“So, after all the buzz about the YouTube Symphony Orchestra altering the audition process forever,” writes Anthony Tommasini Thursday (4/16) on the New York Times website, “after months of interactive computer chat about the world’s first collaborative online orchestra, after 96 winning players were selected from among the more than 3,000 musicians who submitted audition videos and were brought to New York for a group summit and Carnegie Hall concert, how did the YouTube Symphony Orchestra finally play? Quite well, actually, from what could be assessed during the three-hour concert the orchestra presented on Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, mostly conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. The program was a potpourri, just movements and excerpts from 15 wildly diverse works.” Anne Midgette offers a different take in Thursday’s (4/16) Washington Post: “What everyone was really hoping for,” she writes, “was a wonderful musical experience to complete the fairy-tale idea that strangers at all levels of ability, from professionals to music students to hobbyists, could come together and join in top-flight musicmaking. Unfortunately, as Wednesday’s concert demonstrated, that’s the stuff of video, not reality.”
For a behind-the-scenes look at YouTube Symphony Orchestra’s rehearsal process for the Carnegie Hall concert, read Symphony’s online exclusive .
Posted April 16, 2009
