YouTube Symphony Orchestra Debuts Live at Carnegie Hall on April 15 at 7:30pm

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Guest Artists Include Gil Shaham, Measha Brueggergosman, Mason Bates, Joshua Roman, Yuja Wang, and Students of Lang Lang, with Video Appearances by Yo-Yo Ma and Lang Lang

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Artistic Advisor and Conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, and presented in partnership with Carnegie Hall, debuts live on Wednesday, April 15 at 7:30pm. The event will feature soloists, chamber groups, chamber orchestra, larger orchestra, and electronica. A visual journey will accompany the music; multi-media projections mapped to the historical Carnegie Hall architecture will transform Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage into an immersive video experience.

The program will sample diverse periods and styles of classical music, including works by Gabrieli, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Villa-Lobos, and John Cage. There will be a sneak preview excerpt from The B-Sides, a new piece by Mason Bates, due to be premiered in May by the San Francisco Symphony. Selected video entries featuring Tan Dun’s Internet Symphony No. 1 “Eroica”, written especially for this occasion, are being mashed together to create an ensemble video piece. The work will be performed at Carnegie Hall and the video will subsequently be posted on YouTube.com.

“The YouTube Symphony Orchestra project has given us an online window into the skills, lives, and passions of thousands of musicians around the world,” says Michael Tilson Thomas. “Now we’re looking forward to the excitement of meeting in person and putting together an eclectic playlist of electronic, solo, orchestral, improvisatory, and chamber music, all celebrating the amazing range of the music we share.” Headlining the roster of guest artists are violinist Gil Shaham, soprano Measha Brueggergosman, composer/DJ Mason Bates, cellist Joshua Roman, and pianist Yuja Wang. Three young piano students from the Intern ational Foundation of the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra Global Ambassador, Lang Lang, will also perform: Anna Larsen, Charlie Liu, and Derek Wang.

Ed Sanders, Product Marketing Manager of YouTube:

“We are eagerly anticipating the first real-world meeting of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. It will be a truly global experience, with the more than 90 musicians coming from over 30 countries to learn from each other, to perform with each other, and to bring some of their own culture with them to share with New York .”

Meet the artists

Michael Tilson Thomas, Artistic Advisor and Conductor of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, is Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Artistic Director of the New World Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Over the course of his career, he has been committed to bringing classical music to a wider audience. He was the director of the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts for CBS, founded the Discovery Series with the LSO, and in 1987 founded the New World Symphony, an academy for training the next generation of orchestral musicians. Over 800 graduates of the NWS have gone on to major positions in orchestras and ensembles worldwide. Mr. Tilson Thomas’s “Keeping Score” program with the San Francisco Symphony is a multi-platform educational concept. It includes a series of videos that air on PBS, companion websites, and educational programs for schools around the country. His educational radio series, The MTT Files, won a Peabody Award in 2008, and he has won seven Grammys for his recordings.

Awarded both a Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome and an American Academy in Berlin Prize, composer and DJ Mason Bates moves effortlessly between the worlds of electronica and orchestral music. Recent appearances include performing on electronic drumpad and laptop with the National Symphony Orchestra, in his Liquid Interface at Carnegie Hall; creating an evening of concert music and electronica with members of the Berlin Philharmonic; performing his concerto for synthesizer with the Atlanta and Phoenix Symphonies; and appearing as a DJ of trip-hop and electronica in San Francisco . His upcoming premieres include The B-Sides with the San Francisco Symphony and Sirens with Chanticleer. Mr. Mason is on the Young Concert Artists management roster.

Critically acclaimed for her innate musicianship and for a sovereign stage presence far beyond her years, soprano Measha Brueggergosman is one of today’s most magnificent performers and vibrant personalities. She is an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist, whose performances this season take her from New York and Toronto to Paris and Munich . Beyond the great concert halls of the world, she offers her voice, passion, and energy as a Canadian goodwill ambassador for three international organizations: African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF); Learning Through the Arts; and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Dubbed a “Classical Rock Star” by the press, cellist Joshua Roman has earned a reputation for performing a wide range of repertoire with a commitment to communicating the essence of the music at its most organic level. By the age of 22, he was appointed Principal chair in the cello section of the Seattle Symphony and had become a favorite among Seattle music lovers, with sold-out solo and chamber performances throughout the city. His fearless pursuit of new challenges has since led him to expand his horizons and embark full-time on his growing solo classical career. Homeschooled until the age of 16, Mr. Roman received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

This season, violinist Gil Shaham performs with nearly 20 international orchestras; celebrates Pablo de Sarasate’s centenary in New York , on television, and in Spain ; and plays chamber music concerts at home and abroad. His recordings, now numbering nearly 30, have earned international awards, and he has produced several CDs for his own label, Canary Classics. Mr. Shaham was born in the U.S. and raised in Israel , where he began violin studies at the age of seven. Soon afterward he began studying with Dorothy DeLay, and in 1982 became her pupil at the Juilliard School . A recipient of the prestigious 2008 Avery Fisher Award, he lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony.

Pianist Yuja Wang has been praised for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the keyboard repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, fresh interpretations, and charismatic stage presence. Her playing combines the fearless imagination of youth with the discipline and precision of a mature artist. Ms. Wang is a recipient of the 2006 Gilmore Young Artist Award and has performed with orchestras, in recital, and at festivals throughout the world. Born in Beijing , she moved to the U.S. at the age of 15 to study at the Curtis Institute, where she graduated in 2008. Her debut CD, Sonatas & Etudes, will be released by Deutsche Grammophon in April 2009.

Carnegie Hall event information:
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 7:30pm

Michael Tilson Thomas, Artistic Advisor and Conductor
(Presented in partnership with Carnegie Hall)

Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
57th Street & Seventh Avenue , New York , NY 10019

Tickets ($25-$50, $20 for students) are on sale now through Carnegie Charge at (212) 247-7800 and www.carnegiehall.org.

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