Jacobs students perform in YouTube Symphony

Two Indiana University Jacobs School of Music students were selected to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra project.

Bassist Matt Gray and violinist Caroline Gilbert are among the 101 musicians from 33 countries that performed earlier today at the Sydney Opera House in Australia under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. The facility is the one of most innovative performing arts venues in the world.

The students participated in a week of rehearsals that culminated in the Grand Finale, which was streamed live at 5 a.m. EST on YouTube. The performance will be rebroadcasted throughout the day.

Gray and Gilbert competed to be in the orchestra by recording and submitting a YouTube video. During a week of online voting in December, YouTube users gave their input on the 336 finalists.

YouTube first launched its online symphony in 2009 when 90 performers played at Carnegie Hall in New York. Two Jacobs students, Daniel Stein and Dash Nesbitt, were selected to perform.

The audition videos and information about YouTube Symphony can be found at www.youtube.com/symphony.