N.B. Youth Orchestra rebuttal video prompts an invite to Carnegie Hall

The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra is heading to the famed Carnegie Hall in New York City after a video the group produced went viral.

The youth orchestra video created as a rebuttal to a car commercial depicting young musicians in a negative light has been viewed more than two million times online and has garnered the group an invite to one of the most prestigious venues in the world.

Shinie Wagaarachchi, 13, said she was insulted when she saw the car commercial this spring.

“I felt really insulted and I was like, I want to do meet those people and teach them a lesson,” she said.

The television commercial for Infiniti shows an orchestra of youth playing instruments so badly that the woman in the ad rolls up the vehicle windows to escape the sound.

The ad also hit a sour note with Bark-Wende Sinon, also a member of the youth orchestra.

“When I saw it on TV for the first time, I found it a little offensive,” said Sinon.

The group of award-winning musicians aged 12 to 22 have been recognized internationally for their talents. So, in an attempt to ditch the old stereotype, the orchestra released a rebuttal video of its own.

“We responded to that video and it went viral,” said Antonio Delgado, the orchestra’s music director.

In the video, the orchestra is seen playing a classical piece while the narrator praises youth musical abilities: “The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra has an infinity of young talent — more than 1,000 children and youth and 15 orchestras.”

“We got beautiful, beautiful responses from all over the world, including the U.K., France and South America,” said Delgado.

The global support for youth talent was overwhelming, he said. He added that the orchestra appreciates the humour behind the ad and Delgado said Nissan responded, saying it meant no offence.

According to the rebuttal video, “In our experience, all kids have talent and can shine on any stage anywhere”

But never did anyone ever expect that that video would garner an invite to of the most prestigious stages in the world.

“Some people in the States watched the video and invited us to a festival at the Carnegie Hall in New York next summer,” said Delgado.

“This is way too good to be true and then I read it again and I read it again and I saw that it was really real,” Wagaarachchi.

Delgado said the group is the only Canadian orchestra invited to play at the festival next summer and they did not even have to audition to make the cut. He said their video and talent simply spoke for themselves.