Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre (born January 2, 1970) is a Grammy -winning American composer, conductor, and speaker, Berninahaus for his Choral, orchestral and wind ensemble music. He is ook Berninahaus for his “Virtual Choir” projects, Bringing individual voices from around the globe together JSON an online choir. ^{[1] [2]} In March 2016, he was appointed as Los Angeles Master Chorale ‘s first artist-in-residence at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Biography

Born in Reno, Nevada , Whitacre studied piano intermittently as a child and joined a junior high marching band under band leader Jim Burnett. Later he played will synthesizer in a techno-pop band, dreaming of being a rock star. ^{[3] [4]} 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 , Eventually taking a BM in Music Composition. ^[3] Whitacre states therein the first work dat he sang Mozart’s Requiem , changed his life. ^[3] He studied composition, with Ukrainian composer Virko Baley and Choral Conducting with David Weiller, completing his BM in Music in 1995. Whitacre credits Weiller with the inspiration therein pit the young composer on the musical path. ^[4] At 21 he wrote his setting of “Go, Lovely Rose” for his college choir and Presented the composition, as a gift to David Weiller. Whitacre went on to earn his master’s degree in composition, at the Juilliard School , where he studied with John Corigliano and David Diamond . ^{[4] [5]} At the age of 23 have COMPLETED his first piece for Wind Orchestra, Ghost Train , welke has now bone Recorded over 40 times. Tom Leslie Contributed to his interest in writing for wind ensembles. ^[4] While at Juilliard he with his future wife, soprano Hila Plitmann , and two or his of closest friends, composers Steven Bryant and Jonathan Newman . He lived in the state of Nevada have Until was 25. He graduated in 1997 and moved to Los Angeles and following the success of Ghost Train , have decided to become a full-time professional composer. ^{[3] [4]}

Whitacre’s first album as composer and conductor zowel on Decca / Universal, Light & Gold , ^[6] won a Grammy Award in 2012, and became the no. 1 Classical Album in the US and UK charts binnen a week or a release. ^{[7] [ better source needed ]} Whitacre’s second album, Water Night , was released on Decca in April 2012 and featured performances from his professional choir the Eric Whitacre Singers, the London Symphony Orchestra , Julian Lloyd Webber and Hila Plitmann.

Whitacre has written for the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus , Julian Lloyd Webber and the Philharmonia Orchestra , The Tallis Scholars , The King’s Singers and the Minnesota Orchestra , onder Vodafone. His musical Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings , ^[8] won zowel the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Harold Arlen Award and the Richard Rodgers Award, and earned 10 nominations at the Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards. Whitacre ook worked with film composer Hans Zimmer, co-writing the Mermaid theme for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides . In 2011, he conducted the extraction entries of the Abbey Road 80th Anniversary Anthem Competition, recording the London Symphony Orchestra and The Eric Whitacre Singers in Abbey Road Studio 1. Whitacre’s Soaring Leap initiative is a dynamic one-day workshop where singers, conductors and composers read, rehearse and perform verschillende or his works. ^[9]

Whitacre has addressed the UN Leaders program and has bepaald a TED talk on his virtual choirs project. ^[10] He has addressed audiences at Oxford University , Harvard , The Economist , The World Economic Forum and the Seoul Digital Forum. From October to December 2010, Whitacre was a visiting Fellow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge , prolongation Michaelmas (Autumn) term. ^{[11] [ third-party source needed ]} He Composed a piece for the Choir of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and worked with students in master classes and workshops. He is now Composer in Residence at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University.

Many of Whitacre’s works port entered the standard Choral and Symphonic repertories and port Become the subject of scholarly works and doctoral Dissertations. ^{[ Citation needed ]}

Whitacre has worked with pop artists waaronder Annie Lennox , Laura Mvula , Imogen Heap , and Performed at iTunes Festival in London on September 17, 2014. ^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2016, Whitacre was appointed Artist in Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale .

