1. Later Eric Whitacre played a synthesizer in a techno-pop band, dreaming of being a rock star.
26 Facts About Eric Whitacre
1. 2.
Eric Whitacre eventually earned a bachelor's degree in Music Composition.
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Eric Whitacre went on to earn his master's degree in composition at the Juilliard School, where he studied with John Corigliano and David Diamond.
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Eric Whitacre graduated in 1997 and moved to Los Angeles, and then decided to become a full-time professional composer following the success of Ghost Train.
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Around January 25,2011, Eric Whitacre began working with film composer Hans Zimmer on the music for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
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Eric Whitacre co-composed the "Mermaid Theme" with Zimmer as well as conducting some of the choral sessions at Abbey Road Studios.
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Eric Whitacre enjoyed working with Zimmer, saying that he was a brilliant composer and a generous collaborator.
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Eric Whitacre later collaborated with Zimmer for the 2016 film Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.
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Eric Whitacre has written for the London Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Chorus, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Chanticleer, Julian Lloyd Webber and the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Tallis Scholars, the King's Singers, Dallas Winds, the Berlin Rundfunkchor, and the Minnesota Orchestra, among others.
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Eric Whitacre's Soaring Leap initiative is a dynamic one-day workshop where singers, conductors, and composers read, rehearse and perform several of his works.
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From October to December2010, Eric Whitacre was a visiting fellow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, during Michaelmas Term.
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Eric Whitacre composed a piece for the college choir, and worked with students in masterclasses and workshops.
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Eric Whitacre was appointed artist in residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 2016.
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From 1998 to 2017, Eric Whitacre was married to Israeli singer Hila Plitmann.
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Eric Whitacre married Belgian opera singer Laurence Servaes in Maui, Hawaii, in March 2019.
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Eric Whitacre's work has been described as "weightless" and as the "sort of music Vaughan Williams might have composed in the Cambridge branch of Dunkin' Donuts".
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Eric Whitacre began with a test run of Sleep, then Lux Aurumque in 2009 and then Sleep again in 2010.
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On May 4,2018, Eric Whitacre announced that Virtual Choir 5 would be his 2015 piece Deep Field.
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On May 2,2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Eric Whitacre announced that the sixth iteration of the Virtual Choir would be an original song entitled "Sing Gently".
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Since 2013, Eric Whitacre has been releasing on his own independent label, UNQUIET, established as a joint venture with his managers at Music Productions.
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On October24,2010, Whitacre conducted an all-American program with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at the Barbican London in a performance that featured his commission for the London Symphony Chorus entitled Songs of Immortality.
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In December2010, Eric Whitacre conducted the I Vocalisti choir in Hamburg, and was a guest conductor of the Christmas performance of the Berlin Rundfunkchor.
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In November2010, Eric Whitacre conducted Cordydd, a Cardiff-based mixed choir, and friends in a concert of his work at the BBC Hoddinott Hall in the Wales Millennium Centre.
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Eric Whitacre continued to develop his work of music theater, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings.
25.
In 2015, Eric Whitacre wrote Deep Field for orchestra, chorus, and mobile app; the piece was inspired by the Hubble Deep Field images and audience members play electronica from their smartphone apps.
26.
In June 2014, Eric Whitacre gave a live webcast from the Kennedy Center and subsequently conducted a massed choir of 400 singers on the Mall, Washington DC, to mark Flag Day and the bicentenary of "The Star-Spangled Banner".