The YouTube Symphony debuts tonight at Carnegie Hall, with the video of the concert to be posted on the website tomorrow. An orchestra selected from an open online audition (with audition videos posted to YouTube) will perform a piece commissioned for the event by Tan Dun, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. They'll also be doing a full concert of symphonic works.

Audition materials included conductor practice videos for various parts of the symphony. As a prelude to tonight's performance, YouTube has posted a mashup of many audition videos synchronized to perform the piece. The symphony itself is not all that impressive, but it does meet some basic requirements for this kind of experiment to succeed, with simple parts and varietal orchestration. The mashup is reasonably interesting, about as interesting as the original video of the London Symphony Orchestra performing the piece.

The website now includes many more supplemental videos, including rehearsal videos and interviews. Check out the highlights reel from the first day of rehearsals.