Celebrating 10 years of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, this commemorative album features more than 35,000 singers from 145 countries. Upon my pillow, safe in bed, A thousand pictures fill my head. =)performed by "BYU Singers" (Brigham Young University Singers) Adobe After Effects was used to control all the elements in a 3D space and add camera angles to the scenes. VC 1 receives print, radio at TV coverage across the world. World: Music Shop Europe Countries: 58. US: GIA Publications Violoncello He is also known for his "Virtual Choir" projects, bringing individual voices from around the globe together into an online choir. Claire liaised with rehabstudio, Cake and Floating Earth on a daily basis, passing each stage through to Eric for approval. Storyboards were approved by Eric/Claire and Decca and a web resource was created for all team members to see ideas and media uploaded, to comment and approve on a frequent basis. 4 votes. Eric Whitacre's popular composition called Sleep began life as a different work.He had been commissioned by the Austin (Texas) ProChorus to create a choral setting of Robert Frost's idyllic poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"; the piece was to be in memoriam for the parents of one of the choir's longtime singers. Washington National Opera hornists Geoffrey Pilkington and Wei-Ping Chou and National Symphony Orchestra hornist Robert Rearden join colleagues from The Cleveland Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Opera Orchestra in this special collaboration. Contrabass Little did I know that the Robert Frost Estate had shut down ANY use of the poem just months before, ostensibly because of this plethora of new settings. The feedback was incredible - several people who had been procrastinating decided that she was the inspiration they needed to record and upload their performance. Eric Whitacre is what you might call a modern-choral-pop composer, and I mean that in the best possible way. Experience the gorgeous textures of Eric Whitacre's "Sleep.". Eric previewed the Virtual Choir 2 as a guest speaker at the TED conference in Long Beach, California in February 2011 and received the first full standing ovation of the conference. Washington National Opera hornists Geoffrey Pilkington and Wei-Ping Chou and National Symphony Orchestra hornist Robert Rearden join colleagues from The Cleveland Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Opera Orchestra in this special collaboration. The final audio was prepared and the final creative was approved; Tony then worked with rehab and Cake on sync issues and final tweaks. Meanwhile, Tony Piper is running lots of cross-checks to make sure he's found all the videos and Tony Silvestri (who wrote the poem Sleep) recorded and uploaded his contribution. Bass Trombone The technical cross-checking continues. We premiered the piece in Austin, October 2000, and the piece was well received. As I surrender unto sleep, Celebrating 10 years of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, this commemorative album features more than 35,000 singers from 145 countries. I cannot sleep, my mind’s a-flight; It was really fun to see people tagging themselves in the picture on Facebook. Videos: 2,052. 1358 videos from 52 countries. Browse the Shop. ‣Whitacre talks at TED about his background and Virtual Choir 2.0 link (14:35) ‣Bob Edwards interviews Eric Whitacre on radio link (45:09) ‣Eric Whitacre introducing his first album Light & Gold link (5:09) The score references and bar numbers in this resource refer to the Sleep score included in the book 1160 videos, with 7 days to go until the extended deadline. Because this was a global project we needed to honour global time zones, so the official close for entries was 09:59 GMT on January 1st which was 23:59 in Western Samoa. In the few days after Christmas we were up to 800 entries and no longer concerned about meeting our goal. Here they are for Sleep: Sleep began its life as an a cappella choral setting, with a magnificent original poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri. The evening hangs beneath the moon, She wanted to commission a choral work from me that would be premiered by the Austin ProChorus (Kinley Lange, cond. As it reaches a climax in the last two lines it slowly descends again, gradually, like the onset of sleep. Craig Jenkins at Floating Earth created the whole choir sound working with Eric and Claire, as several other sound engineers worked on the multiple audio files to draw the whole choir together. Tony's system did another sweep and we declared a total of 1098 uploads from 47 countries, beating our original target by a comfortable margin! i thank You God for most this amazing day, Mermaids (from Pirates of the Caribbean 4). A frightening shadow, flickering light, I first met and worked with Eric in 2012, when I was invited to organise the percussion elements of his debut BBC Proms Concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall. I was deeply moved by her spirit and her request, and agreed to take on the commission. Baritone Saxophone in E♭ Every audio track was individually synced to the conductor track using Pyramix DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and