News

Carnegie Hall Holds YouTube Contest

Carnegie Hall has announced its plans for the "YouTube Symphony Orchestra," a collaboration between conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, composer Tan Dun, and winners of a contest that asks musicians to share their unique skills and an interpretation of Tan's work in two clips. While the contest is open through January 28, winners won't be announced until March 2, as experts and YouTube users choose who will perform Tan's "Internet Symphony No. 1 – Eroica" at Carnegie Hall on April 15.

"This thing is huge," Thomas, the music director of the San Francisco Symphony, said in a statement. "Five months from now, I know that we're doing something. Exactly who's doing it, I don't know; exactly what it is, I don't know. So my ability to tell you exactly what's going to happen on that day, at the moment, is: I don't know. That's part of the adventure of the whole thing."

"From our point of view, this is an exciting project because we're giving our users interaction with people that they haven't had before," added YouTube marketing executive Ed Sanders. "Classical music has embraced YouTube a lot more than people think."

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
12.03.08