, Prague
Philharmonic Orchestra, and others.
Talent discovery:
For musicians of all ages,
nationalities, and instruments, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra and summit offer
unparalleled reach and the unique chance to perform in front of YouTube’s
massive global audience – and on the world’s most famous stage, Carnegie
Hall. The participants are
showcasing their talent, and their submissions are being seen by many of the
world’s leading musicians and judged by a panel of experts from the London Symphony
Orchestra and the orchestras of Berlin, Hong Kong, Sydney, New York, and
others. As the Internet
democratizes the talent discovery process, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra is
providing musicians from unlikely places with a platform to showcase their talents.
The public voting period
for participants in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra is from February 14 to
22. Go to www.YouTube.com/Symphony and vote now!
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For further information,
contact:
Kate Berland: [email protected]
Glenn Petry: 212-625-2038,
[email protected]