1. Eric Whitacre

2. composer
conductor
innovator

3. “Whitacre is that rare thing, a modern composer
who is both popular and original.”
- The Daily Telegraph, London

4. “Eric Whitacre is one of the most widelyperformed and popular composers of our time, a
distinguished conductor, innovator, broadcaster
and charismatic public speaker. His first album as
both composer and conductor on
Decca/Universal, Light & Gold, won a Grammy®
in 2012, reaped unanimous five star reviews and
became the no. 1 classical album in the US and
UK charts within a week of release. His second
album, Water Night, was released on Decca in
April 2012 and debuted at no. 1 in the iTunes and
Billboard classical chart on the day of release.
The album features seven world premiere
recordings and includes performances from his
professional choir, the Eric Whitacre Singers, the
London Symphony Orchestra, Julian Lloyd
Webber and Hila Plitmann. In November 2013, he
released his first EP on vinyl featuring his choral
cover of Depeche Mode‟s “Enjoy the Silence”. His
compositions are heard on multiple other
recordings performed by artists across the globe.”
Source – http://www.ericwhitacre.com

5. “His ground-breaking Virtual Choir, “Lux Aurumque”, received over a million views on YouTube in just 2
months (now over 4 million) and features 185 singers from 12 different countries. Virtual Choir 2.0,
“Sleep”, was released in April 2011 and involved over 2,000 voices from 58 countries. Virtual Choir 3,
“Water Night”, received 3,746 submissions from 73 counties and launched at Lincoln Center, New York
and was revealed online in April 2012. The latest, Virtual Choir 4: “Fly to Paradise”, released in July
2013, received over 8,400 submissions from 101 countries and launched at the Coronation Festival at
Buckingham Palace/BBC 1.”
Source – http://www.ericwhitacre.com

6. New Media Innovator
Eric Whitacre has taken full advantage of online media and maintains
a presence on the following platforms in addition to his own personal website.
Instagram
YouTube
SoundCloud
Vimeo
Twitter
Facebook
Last.fm
ALLMUSIC
Kickstarter
genero.tv
MySpace
Flickr

7. THE VIRTUAL CHOIRS
The Virtual Choirs began when a fan of Eric‟s
music recorded a video of herself singing
„Sleep‟ and shared it on YouTube.
Inspired by the spirit of her performance Eric
responded by asking his online fans to
purchase Polyphony‟s recording of „Sleep‟,
record themselves singing along to it, and
upload the result.
The videos were edited together and Eric was
so impressed by the result that he decided to
record himself conducting Lux Arumque, and
asked Virtual Choir members to sing along to
that. The resulting audio and video produced
the very first Virtual Choir. Now with more than
six million views collectively on three virtual
choir productions the VC phenomenon has
reached all corners of the world, inspiring more
and more singers to join each year. The VC has
grown from 185 singers in VC1 to an amazing
5,903 singers and 8,400 videos for VC4
Source – http://www.ericwhitacre.com

8. On Line
Community
Eric Whitacre‟s virtual communities exist on Facebook,
Twitter and the other on-line platforms creating virtual
forums for fans, singers, conductors and other musicians
to interact and share information.
The Eric Whitacre website provides an online forum full of
information and interaction. Users connect around music,
auditions, experiences as choral performers, the virtual
choirs, choral coaching, repertoire and other subjects of
interest to them. The forum creates a rich environment
where sharing occurs on many levels by people who love
of classical choral music around the world.
The online environment allows people who enjoy music
from all walks of life to come together and share their
common love of music and choral singing.

9. The Audience
Consisting of choral performers, musicians and those who love classical music, Eric
Whitacre‟s audience enjoys multiple platforms which they can use to interact with each
other and the composer himself. Whitacre has successfully used new technologies and the
digital realm to bring classical musicians together, promote his work and bring choral music
to the online world.

10. Shareable Content
Videos of performances, recording sessions, auditions, virtual choir
updates, introductions to new choral works.
Listings of scores for choral and orchestral ensembles.
Musical scores and recording purchase.
SoundCloud recordings of entire works, plus sectionals* which can be
used by singers preparing for performances.
Postings from fans, collaborators, singers and musicians.
News updates about future performances, recording sessions, talks, virtual
choir auditions.
Polls about next virtual choir repertoire.
*sectionals are recorded single parts of an ensemble score, in choral music terms this is the
individual soprano, alto, tenor or, bass parts recorded separately

11. Fan Engagement
Whitacre engages with fans by
effectively using technology to
bridge the gap than exists between
composer and performer.
Using his charismatic personality,
good looks and savvy media
presence, Whitacre manages to
bring the „cool factor‟ to classical
music. He clearly understands the
power of image and exploits it to it‟s
full potential.
By engaging directly with fans and
performers of his works via social
media platforms, Whitacre
becomes accessible and makes the
music making a collaborative affair
with stunning results.

12. Interacting in multiple spheres
Whitacre‟s success depends upon
large bodies of choral singers to bring
his compositions to life. This creates
an imperative for overlap between the
on-line and real world environment.
His continual outreach to choral
singers via social media platforms,
combined with regular workshop
tours, public speaking engagements,
engaging and relaxed video
presentations, TED talks and guest
conducting gigs, requires Whitacre to
move seamlessly between the on-line
and real world spheres.

13. Timing is Everything
Eric Whitacre (or his online media machine support staff) make
regular and consistent posts to Twitter and his various Facebook
pages (Eric Whitacre, The Eric Whitacre Singers, Eric Whitacre‟s
Virtual Choir). A blog, featured on his website is updated regularly
with information about compositions in the works, public speaking
engagements, concerts, upcoming workshops, guest conducting
appearances and virtual choir updates.
Posting in a variety of forums and always in an accessible and
casual tone, Eric Whitacre makes full use of on-line platforms to
build his audience, fan base and brand.
Whitacre successfully makes classical music contemporary
bringing it into the 21st century virtual world, while maintaining it‟s
deep roots in the history of the genre.

14. To learn more about Eric Whitacre visit
www.ericwhitacre.com

15. All photos in this presentation were sourced from
www.ericwhitacre.com
Listen to more of Eric Whitacre‟s
compositions on
iTunes and SoundCloud

16. Click on the Mic to link to
Eric Whitacre‟s Virtual Choir 4.
Presented by T.Crawford
February 2014