At least 40 schools will participate in the January 25 multi-cast, including Princeton University, Duke University, and the University of Southern California, who are testing the technology, and the University of Delaware, Montgomery County Community College, and Villanova University, who have partnered with the Orchestra on previous transmissions, among others. Additionally, the Greek Research and Technology Network in Athens, Greece, will participate in the transmission.

The January 25 concert is part of The Philadelphia Orchestra's Bernstein Festival, which runs throughout the month of January. The program, conducted by Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Christoph Eschenbach, features Leonard Bernstein's powerful Symphony No. 1 ("Jeremiah"), which portrays the destruction of ancient Jerusalem. The composer described the final movement, sung in this program by mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham, as "the cry of Jeremiah, as he mourns his beloved Jerusalem, ruined, pillaged, and dishonored after his desperate efforts to save it." Bernstein wrote the work when he was 23 years old and performed it with the Pittsburgh Symphony in January 1944. Coming towards the end of World War II, the premiere was timely, and Bernstein soon led the work all over the United States and in Prague and Jerusalem.

The concert also features two recently-premiered works by Jennifer Higdon, a Philadelphia composer who embodies Bernstein's diverse influences and adventurous spirit. Ms. Higdon wrote her Concerto 4-3 for the Philadelphia-based string trio Time for Three, whose eclectic and animated performances have been a hit from coast to coast. Ms. Higdon's second commission, The Singing Rooms, was written for violinist Jennifer Koh and the Philadelphia Singers Chorale. The work features six poems by Philadelphia poet Jeanne Minahan.

Concerts in the Global Concert Series provide the audience with an up-close look at the musicians and conductor, in views not seen by live audiences. The live concert is transmitted using seven high definition cameras installed in Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. The transmissions are hosted by Margie Smith, who brings live backstage commentary and interviews with conductors and musicians to concert-goers around the world. The January 25 transmission will include interviews with Christoph Eschenbach, Jennifer Koh, and Jennifer Higdon. Off-site audiences are encouraged to ask questions of the performers leading up to the concert and during intermission via e-mail, instant messenger, and text message.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is the first major orchestra to transmit live concerts to multiple large screen venues on college and university campuses. Its Global Concert Series, begun in September 2007, is made possible through a partnership among the Orchestra, the Internet2 Consortium, and the presenting schools.

The Global Concert Series uses a high speed and high bandwidth network available to the Orchestra through the Internet2 network to send the audio and video stream to large screen venues at organizations connected to the Internet2 network. Internet2 is a non-profit consortium of over 200 universities who serve as hubs to connect thousands of schools to a high speed advanced network that allows advanced applications and technologies for research and higher education. The Philadelphia Orchestra accesses this network through MAGPI, the Internet2 network hub of the University of Pennsylvania since 1999. Participating institutions are required to be connected to the Internet2 network and must meet additional technical and equipment criteria. -- www.philorch.org