TMCnet Feature

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is accepting audition clips from instrumentalists via YouTube in an effort to find a soloist for performances on November 30 and December 2, 2012. Best of all, audience members will have a say in who gets to perform a solo alongside the orchestra.

“This is applying 21st-century technology to something we've been doing since orchestras began, and that's scouting young talent,” said Robert Moir, the orchestra’s vice president of artistic planning and audience engagement in a statement. The orchestra has made other forays into technology and social media, including seating audience members in a “tweeting section” that allows them to post live concert updates on Twitter (News - Alert) during the performances.

Instrumentalists will be judged by orchestra members, who will pick 20 semifinalists by April 13. Then, the public will choose finalists by April 30. The top four finalists will be flown to Pittsburgh to audition for Manfred Honeck, the conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Honeck will make the final selection, and, if he feels that none of the soloists are of the caliber expected by the orchestra, he may choose no winner at all. If a winner is selected however, they will receive $10,000 and a trip to perform at the orchestra’s home venue, Heinz Hall.

But Moir did express optimism that the orchestra would find a winner. “We're both pretty confident that the level is there just because we've both been using the Internet so much (to scout talent) and we've seen so many people who we've never heard of before who are so talented,” said Moir. “We think that this is probably going to bring us a lot more of these young interesting artists.”

Clips must be at least 10 minutes long and may be uploaded between now and March 22. Musicians must play their concertos without accompaniment, and the contest is only open to legal U.S. residents who are at least 18 years of age. No candidate may be represented by a talent agency or have previously had representation from such an agency.