The Internet Symphony No. 1 - "Eroica", is a piece written by the Chinese composer

Tan Dun Tan Dun (, ; born 18 August 1957) is a Chinese-born American composer and conductor. A leading figure of contemporary classical music, he draws from a variety of Western and Chinese influences, a dichotomy which has shaped much of his life and ...

for the

YouTube Symphony Orchestra The YouTube Symphony Orchestra (YTSO) is an orchestra assembled by open auditions hosted by YouTube, the London Symphony Orchestra and several other worldwide partners. Launched on December 1, 2008, it is the first-ever online collaborative orches ...

. It was the first of such events where musicians around the world play the same piece virtually via the internet, and the best performers selected were arranged into an internet symphony orchestra, featured on YouTube. In addition to submitting a performance of the Internet Symphony No.1 ("Eroica"), musicians were also allowed to submit a video of themselves playing one of the other selected pieces. The best performers were invited to play at New York City's Carnegie Hall on April 15, 2009, with all expenses paid by YouTube. Winners were decided by the most votes cast by YouTube users. The symphony was 4 minutes and 3 seconds long, the orchestra was commissioned by

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

and the work was published by G. Schirmer Inc.. It was performed by the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...

on 6 October 2008. Unconventionally, Tan Dun has included disc brakes and rims from automobiles as additional instruments. Tan also embedded a main theme from the first movement of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's ''Eroica'' Symphony, into his work. The

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra (; abbreviated HKCO) was founded in 1977. The orchestra has won the accolades as “a leader in Chinese ethnic music” and “a cultural ambassador of Hong Kong”. It is often invited to perform at famous venues ...

, as a partner of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra Project, has created a Chinese orchestral version of Tan's Internet Symphony No.1, using the percussion instruments of the Beijing opera and Chinese instruments like '' bianzhong'' and ''

guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and Scholar-bureaucrats, literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinemen ...

''. It was rearranged by HKCO's Associate Conductor Chew Hee-Chiat, and conducted by Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Yan Huichang on the YouTube channel. The live premiere of the piece was held in January 2010 at

Hong Kong City Hall Hong Kong City Hall () is a building located at Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Since Hong Kong is a " Special Administrative Region" and not a normal Chinese city, there is no mayor or city council; therefore, the ...

, conducted by Tan Dun himself.

References

External links

YouTube SymphonyThe London Symphony Orchestra performing the pieceSheet music
{{Authority control 21st-century symphonies 2008 compositions 2008 YouTube videos Chinese classical music Commissioned music Compositions by Tan Dun