Members of YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 Announced Today

101 Musicians from more than 30 Countries will perform for a global audience at Sydney Opera House in March, 2011

YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 is a partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Sydney Symphony, and other leading institutions of the classical music world.

YouTube today announced the 101 musicians who have been selected to form YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 at Sydney Opera House. The announcement was made after a global audition held online at YouTube.com/Symphony. The winning musicians will be flown to Sydney for a week of rehearsals and concerts from March 14-20, 2011, with a final performance on March 20 that will be live-streamed around the world.

The 97 members of YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 come from more than 30 countries, and range in age from 14 to 49 years old. They include amateur and professional musicians, students and teachers, and include some who have never set foot outside their home country. In addition, four soloists have been selected to perform an improvisation to a piece composed specifically for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by American composer Mason Bates. Invited to audition on the instrument of their choice, the selected soloists performed on electric guitar (Brazil), violin (USA), the guzheng (China), and electric double bass (Australia). For more information on the orchestra members and soloists, visit YouTube.com/Symphony.

“The applicants for this year’s YouTube Symphony Orchestra have been truly outstanding,” noted Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor and Artistic Advisor. “It has been inspiring to listen to such excellent music-making by people from all over the world, and to see the great reaction from the online community to the auditions. I am looking forward to getting together with everybody in March and creating a fine orchestra.”

After an online audition period on YouTube last fall, a panel of experts selected more than 300 finalists from 46 countries based on skill and technique. Nine orchestras around the world participated in the judging, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, and Sydney Symphony. During a week of online voting in December, the YouTube user community gave their input on the finalists. Online votes were then taken into consideration by Michael Tilson Thomas in selecting the final orchestra.

In March, 2011, the musicians will be flown to the iconic setting of Sydney Opera House to participate in a week-long classical music summit with Grammy Award-winning conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and leading performers in the field, culminating in a final performance on March 20, 2011, which will be live-streamed on YouTube. The YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 focuses on celebrating musical education, offering online master classes with orchestras around the world and classes for Australian musicians during the summit week.

YouTube Symphony Orchestra is one of several collaborative efforts by YouTube to push the boundaries of music, art, and film. Along with the film project Life in a Day, and YouTube Play, a collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum, YouTube Symphony Orchestra is an example of the convergence of online video with more traditional art forms.

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