Musicians see off 100 competitors to play for YouTube orchestra

Two local musicians have beaten 100 international competitors to become the first violinists from Hong Kong and Macau to be selected for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra.

John Ma Pou-meng and Mark Hui Wing-chun outplayed violinists from around the globe to score spots in the orchestra's concert to be held in March in Sydney.

Ma, a graduate from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and Hui, a current student, will perform at the Sydney Opera House with musicians from all over the world on March 20. The performance will be broadcast live on the YouTube Symphony channel.

It is the second time the popular video site has assembled an orchestra, with the previous occasion being held in Carnegie Hall, New York, under the direction of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas in 2009.

In order to win a place in the orchestra, participants uploaded their audition pieces onto YouTube and those with the most votes from the online audience made the grade.

Born in Macau and currently the conductor of the Macau University Strings Orchestra and strings teacher with the Macau Youth Symphony Orchestra Association, Ma said his audition pieces including Beethoven's Symphony No 9, Mozart's Violin Concerto No 5 and Bach's Gigue generated more than 30,000 hits.

'I am thrilled by the chance I will have to meet musicians from around the world, including Poland and Venezuela,' he said.