John Williams and YouTube save Brazilian Symphony Orchestra season

22 May 2013, 12:44 | Updated: 22 May 2013, 12:49

A YouTube video featuring the film music of John Williams made by the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra has encouraged younger concert attendees and increased ticket sales.

With the age of most concert attendees for Brazilian Symphony Orchestra concerts at over 65, the ensemble recently decided to do something about their demographic and their ailing ticket sales.

Taking to YouTube, the orchestra made several videos that featured the music of John Williams and their accompanying movies (including ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars and Jaws), making the connection between classical music and people's favourite films.

The videos soon went viral, with hundreds of thousands of views. Each video encourages the user to click on a caption saying, 'Click to see what's behind this movie' - doing so showed the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra playing the music from the clip.

The Orchestra now reports that the number of young people now attending their concerts has risen by 40%, and that all of their concerts for the coming season are now sold out.

Reading this on the Classic FM app? Watch the video on YouTube.