In 2010, Eric Whitacre launched his groundbreaking Virtual Choir, a digital project that combines thousands of user-submitted videos from across the globe into a single stunning choral performance.
Within two months the recording attracted more than a million views on YouTube and has now been viewed more than 4 million times.
Whitacre will draw on the experience of creating his Virtual Choir to talk about the possibilities that emerge when people are invited to contribute creatively and share their talent with their peers when he presents Creativity/Connectivity: Music and the Humanizing of Technology, part of the Roland Quest Lecture Series at Elmhurst College.
In addition to spearheading the Virtual Choir, Whitacre is a Grammy-winning composer and conductor whose concert music has been performed throughout the world by millions of amateur and professional musicians alike. A sought-after guest conductor, he has worked with Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer and British pop icons Imogen Heap and Annie Lennox. Whitacre has been invited to speak before the UN Leaders Programme, UNICEF and Google, and he has appeared twice on the main stage at the TED conference in Long Beach, Calif.
Whitacre’s talk will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11, in Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel. Admission is $10, but free for music educators and their students. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Eventbrite website.