Yesterday's New York Philharmonic press conference was webcast live for invited international e-attendees. "Smile when you look back," orchestra president Zarin Mehta urged those present on the Avery Fisher Hall stage as he pointed out the cameras behind them, "and don't do anything you don't need to do." But don't take my word for it — the entire press conference is now online for streaming on the orchestra's website; Mehta's friendly warning comes 19 minutes and 13 seconds into the stream.

Note that while the webcast is nearly 95 minutes long, the actual press conference starts at around 10:53, when chairman Paul B. Guenther's microphone goes live. (Someone might have waited until he actually got on stage before opening his mike, but at least there's no Kathy Griffin moment here.)

Alan Gilbert makes his first appearance at 15:22, Magnus Lindberg joins him at around the 33 minute mark, the Valery Gergiev taped interview starts at 44:40, and Thomas Hampson takes the stage at the 51 minute mark.

Gilbert talks about Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre at 57:13; director Doug Fitch joins him to discuss staging ideas about a minute later. Paul Calello, chief executive officer of investment banking at Credit Suisse, talks about his firm's commitment to the orchestra and the arts in general at 71:23. Gilbert introduces Alec Baldwin at 72:53. (Listen closely for a generous exchange between these two as Baldwin takes his seat, before he launches into his entertaining spiel.)

A question-and-answer period follows. At 84:33, Reuters reporter Michelle Nichols asks about the orchestra's fiscal health, and Mehta fields the question. At 86:25, Russell Platt from The New Yorker wants some specifics about the membership of the Phil's just-announced new-music ensemble. Figures it would be a composer who'd put that inquiry out there. Russell's report of the event is here.

Me, I'm a whitish blur bobbing deep in the background at 3:07, and I'm clearly visible in the top left at around 3:38, standing between Bruce Hodges and Karissa Krenz. (Bruce is the tall, handsome gent in the lead and Karissa's the stylish blond; I'm the one in between, with the bag strap and the flapping arm.) That is what you were really interested in seeing, right?

A few days ago I received an e-mail notice about the Los Angeles Philharmonic's January 22 press conference, announcing Gustavo Dudamel's inaugural season. Since that's a rough commute, I asked whether the event was going to be webcast live; the response was that the orchestra was looking into it. Strange to think that the New York Philharmonic might have just raised the bar for its west coast counterpart, but given that Los Angeles Phil president and C.E.O. Deborah Borda was among those in attendance here yesterday, I'd have to think that L.A. will be looking into it extra hard now.