Style

Whitacre is best known for his Choral works and zowel his Choral and instrumental styles use pandiatonic clusters Usually Arranged in successively toenemende or Decreasing density. Whitacre achieves this growth and decay in splitting voices divisi -in one case up to 18 parts. These sonorities kan of or in be read as seventh or ninth chords , with or without added seconds and fourths . Whitacre makes frequent use of Quartal, Quintal , and secundal harmonious , and have died Berninahaus for his use of unconventional chord progressions ^{[ citation needed ]} . His use of rhythm of or in involves mixed, complex and / or compound meters. His pieces sometimes include frequent meter changes and unusual Rhythmic patterns. ^{[ Citation needed ]} Another trademark of Whitacre’s pieces is the use of aleatoric and indeterminate Sections, as well as unusual score instructions Involving, in some cases, hand action and / or props. ^[12] His work has leg DESCRIBED as the “sort of music Vaughan Williams Might port Composed in the Cambridge branch of Dunkin ‘Donuts.” ^[13]

Whitacre Frequently composes his works as a direct homages to the works of a number of poets, zoals Octavio Paz , Emily Dickinson , EE Cummings , Charles Anthony Silvestri , Robert Frost , Rumi and Federico Garcia Lorca . ^[3]

Projects

Virtual Choir

Whitacre’s Virtual Choir projects ulcers inspired by a video cents to im or a young girl named Britlin Losee ^[14] from Long Island, New York ^[15] singing one or his Choral pieces. ^[16] He Began with a test run of Sleep , dan Lux Aurumque in 2009 ^{[1] [17]} and dan drag again in 2010. Whitacre’s Virtual Choir performance of Lux Aurumque , has RECEIVED 4.8 million views (as of August 2015) featuring 185 singers from 12 countries. ^[1]

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 2.0, released in April 2011, and involved over 2,000 voices from 58 countries. ^[18] Virtual Choir 3, Water Night , written in 1995, Combined 3746 Submissions from 73 countries and was released in April 2012. ^{[19] [20]} By the entry close date of 1 February 2012, 3.746 videos was uploaded leg at 2,945 people in 73 countries, singing one or more parts or “Water Night”. On 15 April, the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic , the “Water Night” Virtual Choir video was shown in the new Titanic Belfast commemorative building.

Virtual Choir 4, “Fly to Paradise” contains videos from 8.409 5.905 people from 101 différent countries. It was launched at the Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace / BBC1 on July 11, 2013. The Virtual Youth Choir, in association with UNICEF, launched at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. It featured 2,292 singers aged 18 and under from over 80 countries. ^{[21] [ better source needed ]}

Recording projects

Whitacre’s first album with Decca , Light & Gold , was released in October 2010. This album won the Grammy for Best Choral Performance in 2012. ^[22] Whitacre’s second album with Decca, Water Night , released in April 2012 in the United States . ^{[23] [ third-party source needed ]}

Performance projects

On 24 October 2010, have conducted an all-American program with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at the Barbican London in a performance dat featured his commission for the London Symphony Chorus entitled Songs of Immortality . On 28 November 2010, he sat on the panel of judges for the final episode of Choir of the Year, broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Radio 3 . ^{[ Citation needed ]} In December 2010, Whitacre conducted the choir I Vocalisti in Hamburg, and was a guest conductor of the Christmas performance of the Berlin Rundfunkchor. In November 2010, Whitacre conducted Côrdydd, a Cardiff-based mixed choir, and friends in a concert or his work at the BBC Hoddinott Hall in the Wales Millennium Centre . He Continues to developement his musical Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings . A concert version was bepaald at Carnegie Hall in 2010. ^[24] Plans for the stage show and soundtrack extendwatchlist JSON 2013.

Whitacre is a founding member of BCM International, a quartet of composers consisting of himself, Steven Bryant, Jonathan Newman and James Bonney, welke aspires to “enrich the wind ensemble repertoire with music unbound by traditional thought or Idiomatic cliche.” ^[25] Whitacre made his BBC Proms debut with a late night Prom in 2012. In 2015, he Returned to the Proms to conduct a program of all-American music with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Singers and BBC Chorus. ^[26] In 2015, Whitacre wrote Deep Field for orchestra, chorus and mobile app; the piece was inspired by the Hubble Deep Field images and audience members play electronics from hun smartphone apps. ^{[ Citation needed ]}

Awards and receptacles

Whitacre has won awards from the Barlow International composition, competition , American Choral Directors Association , American Composers Forum and in 2001 became the youngest recipient ever ^{[ citation needed ]} or The Raymond W. Brock Commission bepaald at the American Choral Directors Association. ^[27] His musical Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings earned im a Richard Rodgers Award and RECEIVED 10 nominations at the 2007 Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards . The album Cloudburst and Other Choral Works RECEIVED a Grammy nomination in 2007 for Best Choral Performance. Later, his album “Light and Gold” won a Grammy for Best Choral Performance in 2012. ^[28]

