A St. Louis native, Andrew Chester, was among those selected - by online audition - for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Chester studied tuba with Gary Lipsutz of the St. Louis Brass Band, and was a member of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra.

The orchestra’s inaugural performance, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, will take place tonight at 7:30 Eastern Time (6:30 Central) at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Among the featured performers are violinist Gil Shaham and soprano Measha Brueggergosman; among the composers featured are Gabrieli, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Villa-Lobos, John Cage and Tan Dun.

You can find a host of videos, including auditions and an interview with Thomas, at http://youtube.com/symphony The entire concert will be available online soon after the performance.

Here’s Chester’s bio:

Andy Chester is a freelance tubist in Chicago and maintains a busy performance schedule. Andy recently accepted an invitation into the Master of Music program at DePaul University to study under Floyd Cooley. Prior to DePaul, Andy studied with Scott Watson at the University of Kansas where he earned a Bachelor of Music Performance degree with distinction. Additional study has been done with Michael Sanders and John Stevens. Andy has received numerous scholarships and awards including the Jim Self Creative Arts award and is a two-time winner of KU’s Mock Orchestral Audition Competition. As a member of Forzato Tuba Quartet, Andy has been a featured performer at various regional ITECs as well as a semi-finalist in the 2006 International Tuba Euphonium Conference tuba quartet competition. As a member of the University of Kansas Wind Ensemble, Andy completed a tour of The People’s Republic of China and took part in the recording Red Line Tango under the Naxos label.

Andrew grew up in Yakima, WA and started playing the saxophone there when he was in his school’s band. He moved to St. Louis for High School and the band needed a tuba player so he switched instruments. He played tuba for the all state band in high school as well.