Toronto viola player Yunior Lopez, seen in front, is among the Canadians who made the cut for the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra.Toronto viola player Yunior Lopez, seen in front, is among the Canadians who made the cut for the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra. (CBC)

A few Canadian classical musicians are warming up for a major gig at New York's Carnegie Hall this week as part of the inaugural YouTube Symphony Orchestra.

Five Canadians are among 90 musicians chosen — by the public — for the new ensemble from more than 3,000 YouTube online video submissions by amateur and professional musicians around the globe.

Toronto viola player Yunior Lopez, a student at the Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School, said he found out about the orchestra competition on Facebook.

"I decided to do it because of the conductor, the idea and I love New York," he told CBC News.

He will be joined by:

  • Saguenay, Que., vibraphone player Gael Chabot-Leclerc.
  • Calgary violinist Donovan Seidle.
  • Montreal cellist Stéphane Tétreault, who at 15 is the youngest of the 90 musicians who made the cut.
  • Kitchener, Ont.'s Ian Whitman, principal bass for the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.

Celebrated Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman is also participating as a featured soloist at Wednesday night's concert in Manhattan.

"This is not about money. It's about the community of classical musicians," she told CBC News. "It's about the community of artists and, in this case, it kind of makes classical music explode across the world simultaneously."

The members of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra — most of whom are meeting each other for the first time — are taking part in master classes and rehearsals in New York in preparation for Wednesday evening's performance, which will be conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony.

Along with Tan Dun's Internet Symphony No. 1, Eroica — which the famed composer arranged specifically for the competition — the orchestra and a number of featured guests will perform an eclectic program featuring works by Bach, Mozart, Brahms and John Cage.

A video mash-up of the orchestra playing Dun's piece will also be posted on YouTube on Wednesday.