Eric Whitacre | Artist
Eric Whitacre is an American composer, conductor, and speaker, born 1970 in Reno, Nevada. He is best known for his choral music and has written works for major orchestras and ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Chanticleer, Julian Lloyd Webber, the Tallis Scholars, and the King's Singers. Whitacre studied piano as a child and joined a junior high marching band under band leader Jim Burnett. Later he played a synthesizer in a techno-pop band, dreaming of being a rock star, but upon joining the College choir his musical vision was transformed. He described his experience with his first choral rehearsal as a turning point in his life, saying, "In my entire life I had seen in black and white, and suddenly everything was in shocking Technicolor. It was the most transformative experience I've ever had—in that single moment, hearing dissonance and harmony, and people singing...". Though he was unable to read music at the time, Whitacre began his full musical training while an undergraduate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He eventually earned a bachelor's degree in Music Composition. At the age of 23 he completed his first piece for wind orchestra, "Ghost Train", which has now been recorded more than 40 times. While at Juilliard he met his future wife, soprano Hila Plitmann, and two of his closest friends, composers Steven Bryant and Jonathan Newman. He lived in Nevada until he was 25. Upon graduating in 1997 he moved to Los Angeles, and decided to become a full-time professional composer following the success of Ghost Train. Whitacre's first album as composer and conductor on Decca Records, Light & Gold, won a Grammy Award in 2012, and became the #1 classical album on the US and UK charts within a week of release. His second album, Water Night, was released on Decca in April 2012 and featured performances from the Eric Whitacre Singers, the London Symphony Orchestra, Julian Lloyd Webber and Hila Plitmann. Whitacre has since gone on to compose many more original works and release six studio albums of his own compositions. Standout albums include Light & Gold (2010), Water Night (2012), The Sacred Veil (2020), and Home (2023). Also recommended is the 2002 compilation set The Complete A Cappella Works, 1991-2001. A trademark of Whitacre's pieces is the use of aleatoric and indeterminate sections, as well as unusual score instructions. His work has been described as "weightless" and as the "sort of music Vaughan Williams might have composed in the Cambridge branch of Dunkin' Donuts". Other critics have described his style as "full of shimmering, shuddering, shifting harmonies that awaken the ear to a contemporary yet accessible voice". Whitacre's style has also been characterized as "neo-impressionistic". Whitacre's Virtual Choir projects were inspired by a video sent to him of a young girl named Britlin Losee from Glen Cove, New York, singing one of his choral pieces. Singers record and upload their videos from locations all over the world. Each one of the videos is then synchronised and combined into one single performance to create the Virtual Choir. Whitacre's Virtual Choir performance of Lux Aurumque has received almost 6.5 million views (as of July 2020), featuring 185 singers from 12 countries.
Artist Website : ericwhitacre.com
Featured Albums: Eric Whitacre
Related Artists: Voces8
