MIT Leaves its Mark on the YouTube Symphony Orchestra
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It's completely understandable if high end classical music and YouTube never seemed like natural companions to you, but if that's the case you probably haven't heard about the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Back in February, its organizers sent out a call to performers on YouTube and encouraged them to submit audition videos. Thousands of submissions came in, were reviewed and winnowed until 96 musicians were selected. With funding from Google, the musicians flew to New York for a few days to meet, rehearse, and perform.
Wondering how MIT fits into the picture? No, an alum (at least as far as we know) did not engineer the performance or fix technical glitches on YouTube. In fact, an alum—Daniel Stein ′05—was selected to perform at the April 15th debut at Carnegie Hall. According to news reports, Stein has played the flute since he was 8 years old. While at the Institute, he played in the MIT symphony and studied flute privately in Boston.
You can watch Stein's audition video and a section of the final YouTube Symphony Orchestra performance below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw2b6gLCMeY&feature=channel_page]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueJcRmfweSM&feature=player_embedded]
Comments
Luis Cárdenas '00
Thu, 05/07/2009 8:35pm
It does not surprise me that an MIT alum was selected for the Youtube symphony. Youtube did not exist when I attended MIT but I did have the privilege of playing the violin with some incredible musicians in the MITSO. I will never forget playing in the violin section of the MITSO for performances of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. It was a truly humbling experience and to this day, I have never felt worthy of the opportunity I was given.