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Eric Whitacre: SLEEP VIRTUAL CHOIR

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[Singing voices in background, all through the presentation: choral musical excerpt from "Sleep"]

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>> ERIC: It all started with this one young
girl who sent me this video of herself singing

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one of my choral pieces, and I was struck
so hard by it - the beauty, the intimicy of it...

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(Eric Whitacre. Composer and Conductor)

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...the sweetness of it, and I thought it would
be amazing if we could get 100 people

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to do this and cut it all together and make
a virtual choir. So I then went into the studio

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and I conducted in total silence, and I could
only hear it in my head, and I loaded all of

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that up to YouTube, and I sent out a call
to singers across the world and the response

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was totally overwhelming. We had 185 singers
from 12 different countries. It was all about

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connecting with these people all over the world...
and... these individuals, alone, together.

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When we did "Lux", then I think we really started
getting it, so this time we're going to go

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back, do "Sleep" for real. Just the way I always
imagined it would be. For me, singing together

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and making music together is a fundamental
human experience, and I love the idea that

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technology can bring people together from
all over the world and get people to participate

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in this... in this transcending experience.

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To be a part of the next Virtual Choir, visit: WWW.ERICWHITACRE.COM