THE age-old question of how you get to Carnegie Hall was given a new answer last night. Speaking from its stage, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas declared, “Upload, upload, upload!”
It was appropriate, considering that Tilson Thomas, of the San Francisco Symphony, was doing a bit of moonlighting, conducting the first ever live performance by the YouTube Symphony Orchestra.
Yes, the popular video-sharing site is good for more than just checking out wacky videos of laughing babies, naughty pets and dancing fat guys. It recently conducted a sort of virtual “American Idol” for classical musicians, with video submissions from more than 3,000 hopefuls.
With the finalists winnowed down by a jury of professional musicians, the winners were decided by YouTube users via online voting. The result is this impromptu symphony orchestra, featuring more than 90 players representing some 30 countries.
The concert featured such ringers as violinist Gil Shaham. But the real stars were the amateur musicians, whose ranks included a surgeon, a physicist and a professional poker player.
The excitement started outside the venue before the show even began, with friends and family members excitedly posing in front of the “Sold Out” posters.
One of them was Nick Larson, of Boston, who was there to hear his daughter Anna perform Rachmaninoff. Anna has been playing piano for only six years. But, then again, she’s only 9.
“It’s kind of terrifying,” he admitted about her Carnegie Hall debut. “It’s sweaty palms time.”
Throughout the evening, ushers fought a losing battle with hordes of audience members wielding every sort of camera imaginable. Despite the frequent warnings, flashes were popping all over the place.
With Tilson Thomas conducting, the newbie orchestra delivered a remarkably cohesive performance, especially considering that they had been rehearsing together as a unit for all of three days.
The evening’s centerpiece was Tan Dun’s percussive “Internet Symphony No. 1, ‘Eroica,’ ” conducted by the composer and seemingly designed to showcase every musical instrument possible.
No need to worry if you missed the concert. Starting tomorrow, it will be available in its entirety on, what else, YouTube.