A 15-year-old cellist from Montreal will be the youngest member of an international orchestra that will perform at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday.

Stephane Tetreault earned his spot after submitting an audition tape via YouTube, which put out a call last December for musicians to form the YouTube Symphony Orchestra.

Tetreault was only one of a handful of musicians to be awarded his spot without having to go through elimination rounds.

Tetreault's cello teacher says he is not surprised that his student was selected to join the orchestra, which will be conducted by renowned maestro Michael Tilson Thomas.

"He deserves a really big career, a big future," Yuli Turovsky told CTV Montreal. "I hope he will be a great cellist. He's already a fantastic cellist right now."

Tetreault first picked up the cello at age seven, after another music teacher asked him to so she would have a diverse array of instruments for an orchestra.

Since then he has performed in numerous international competitions.

"I'm very happy I chose cello instead, because you can't always say what you feel in life. It's not possible," Tetreault said. "But through the cello you can always say what you feel."

Tetreault likely gained his musical acumen from his father, Alain, a former rock musician. But he puts a great deal of work into it, practicing his instrument between three and five hours per day in addition to learning conducting.

He is also on the honour roll at Royal Vale School.

"Stephane is an outstanding student," principal John Roumeliotis said. "He is, in my opinion, beyond his years."

Tetreault's music teacher agrees.

"He probably saved, I don't know, five, six, seven years already because that's how many years he's ahead of his age."

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra is described as "the world's first collaborative online orchestra connecting aspiring musicians with leaders and stars in the classical world," according to a message posted on the website.

The Carnegie Hall concert is meant to be "the first of many get-togethers that we're going to have," Tilson Thomas said in an online video message.

Before the concert, the musicians will also get to participate in a three-day classical music "summit" in New York, during which they will learn from classical music stars such as composer Tan Dun, members of the London Symphony Orchestra and pianist Lang Lang.

For their auditions, each musician submitted a clip of themselves playing their instrument's part of a Tan Dun composition.

Editors will compile those clips into a single performance video that will appear on YouTube.

With a report from CTV Montreal's Caroline van Vlaardingen