monitored on B & W loudspeakers. • Let’s examine the evidence that points to Sleep opening in the key of Eb major: • The first complete bar contains, amongst the four voices, all of the pitches of the Eb major scale, thereby attuning the ear towards the key of Eb (see fig.I, degrees numbered). An incredible number, but still way short of the goal with just a week to go. I cannot sleep, my mind’s a-flight; And yet my limbs seem made of lead. It was completed in 2001, and has been performed countless times since, including by Whitacre's Virtual Choir. Featuring Eric’s composition ‘Sleep’, Virtual Choir 2 was released in April 2011 and was met with a staggering response, incorporating 2052 videos from 58 countries and from all walks of life, including 9 year olds to senior citizens. Violin II Band nerds and choir geeks of the world unite! Each video had to be added by hand but it was worth the effort to see this global project unfold. SLEEP - Eric Whitacre - The Eric Whitacre Singers - YouTube Live from the Paley Center, New York, Eric introduced and launched the Virtual Choir 2.0 video to a global audience, courtesy of WQXR.org and YouTube. Design and animation by Thiago Maia, David Pocull & Sebastian Baptista, Audio produced by Floating Earth (with special thanks to Craig Jenkins), Conductor video created by David Noroña & Cuentista Productions, Special thanks to Claire Long (Manager, Eric Whitacre), Special thanks to Tony Piper (Manager, Virtual Choir 2011). Our first big milestone - 100 videos and another excuse to publish a montage. Can also be performed with optional SATB chorus, with original text by celebrated American poet Charles Anthony Silvestri. Organ. We hope you enjoy it! Light & Gold reached #1 in the US on the Billboard Charts. Needless to say, this generated lots of enquiries as singers realised they needed to follow our instructions exactly otherwise their videos would not be found and included. Meantime, at Floating Earth the audio files were worked on week by week. The Virtual Choir Earth View was launched, using the brand-new Google Earth web browser plugin to show the location of singers around the world. A VC fan from Singapore cut together a video featuring just four of the first few singers. I transcribed Sleep replacing the voices with the warm, earthy tones of the marimbas to make a seriously special marimba chorale. Eric Whitacre - Sleep Composed by Misc Traditional • Digital Sheet music • 6 scores Sleep by Eric Whitacre for Organ. Eric Edward Whitacre (born January 2, 1970) is a Grammy-winning American composer, conductor, and speaker, known for his choral, orchestral and wind ensemble music. Our last upload was just a few minutes before the deadline (but wasn't from Western Samoa). What dreams may come, both dark and deep, Experience the gorgeous textures of Eric Whitacre's "Sleep.". Trombones 1 & 2 1 part • 3 pages • 04:27 • Aug 19, 2019 • 969 views • 36 favorites. A silver thread on darkened dune. The finished piece has taken on a deeper and sadder meaning for Silvestri after the death of his wife. And yet my limbs seem made of lead. I was crushed. As I surrender unto sleep, As I surrender unto sleep. Timpani Also, we extracted the singers names from the descriptions ready for use in the title sequence. When I looked online and saw all of these new and different settings, I naturally (and naively) assumed that it was open to anyone. Eric Edward Whitacre (born January 2, 1970) is a Grammy-winning American composer, conductor, and speaker, known for his choral, orchestral and wind ensemble music. Then I surrender unto sleep, Eric Whitacre’s blog. And there it is. Every singer is credited in the luxurious full-color booklet of over 200 pages. For the next version of the Virtual Choir we will sing Sleep, and this time around, we're shooting for the Guinness title of world's largest internet choir. Commissioned by the Big East Consortium, this haunting chorale begins softly and slowly blossoms to a powerful climax. Having approved the storyboards, the "animatic" was created using a simple sketch animation to determine the pacing and cinematography for the final element. This study presents three works by American composer Eric Whitacre (b. Vibraphone Alto Saxophone in E♭ 1 & 2 The event was webcast worldwide on WQXR and posted on YouTube that evening. Celebrating 10 years of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, this commemorative album features more than 35,000 singers from 145 countries who have come together to sing as one. What dreams may come, both dark and deep, Of flying wings and soaring leap 1970) is one of the most widely-performed and popular composers of our time, a distinguished conductor, innovator, broadcaster, and charismatic public speaker. Using data from the system, VC member Chris Clement created a graph of the number of submissions over time - it was a classic Hockey Stick (or 'procrastination' curve). It was time to start encouraging people to take the bold step to record and upload their performance. Eric recorded the video of him conducing Sleep and then added a piano track. Suspended Cymbal, US: Sheet Music Direct Meanwhile, we asked all the participants to check we had found their entries, giving them until 23:59 Western Samoa time on January 17th. We received a video featuring a 9 year old girl, Georgina from the UK. A small number of video tracks had to be set aside due to technical errors in the media. 