Electric is one of the only words that comes dashing to mind after Wedesday night's historic YouTube Symphony Orchestra performance.

An animated artistic, advisor and conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas and, composer and conductor, Tan Dun conducted the 100 strong orchestra at New York's Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium and the Ronald O. Perlman Stage.

They played everything from Brahms, Gabrieli, Bach and Wagner to name only a few of the masterpieces that they managed to perfect through internet coaching sessions. The beauty was that this orchestra had never before played together, but they played in unison, as if they had been playing together forever like soldiers on parade.

And our Bermuda resident David France was not only selected from some 3,000 plus musicians in the worldwide YouTube Symphony Orchestra auditions, he was honoured to be chosen as the principle violinist.

The stage was full and the brass section performed off one of the lower balconies in a bid to make room for the entire orchestra. Most of the instruments were of the norm, but there were some that you would only expect from buskers in a Tube station in Central London, such as the tire rims that were transformed into a percussion instrument, and a very ancient ocarina, which is a Chinese/Mesoamerican flute-like instrument.

The night also played host to Mason Bates' Warehouse Medicine, which was a techno come classical piece, and with all of the strobe lighting hypnotically ascending onto the dome, one could almost imagine not being in Carnegie Hall, but in some fantastic nightclub dancing the night away. Another highlight was the performance by critically acclaimed Measha Brueggergosman, who performed John Cage's 1958 unusual combination of two pieces 'Aria with Renga'.

The composition, of which was all about the uninhibited freedom of musical expression, of when and how the musicians arbitrarily played, and the wording and animal sounds of multi-linguistic random chaos delivered by an enthusiastic Ms Brueggergosman. World-renowned pianist Yuja Wang was unbelievable in her phenomenal rendition of Sergei Prokofiev's 'Scherzo from Concerto No. 2 in G minor'.

Watching her was like watching some sort an ambidextrous dance, as her fingers, with the speed of lightning, propelled her along the ivories.

During her performance of the above and 'Flight of the Bumble Bee', the conductor Mr. Thomas, whose aim has always been expanding classical music to a wider audience, in an unprecedented move sat on his pedestal and watched her hands dance up and down with an amazement that was shared by the bedazzled audience members in the sold out event.

Other excellent performances came from piano students, Derek Wang, Charlie Liu and Anna Larson, of the Lang Lang's International Foundation in London.

The three cherubs sat together at the grand piano as they flawlessly executed Sergei Rachmaninoff's 'Valse from Two Pieces for Piano, Six Hands'.

In between performances, the orchestra members captivated us with their diverse stories of their life struggles, passions and of their unifying love of music, through evoking video imagery. In addition, they spoke of a universal language - music, which transcends all cultures and civilisations; and their acclamation of this once in a lifetime opportunity to perform at the prestigious and historical Carnegie Hall.

The enthusiastic roar of Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkure' ushered the awestruck spectators to intermission.

The cellist Joshua Roman, who has been dubbed a "Classical Rock Star" by the international press, performed Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Sarabande from Suite No 1 in G major'; in which he serenaded the morphing classic paintings of women from the masters of varying versions of Mona Lisa to the many European queens, in a sense marrying classical music and art in a 21st Century medium.

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikosky's 'Finale from Symphony 4' brought the audience to raucous standing ovation, which fortuitously was followed by a climatic encore.

The variation of conductors and performances from all members of the orchestra was something that was technically correct and passionately simplistic.

I caught up with David France after their brilliant performance, for a chat and as one can imagine, he was ecstatic.

"This is probably the most inspirational concert that I have been a part of in my entire life," said the Bermuda Music School teacher. "It was such a phenomenal experience to have played with such a high calibre of musicians and it was an extreme passion, but more than passion, it was just really great!"

Mr. France was not alone, as he was joined by proud family members, and Bermudians that flew up to support him.

Leslie Tucker, his sons Leslie Junior, Marcus, and Sheila, their godmother, and their mother Zina, were all on hand after the concert at the stage door.

Speaking directly to nine-year-old Purvis Primary School student Leslie Jr., he said: "It was exciting for me to see my teacher playing here at Carnegie Hall."

Mr. Tucker added: "We did our part once we knew he was involved in it, and after school we would come in and vote, and add some quotes. With the culmination of it all, I think daddy was more excited than the boys, they would forget to vote sometimes and I would say, 'come on'.

"He had a lot of quotes from people all over saying different things about him." But, have no fear of not seeing the concert or having to view it on the very small screen, as when asked what will happen to the orchestra after this performance, Mr. France said: "My dream beyond this for Bermuda is that the YouTube Symphony can partner with Bermuda and do recitals.

"So, if someone in Bermuda is interested in sponsoring that kind of concert we can go for it, because Gil Shaham, the violinist, already gave me his email and has already agreed to do a concert in Bermuda."

To view the concert go to: www.youtube.com/symphony.

Wednesday

Wednesday