Andy Chester, a 2007 Kansas University graduate performs his audition for the YouTube Symphony.

Usually, Andy Chester’s YouTube viewing is limited to old comedy videos.

Now, he can credit the Internet video service with bringing his music career to the next level.

Chester, a 2007 Kansas University graduate now in graduate school at DePaul University in Chicago, has been selected for the first-ever YouTube Symphony. He’s the only tuba in the 200-member orchestra, whose members will represent more than 70 countries.

It worked this way: More than 3,000 musicians from around the world submitted audition videos through YouTube. The musicians with the best entries were chosen for an all-expenses-paid trip next month to New York City to rehearse and perform as one group.

“It’s a very YouTube thing, connecting people in the spirit of music,” Chester says.

Lest you think this is a novelty get-together, consider that the performance is at Carnegie Hall, and the symphony will be led by Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the renowned San Francisco Symphony.

The rehearsals begin April 12, with a performance April 15. It will be shown on YouTube April 16.

“What this is doing is giving (classical music) new life — new vitality — and blending classical music with something in pop culture, YouTube,” he says.

Watch Chester’s audition and others at YouTube/Symphony.