2. From composer Eric Whitacre comes a brand new work, the lush and achingly beautiful Sleep. A hard disk containing all the videos (about 50GB, compressed) was sent to rehabstudio and a hard disk containing all the audio files (about 5GB, compressed) was sent to Floating Earth. Launch Day! Over the week more videos were found (they had been incorrectly tagged or titled). The evening hangs beneath the moon, A silver thread on darkened dune. In the winter of 1999 I was contacted by Ms. Julia Armstrong, a lawyer and professional mezzo-soprano living in Austin, Texas. The final video render took several days. Following the viral effect of Virtual Choir 1.0 “Lux Aurumque“, Eric agreed to create a new Virtual Choir for 2011 and chose his piece 'Sleep'. # the8Dsound Eric Whitacre. Rene Clausen gave it a glorious performance at the ACDA National Convention in the spring of 2001, and soon after I began receiving letters, emails, and phone calls from conductors trying to get a hold of the work. >> More songs from Eric Whitacre Eric Whitacre (born 2 January 1970 in Reno, NV) is an American composer of choral, wind band and electronic music. it was a very nervous time! As I surrender unto sleep. Browse the Shop. Marimba 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. Upon my pillow, safe in bed, I actually prefer Tony’s poem now…. With a text by celebrated American poet Charles Anthony Silvestri, it is a particularly moving perspective on the journey into sleep and, finally, to dream. Christmas Day, but still a working day for Team Whitacre and VC singers. The system started to download all the videos from YouTube. Eric Whitacre (b. In some cases we had to get the country from the YouTube profile or the description on the video. Celebrating 10 years of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, this commemorative album features more than 35,000 singers from 145 countries. In 1997, out of the blue, the estate released a number of titles, and at least twenty composers set and published Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening for chorus. Purchase official merch in the online shop. Digital: GIA Publications. At this point in time, Eric does not plan on releasing the work with the original text. We'll need at least 900 singers, so all of you are invited. With closing eyes and resting head I know that sleep is coming soon. I took my time with the piece, crafting it note by note until I felt that it was exactly the way I wanted it. I was delighted when Eric got in touch to ask if I might arrange some of his choral music for marimba. The full piece premiered a few weeks later (yes, on YouTube! ERIC WHITACRE moon, moon, moon, moon, SLEEP for SATB Chorus a cappella CHARLES ANTHONY SILVESTRI Lento; lontano e molto legato neath the neath the neath the neath the clos - clos - clos - clos - SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS sil - sil sil - sil ver thread ver thread ver thread ver thread on on on on The The The The eve - eve - eve _ eve _ ning hangs be "Sleep" is available now on Eric Whitacre's new album "Light & Gold." Robert Frost’s poetry has been under tight control from his estate since his death, and until a few years ago only Randall Thompson (Frostiana) had been given permission to set his poetry. Eric Whitacre. Tony wrote an absolutely exquisite poem, finding a completely different (but equally beautiful) message in the music I had already written. And here was my tragic mistake: I never secured permission to use the poem. The result was "Sleep". UPDATE JANUARY 2019: The Robert Frost text entered the public domain on 1 January 2019. Sleep - Eric Whitacre - arr. Heavy snow hit Europe and the US, disrupting travel plans for many people who wanted to take part in the VC. If there are noises in the night, Tubas 1 & 2 Oboes 1 & 2 Using the choral reworking Alleluia this music chimes and sparkles, a humble meditation on the glory of autumn. Band nerds and choir geeks of the world unite! Tony Piper, a singer (and IT consultant) from London decided to spend a few hours building a web-based system to find the VC entries so he could see how the Virtual Choir was going. If there are noises in the night, A frightening shadow, flickering light, Here's a timeline which tells you how we made the Virtual Choir - we hope you find it interesting! The project was launched with a blog post from Eric - "Here we go, gang. By examining the assignment of vocal parts to instrument parts, I will clarify Whitacre's compositional practice as it relates to his own instrumental adaptation of three … ), a terrific chorus in which she regularly performed. Meanwhile, Eric's new CD 'Light & Gold' was launched in London and the Virtual Choir became a front-page feature on YouTube UK. ). The official launch took place at Paley Center for Media in New York. After many discussions with my wife, I decided that I would ask my friend and brilliant poet Charles Anthony Silvestri (Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine, Lux