YouTube Pianist Plays Her Way to Royal Albert Hall

If you've ever trawled YouTube for Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Liszt’s Totentanz or Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, chances are you've encountered a clip of Valentina Lisitsa. The Ukrainian pianist with the flaxen hair and powerful technique has become one of the most popular classical performers of the viral video era, with her YouTube channel receiving 44 million views since it was set up in 2007.  Read more

Vote for the Redwood String Ensemble!!

Vote for the Redwood String Ensemble!! In April, the White House Office of Public Engagement launched the LGBT Pride Month Champions of Change Video Challenge to explore the stories of unsung heroes. Congrats to the Redwood String Ensemble and a shout out to McKenzie Bauer, violinist, who also works in the Conservatory Library!!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/LGBTVideoChallenge

London Symphony is Told to Fake it at the Olympics

Musicians in the London Symphony Orchestra are reportedly going to join the ranks of Milli Vanilli and mime their performance at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.

Reports from London state that organizers are concerned that bad weather and poor acoustics of the Olympic Stadium — a bowl-shaped facility with seating for 80,000 — could make a live performance too risky. The performance is set to take place as athletes from competing nations parade around the arena on July 27.  Read More

UK Virtual Orchestra Puts You in Conductor's Stand

A London museum is putting the conductor's baton in visitors' hands, allowing guests to direct a virtual orchestra using three-dimensional motion sensors.

The "Universe of Sound" installation is an effort by the British capital's Science Museum to dissect how classical music is made, using specially shot footage, immersive sound, and 360 degree projections to give an unusually close-up view of the well-regarded Philharmonia Orchestra.  Read More

Video: 'Nessun Dorma' Played on the Theremin

Who needs human tenors? In this video, the Canadian Thereminist Peter Pringle performs "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot.

This Theremin, Pringle explains on the video, once belonged to Julius Goldberg, the partner and personal assistant of Russian inventor Leon Theremin.  Watch the video!!

Stefon Harris: There are no mistakes on the bandstand

What is a mistake? By talking through examples with his improvisational Jazz quartet, Stefon Harris walks us to a profound truth: many actions are perceived as mistakes only because we don't react to them appropriately.

Stefon Harris plays the vibraphone -- and leads a jazz ensemble with a collaborative sound built on collective inspiration. Watch the video.

Singer Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau has died

Berlin - The singer Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau has died in the Bavarian mountains near Starnberg, shortly before his 87th Birthday, as his wife, Julia Varady announced. The "singer of the century" Fischer-Dieskau was regarded as probably the most important representatives of romantic lieder singing. He also made it as an opera singer, music teacher and aspiring novelist.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings Schubert - Der Erlkönig (Video)