Online auditions for cyberspace orchestra
The call for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 opened on Tuesday.
YouTube launched its orchestra project last year with a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert featuring more than 90 musicians from 30 countries, including a surgeon-violinist and a professional poker player-cellist.
The announcement for this year’s auditions was to be made at 6pm at Carnegie Hall — part publicity stunt by its producers, part vanity trip by its participants and part opportunity to attract a younger crowd to classical music.
“We’re exploring how classical music’s 1,200-year-long tradition can enter the realm of high technology,” Grammy-award winning conductor Michael Tilson Thomas told reporters.
Musicians must upload audition videos of designated pieces to demonstrate their abilities. Any instrumentalist may also submit an improvisation based on a new piece called “Mothership” by composer Mason Bates for an opportunity to play a solo.
After the auditions end on November 28, an expert panel from leading orchestras will narrow entries. YouTube’s global community of hundreds of millions of viewers will then be invited to vote for the semi-finalists, from December 10 through to December 17. Winners will be announced on January 11.
Starting on March 13, the selected musicians will spend a week in rehearsals and master classes, both online and in person, taught by members of the London Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
The summit peaks with a March 20 performance streamed live on YouTube.
