How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Like the old joke says — practice. Now, Google can get you there too. Sorry — you’ll still need to practice. And audition.
Google is putting together a YouTube Symphony Orchestra that will take to the Carnegie Hall stage in five months to perform — for the first time together — Chinese composer Tan Dun’s Internet Symphony No. 1, Eroica. Classical and non-conventional musicians can submit YouTube videos of themselves playing Tan’s composition and a piece of standard repertoire in order to get into the orchestra. Judging will be done by a panel of experts appointed by Google and by the YouTube community.
"This is the first online collaboration of its kind," said Timothy Lee, product marketing manager for Google, adding, "classical music is hungry for innovation."
Sheet music for the pieces is available on YouTube in PDF format, along with individualized conductor video featuring Tan conducting each part — so, if you’re a timpanist, you can download Tan conducting the timpani part just for you. Instructions are available in 17 languages to put much of the world’s classical talent on the same page, so to speak.
Lee (pictured on the right), who was involved with this idea from the start, explained to Wired.com that inaddition to putting the winning performers into a live orchestra forthe Carnegie Hall performance, Google will mash the uploadedperformances by each winner into a singlevideo with little boxes containing each performer, with the audio fromtheir auditions mixed into a single orchestral track.
This means thateven if you don’t attend the April 15 Carnegie Hall event, you’ll be able tohear what the winning players sound like together. However, there areno plans at this time to allow YouTube users to create their own"fantasy" orchestra comprised of their favorite players, said Lee, who is on a year-long sabbatical from Google as he earns his MBA from Stanford.
The idea for Google’s first large-scale foray into content creationfirst took hold during one of the company’s "Dragon’s Den" contests at a company retreat. In the game, Google employees aregiven two minutes to explain an idea they’ve had. Lee and another classical musician from the company’s ranks explained the idea, which wasquickly embraced by the rest of the company.
Apparently, the contestis just the beginning — conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and otherhigh-profile partners in the program plan to unveil new YouTubeinitiatives around classical music in the coming months, with theultimate goal of creating a worldwide community for string quartets, duets, soloists, orchestras and other classical music groups tocollaborate online, in an attempt to bring traditional Western music tothe digital mainstream.
Dun, who has composed music for the Olympics and for Hollywood films, wrote Internet Symphony No. 1, Eroica in a modular way, so prospective orchestra members will be able to play something that makes musical sense during their audition. In addition, Tan gave each instrument a chance to shine during the group performance.
The composer likened the internet and YouTube to the so-called "Silk Road," which transmitted cultural elements throughout Europe and Asia along the famous mercantile route. In composing the piece, he says, he was inspired by the sound of the beer-drinking Olympic crowds, Beethoven’s Third Symphony, elements of Tchaikovsky and the opera Carmen.
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra is accepting auditions, and will continue to do so until January 28. A panel of experts from various high-profile orchestras will winnow the field down to a more manageable number, and the YouTube community will vote for their favorite semifinalists between February 14 and February 22. Google will announce the winning players on March 2. In April, this YouTube-selected orchestra will be flown to New York City for a three-day summit with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, after which it will play Carnegie Hall on April 15.
Update: More event photos taken by Google’s photographer are now online, including one of the author setting up camp.
Photo from left to right: conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, YouTube product marketing manager Ed Sanders and YouTube product marketing manager Timothy Lee: Eliot Van Buskirk
