You Tube Symphony Orchestra

We attended the dress rehearsal this afternoon for tomorrow evening's You Tube Symphony Orchestra 2011 performance at the Sydney Opera House. I had no idea what to expect and was thrilled by the quality of the exciting and diverse performances staged by an extremely talented group of musicians and artists. The final performance will be broadcast live on the You Tube Symphony Channel and based on what we saw today I heartily recommend it to you.

I'm kicking myself that I decided at the last moment not take my camera. Photographs are not usually permitted to be taken at performances in the SOH but I suspected an exception might be made for the You Tube Symphony performances given the nature of the project and so it proved but I had stupidly left my camera at home when I saw the constant rain and dreary weather outside. Others in the audience were not as stupid as me and happily snapped away throughout the performance. I had to rely on taking photos and videos with my iPhone and unfortunately most of the photos are of poor quality and worse still I cannot seem to retrieve the videos I took.

Here are several of the better photos which do not do justice to the performance we so enjoyed.

The audience is in readiness as the orchestra warms up

A didgeridoo player to the right on a raised platform is supported by drummers near the conductor's podium whilst the screen, Concert Hall ceiling and walls display  flashes of colourful images reflecting the music

An improvisation piece involving the orchestra, a number of soloists and computer musician whose playing is flashed on the screen

The musicians take a bow following the improvisation piece

The musical pieces were interspersed with fascinating personal background stories presented on the big screen by various musicians from, amongst other countries, Brazil, Germany, Ukraine and China

The strings section stands to play a piece accompanying a clever sand piece performed by an artist from Ukraine whose performance is displayed on the big screen

Michael Tilson Thomas was the principal conductor and commentator with guest appearances from two other youthful conductors; one a seventeen year old from Venezuela. The great singer Renee Fleming also made an appearance singing on screen with the Sydney Childrens Choir accompanying her live on stage.

The screen images seen at our performance will be flashed upon the sails of the Opera House during tomorrow's final performance for the entertainment of those outside the venue.