Blatantly stolen from xkcd, with thanks to The Tankengine

I have been lazy again, friends. I have not kept up with the Times like I should. TOMORROW is the first performance of the YouTube Symphony, and as an active member of the online community, I should have been all over this! I wasn’t, but Ms. Mussel has been keeping me up to speed. Her entry on the Canadians in the performance made me smile, and then cringe at the excessively happy ‘Good Morning America’ people. It is exciting! Ian Whitman, principal bass in the KWS is playing, and (of course, somehow) Edwin Outwater is conducting a piece.

But, of course, this blog is about the oboes, first and last, so here they are!

NirGavrieli, who is from Israel (maybe he knows Dudu?), and oboeblaeser, who is from Japan. Let’s get to know them a little, shall we?

And oh man, no Philadelphia sound. What a surprise! Actually, not so much a surprise since the London Symphony had some say in the audition process, I think. It’s going to be really interesting to see all these people from different backgrounds, from star soloists to high school students play together. I’m looking forward to it! D’you think the concert will go on YouTube? It’s a hope.

If they do it next year, I’ll make an audition video. Promise.

Hello friends! I have recently had an email from a Belgian (!) Obohemian named Anke. She works with the Brussels Philharmonic, and told me about a second oboe/english horn audition coming up at the end of June. If you are feeling apprehensive about auditioning in a country outside North America, read this and remember: if Bede can do it, so can you!**

Here is the text of the relevant part of the email! Go forth, ye Obohemians, and multiplay.

…we have an oboe audition (second oboe with obligation for english horn) end of june and not that many candidates at this moment. If you may know some interested people, this is the general link of the orchestra with all the information  (in the menu you can chose the language at the bottom right). For information about the audition, go here.  Didn’t want to post it as I don’t want to spam your site. I leave it totally up to you if you want to distribute it to your fellow students or not. If any questions, you can always mail me.

**Not always true, but it would make a good t-shirt, don’t you think?