Aurumque, Nox Aurumque, Her Sacred Spirit Soars) to set new words to the music I had already written. rehabstudio created the concept/storyboard and appointed Cake TV to concentrate on the look and direction of the video, developing the idea of the network/planetary system. This was an enormous task, because I was asking him to not only write a poem that had the exact structure of the Frost, but that would even incorporate key words from “Stopping”, like ‘sleep’. Meanwhile, Eric was settling into his new role as Visiting Fellow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, UK. I know that sleep is coming soon. Bassoon Purchase official merch in the online shop. He sent a link to Claire Long (Eric's Manager), thinking that Eric might find it useful too. It was beautiful to watch and we all began to dream about what it would be like with 900 singers taking part. “Sleep” was written by poet Charles Anthony Slivrestri and modified by Eric Whitacre. A thousand pictures fill my head. Featuring Eric’s composition ‘Sleep’, Virtual Choir 2 was released in April 2011 and was met with a staggering response, incorporating 2052 videos from 58 countries and from all walks of life, including 9 year olds to senior citizens. EricWhitacre.com. Within just a few hours of launch the first three entries had been uploaded to YouTube - two from the USA (Courtney Kayser and Hannah Reeves) and one from Portugal (Pedro Latas). Percussion 1, 2 & 3 The videos were checked for format and resized and synced to ensure smooth integration with the globes, which were built using mathematical expressions in After Effects. (5:40) Band nerds and choir geeks of the world unite! 1970), Cloudburst (1996), Lux Aurumque (2001), and Sleep (2002), originally choral compositions transcribed for symphonic winds (2001, 2005, 2003). Each globe was then individually rendered. Meanwhile, the team at Decca built a YouTube page. Remarkably, most of them recorded in just one take and despite a few technical difficulties we got a total of 22 videos which was a significant increase in numbers. His music contains many of the things I love in choral music; lush tonal harmonies, strong audience engagement and a firm spiritual connection. UK: Musicroom She wanted to commission the piece in memory of her parents, who had died within weeks of each other after more fifty years of marriage; and she wanted me to set her favorite poem, Robert Frost’s immortal Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. He (and the choir) got two standing ovations - testimony to the power of the internet to connect people of all backgrounds and abilities and create something beautiful across time and space. Of flying wings and soaring leap I began with three pieces from the album ‘Light and Gold’, which sit perfectly for marimba quartet, positioning four players at two marimbas. Sleep By Eric Whitacre Analysis After this the song becomes much more polyphonic as a whole from this point on. 1256 videos from 50 countries. A very small number of audio tracks were discarded due to technical errors in recording or upload. This was the end of the deadline extension and our initial count was 1987 videos from 55 countries, more than doubling our original goal. After a LONG legal battle (many letters, many representatives), the estate of Robert Frost and their publisher, Henry Holt Inc., sternly and formally forbid me from using the poem for publication or performance until the poem became public domain in 2038. The upload rate starts to increase as people find some spare time. Subscribe and be the first to receive news on concerts, competitions, new merch and much more, direct to your inbox. Baritones 1 & 2 He talks through the creative challenges of making music powered by YouTube, and unveils the first 2 minutes of his new work, "Sleep," with a video choir of 2,052. # the8Dsound Bass Clarinets in B♭ 1 & 2 The full piece premiered a few weeks later (yes, on YouTube! The poem is perfect, truly a gem, and my general approach was to try to get out of the way of the words and let them work their magic. ). This expressive, lush choral work by Eric Whitacre combines an enigmatic text and expansive chordal harmonies into a sublime musical statement of release and quiet resolve. In the last stanza this word painting continues as the Choir sings of “flying wings and soaring leap” where they get higher. Sleep is a work for a cappella chorus composed by Eric Whitacre with lyrics by poet Charles Anthony Silvestri. We decided to publish a list of videos and names so that everyone could check we had found them. How many more could there be? While some modern composers seem to write with the dual purpose of making the music incredibly complex and entirely unlistenable, Whitacre picks his spots perfectly, using dissonance to make his cadences all the more satisfying. SLEEP, MY CHILD ERIC WHITACRE Commissioned by Chanticleer SOLO SOPRANO I SOLO SOPRANO II SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS Piano (for rehearsal only) G EEEE E 00 0 G EEEE E 00 0 G EEEE E * close fluidly to n or m When p (n*) you dream, (m) G EEEEE mp Whenyou dream of par- disea - and the par a- dise- it 3 3 G i EEEE E When p (n) you dream, (m) G i EEEE E