Over 3,000 amateur and professional musicians of all ages and on all instruments submitted videos of themselves playing, hoping to become part of this ground-breaking orchestral project.

A panel of musical experts from the London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and other leading orchestras around the world narrowed the field of entries based on such criteria as musicianship, vitality of performance and originality until two hundred finalists were left. Then the 90 winners were selected by voters on YouTube.

Among them are percussionists Rainice Lai (China) on gong and cymbals, Owain Williams (UK) on timpani, Patrick Chapman on snare drum, Takafuji Maki (Japan) on marimba, and Gaël Chabot-Leclerc (Canada) on vibraphone.

They will travel to New York in April 2009, to participate in three days of master classes and rehearsals, culminating in a concert at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, the San Francisco Symphony\'s music director.

The YouTube Orchestra will have 26 different instruments. The selected musicians, ranging from ages 17 to 55, will perform composer Tan Dun\'s Internet Symphony No. 1, Eroica a piece specially arranged for the occasion. Says conductor Michael Tilson Thomas:

\"We are excited about the talent, variety and adventurousness of the musicians who are coming together from around the world to form the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. I am looking forward to our exploration of the incredible range of classical music\'s 1,200-year-old tradition which we will present in a unique way to our audience.\"

The picked musicians come from: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Since the launch of the initiative in December 2008, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra’s channel received more than 13 million views worldwide. Watch all winners here.