YouTube Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra assembled by open auditions hosted by YouTube
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra (YTSO) was an orchestra assembled by open auditions hosted by YouTube, the London Symphony Orchestra and several other worldwide partners. Launched on December 1, 2008, it was the first online collaborative orchestra.
2009
The open call for entries was until January 28, 2009. Musicians wishing to audition had to post a video of themselves playing the "Internet Symphony No. 1 'Eroica'", by Tan Dun, along with a second talent video of themselves playing a preset audition piece to YouTube. Musicians of all cultures were encouraged to audition, as even if a particular instrument was not specifically scored in the original composition, a musician could play a part in the same pitch range as their chosen instrument. Judges selected finalists and alternates from January 29 to February 13, 2009, and the finalists were voted on by the YouTube community from February 14 to February 22, 2009.
Winners were announced on March 2, and were invited to travel to New York in April 2009, to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra summit, and play at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. As of the concert date, there were 15 million views of the YouTube audition tapes. The concert featured a series of short pieces that had been rehearsed for several days, as well as guest soloists Joshua Roman, Gil Shaham, Measha Brueggergosman, Yuja Wang, and classical / electronica composer Mason Bates.
The public source identifies “YouTube Symphony Orchestra” as orchestra assembled by open auditions hosted by YouTube. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around YouTube, Symphony and Orchestra.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2731620. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008 and 2009.
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This entry incorporates text from “YouTube Symphony Orchestra” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.