Whitacre even writes his own program notes! The piece was dead, and would sit under my bed for the next 37 years because of some ridiculous ruling by heirs and lawyers. In a moving and madly viral video last year, composer Eric Whitacre led a virtual choir of singers from around the world. One more video downloading task was run and the video files were then processed to extract the audio. This, in turn, generated lots more interest in the Virtual Choir. Purchase official merch in the online shop. Digital: SheetMusicDirect. US: Hal Leonard With closing eyes and resting head Celebrating 10 years of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, this commemorative album features more than 35,000 singers from 145 countries. Where clouds of dream give second sight. ‘Sleep’ is featured on Light & Gold, Eric’s first album for Decca. UK: Musicroom After checking, checking and checking some more we declared our final total - 2052 videos from 58 countries. We also share a similar taste in 1980’s pop, although I would be the 4th member of A-ha, not the 5th member of Depeche Mode! Viola Trumpets in B♭ 1, 2 & 3 The Facebook group became very busy with lots of contributors trying to get their video uploaded before the original deadline. Ten Years of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir. Any age is welcome.". Baritones TC 1 & 2 He has also served as a guest conductor for ensembles throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. He talks through the creative challenges of making music powered by YouTube, and unveils the first 2 minutes of his new work, "Sleep," with a video choir of 2,052. Her singing is simply beautiful and we couldn't resist sharing her video with everyone (with her and her mother's consent). Ryan Haupt - Brass Octet. Purchase official merch in the online shop. RATE, feel free to leave COMMENTS and SUBSCRIBE!!! Then I surrender unto sleep, Where clouds of dream give second sight. Solo. To contrast A Boy and a Girl contains some eighth note passages to convey momentum, whilst Lux Aurumque employs up to twelve mallets across the instruments to keep the original division of parts. TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript: In a moving and madly viral video last year, composer Eric Whitacre led a virtual choir of singers from around the world. Suspended Cymbal Tubular Bells Singers: 1,999. Band nerds and choir geeks of the world unite! Whitacre began with a test run of Sleep, then Lux Aurumque in 2009 and then Sleep again in 2010. Over 11,000 people had downloaded the music and we had found 160 videos. My setting of Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening no longer exists. He is also known for his "Virtual Choir" projects, bringing individual voices from around the globe together into an online choir. The circumstances around the commission were certainly memorable. Order The Album Listen Online Bass Drum Deadline day! The final mix had noise reduction applied (to remove background noises such as doorbells, ringing phones, birds, aircraft and crickets), was equalized, compressed and finally reverb was added. But, really wanting to include those people who were going to miss the deadline due to the bad weather, we decided to allow a few late entries up until 10th January. For October I added two vibraphones (played without motor) to the marimbas to utilize the wider sound pallet of the mallet quartet. video featuring just four of the first few singers, graph of the number of submissions over time. Working with Eric, Rehabstudio and Floating Earth combined these thousands of individual choral parts to create the final tour de force: The Virtual Choir. Eric Whitacre on WikiMusicGuide (better than Wikipedia in this case), including complete works list. World: Music Shop Europe, Flutes 1 & 2 It was the night before Christmas and we had reached 500 vidoes. Eric addressed the TED conference and as well as telling them the story of the Virtual Choir he gave the global audience a preview of Sleep. We were astounded by the number of countries represented. jdesolemusic. Piatti/2 Crash Cymbals, Violin I All we could do is to continue to encourage and support singers on the VC Facebook page, and encourage those who had already taken part to help others. Clarinets in B♭ 1, 2 & 3 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. Tony's system had found 59 entries, and he created a montage of thumbnails from the videos. With just a month to go before the closing deadline we had nearly 300 videos - already the Virtual Choir was going to be bigger than the Lux Aurumque project but 900 videos was a huge number and we had no way of knowing if we would reach our goal. Fig.I Sleep, bar 1, Degrees of Eb scale Eric Whitacre, Sleep The official launch took place at Paley Center for Media in New York. We decided to hold a Virtual Choir party weekend and Eric and the rest of the team helped a number of Cambridge University Choral Scholars record and upload their performance. Horns in F 1-4 Subscribe and be the first to receive news on concerts, competitions, new merch and much more, direct to your inbox. At the same time, we had to reverse geocode each entry so that we had a country for everyone. Tenor Saxophone in B♭