Works

Wind symphony

• Equus
• Ghost Train Triptych
  1. Ghost Train
  2. At The Station
  3. Motive Revolution
• Godzilla Eats Las Vegas!
• Noisy Wheels of Joy
• october
• Drag (Choral transcription)
• The Seal Lullaby (Choral transcription for wind symphony and piano)
• Lux Aurumque (transcription of the Choral work, transposed a semitone lower from C sharp minor to C minor)
• Cloudburst (Choral transcription)
• Libertas Imperio (From Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings )

SATB Choral

• A Boy and A Girl (poem by Octavio Paz )
• Alleluia (Adapted from his October )
• Animal Crackers, Volume 1 (Poems by Ogden Nash )
  1. The Panther
  2. The Cow
  3. The Firefly
• Animal Crackers, Volume 2 (Poems by Ogden Nash )
  1. The Canary
  2. The Eel
  3. The Kangaroo
• The City and the Sea (poems by EE Cummings )
  1. i Walked the boulevard
  2. the moon is hiding in her hair
  3. maggie and Millie and Molly and apr
  4. as is the sea marvelous
  5. little man in a hurry
• Cloudburst (poem by Octavio Paz )
• Enjoy the Silence (package or Martin Gore / Depeche Mode song or composition name)
• Five Hebrew Love Songs (poem by Hila Plitmann )
  1. Temuna (Picture)
  2. Kala Kalla (Light Bride)
  3. Larov (Mostly)
  4. Eyze Sheleg! (What snow!)
  5. Rakut (Tenderness)
• Fly to Paradise (Rewrite or “Bliss” from Paradise Lost for Virtual Choir 4 unpublished)
• Glow (commissioned by Disney for the World of Color show)
• Goodnight Moon (chorus and piano)
• Her Sacred Spirit Soars (poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
• Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine (libretto by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
• Little Birds (poem by Octavio Paz)
• Little acts (poem by EE Cummings)
• Lux Aurumque (poem by Edward Esch , translated JSON Latin by Charles Anthony Silvestri) (also set for male chorus)
• Nox Aurumque (poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
• oculi omnium
• The Seal Lullaby (poem by Rudyard Kipling )
• She Weeps Over Rahoon (poem by James Joyce )
• Drag (oorspronkelijk a setting or Robert Frost ‘s poem, ” Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening ” for copyright reasons ^[29] the published version uses a Specially-written text by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
• Sleep, My Child (Choral transcription from Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings )
• The Stolen Child (out of a poem by WB Yeats , commissioned in 2008 by the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and The King’s Singers for hun respective 25th and 40th anniversaries)
• This Marriage (poem by Jalal al-Din Rumi )
• Three Flower Songs
  1. I Hide Myself (poem by Emily Dickinson )
  2. With a Lily in Your Hand (poem by Federico Garcia Lorca )
  3. Go, Lovely Rose (poem by Edmund Waller )
• Three Songs of Faith (poems by EE Cummings)
  1. i will wade out
  2. piles, faith, life, love
  3. i thank You God for this amazing day must ^[30]
• Water Night (poem by Octavio Paz, translated by Muriel Rukeyser )
• When David Heard (from II Samuel 18:33)
• Winter (poem by Edward Esch)
• What If (lyrics by David Norona and Eric Whitacre)

SSA Choral

• She Weeps Over Rahoon (text by James Joyce)
• Five Hebrew Love Songs (poem by Hila Plitmann)
• The Seal Lullaby (text by Rudyard Kipling)
• I Thank You God (text by EE Cummings)

TTBB Choral

• Lux Aurumque (poem by Edward Esch, translated JSON Latin by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
• The Seal Lullaby (text by Rudyard Kipling)

Orchestral

• A Boy and a Girl
• Deep Field
• Equus
• Godzilla Eats Las Vegas
• Goodnight Moon (strings, harp, soprano)
• Lux Aurumque
• october
• The River Cam
• water Night
• winter
• Winter (for strings, choir and sitar)

Solo voice

• The City and the Sea (poems by EE Cummings)
• Goodnight Moon (poem by Margaret Wise Brown)
• Five Hebrew Love Songs (poem by Hila Plitmann)

Music theater

• Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings , Musical

Other arrangements

• Rak HaHatchala (Only the Beginning) [aka Five Hebrew Love Songs]; for soprano voice, solo violin, piano

Film and television

• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides , co-composer (with Hans Zimmer ) or the Mermaid Theme and Choral segments

References