Eric Whitacre: The intersection of music, technology, and the contemporary era

Odds are if you spent a few years in a high school band or choir, you have heard of Eric Whitacre. For those who haven’t, here is my SparkNotes biography of him: 

Whitacre is a composer and conductor that is wildly popular in the contemporary era, known for both instrumental and (often quite difficult) vocal works. He went to Juilliard and has won a Grammy. His composition style works well in the contemporary era of music but is still largely tonal—he has been called neo-impressionistic. The best way to really get a feel for the music he writes is to listen—here are a few clips:

Lux Aurumque: https://youtu.be/0j2JRcC6wBs

Alleluia: https://youtu.be/Rak_rJLG49k?t=98

One of Whitacre's most creative ideas, and something that he is quite well-known for, is the groundbreaking Virtual Choir Project. The project began in 2010, inspired by a singular teenage girl who posted a video of her singing the soprano part of Whitacre’s “Sleep” on YouTube (https://youtu.be/3xGBWhWgydw). From there, Whitacre invited fans and singers to record their own part and submit it, which he and producers mixed to make a full choir sound through only the internet. The first virtual choir has 185 singers, and the most recent iteration (the fifth) had over 8,000. Whitacre even did a live x virtual choir collaboration, with a live choir that he conducted in real time and many voices joining in virtually.

Whitacre's Virtual Choir Project perfectly fits the definition of a creative product: novel and serves a purpose. Without having any demographic information, I am sure that many of the 8,000 singers in Virtual Choir 5 are not in a real life choir that can sing Whitacre, or even in a choir at all. For those without the resources or opportunities to be in a high caliber choir, the project gives the joy of singing challenging music at a high level. Whereas the collaboration in the Virtual Choir is not exactly the same as the face to face collaboration of many creators, including real life choirs, it is a novel and innovative approach to bring music to people all over the world, and to bring these people together through music. 

Is art quite the same virtually as in real life? Maybe not, but Whitacre's creativity has certainly afforded many the opportunity to participate in creation through technology and provides a new lens through which we can view music in the present day.

Sources and further reading:

https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-07-18/eric-whitacres-virtual-choir
https://ericwhitacre.com/biography/long
https://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir/about