Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre is one of the most popular and performed composers of our generation. His first experiences singing in his Las Vegas college choir changed his life, and he completed his first concert work, Go, Lovely, Rose, at the age of 21. Eric went on to the Juilliard School (New York), earned his Master of Music degree and studied with Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning composer, John Corigliano.
Recent and forthcoming commissions include works for the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Julian Lloyd Webber and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin, The King’s Singers and Conspirare. His musical, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, won both the ASCAP Harold Arlen award and the Richard Rodgers Award, and earned 10 nominations at the Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards. A versatile composer, he has also worked with legendary film composer, Hans Zimmer, co-writing the mermaid theme for feature film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Eric’s ground-breaking Virtual Choir 1.0, Lux Aurumque, on YouTube received over a million views in just 2 months, featuring 185 choir members from 12 countries. Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 2.0 Sleep, released in April 2011, involves over 2,000 voices from 58 countries. An exceptional orator, he was honored to address the U.N. Leaders’ programme (2010) and give a TED Talk (TED.com, March 2011) earning the first full standing ovation of the conference.
Signing a core classical recording contract with Universal/Decca, Whitacre joined the handful of composers to have secured an exclusive, long-term recording deal. His debut album, Light & Gold, released in October 2010, became the No 1 Classical Album in the US and UK charts within a week. His music has been featured on multiple commercial and independent recordings. Whitacre has also recently joined Storm’s Special Bookings division which was set up to run alongside the model agency to source prestigious commercial and creative collaborations for clients beyond the fashion industry. Among leading sportsmen and actors, Storm Special Bookings also represent other musicians including Michael Bublé, Paolo Nutini and Lily Allen.
An accomplished composer, conductor and lecturer, Eric was a Visiting Fellow and Composer in Residence at Cambridge University (Sidney Sussex College, UK) in 2010, addressed the UN Leader’s programme, and closed the first session of the TED conference in California in March 2011, speaking about his Virtual Choir. As a conductor, Whitacre has appeared with hundreds of professional and educational ensembles throughout the world. In the last ten years he has conducted concerts of his choral and symphonic music in the US, Japan, Australia, China, Singapore, South America and much of Europe. In October 2010, Whitacre conducted the world premiere of Songs of Immortality, a work commissioned by the London Symphony Chorus with the London Symphony Orchestra at The Barbican Centre in London. Conducting engagements in 2010-11 include appearances in Auditorium Theatre (Chicago), Carnegie Hall (NY), Disney Hall (LA), in Japan, Germany and other European cities including London.
Many of Whitacre’s works have entered the standard choral and symphonic repertories and have become the subject of several scholarly works and doctoral dissertations. His works Water Night, Cloudburst, Sleep, Lux Aurumque, A Boy and a Girl are among the most popular contemporary choral works. His Ghost Train, Godzilla Eats Las Vegas and October have achieved equal success in the symphonic wind community. Whitacre has received composition awards from the Barlow International Composition Competition, the ACDA and the American Composers Forum. In 2001, he became the youngest recipient ever awarded the coveted Raymond C. Brock commission by the ACDA. Eric Whitacre is one of four judges for the Abbey Road 80th Anniversary Anthem Competition and will conduct the recording of the winning entries with professional singers and the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road studio one this autumn.
Eric Whitacre was born in Nevada (U.S.) and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife (Grammy award winning soprano, Hila Plitmann) and their son.