You’ve seen our production of Virtual Choir 4 Fly to Paradise, now it’s your turn. The community takeover. Grammy® Award-winning composer, conductor, lecturer – Eric Whitacre has launched a remix project of his latest virtual choir – Virtual Choir 4: Fly to Paradise – in collaboration with SoundCloud.
“Eric’s taken the project further than ever, and mixed the music with an electronic sound bed, so it can be remixed by DJs and producers” – Classic FM
Fourth in the series of the virtual choir, with combined YouTube hits of over 15 million, VC4 was always destined to be a remix project. For the first time in this series, the final mix of VC4 also includes soloists drawn from crowd submissions and electronica created by the legendary producer and singer-song writer Guy Sigsworth. The individual tracks (stems) of the master are now available to download and remix for free from Eric’s website (http://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir/remix) VC4 premiered at the Coronation Festival, Buckingham Palace in July 2013. It received 8,400 videos from nearly 6,000 singers representing 101 countries around the world. With ages ranging from as young as 6 years to the eldest of 98 years, VC4 attracted singers from as far north as Tromsø in Norway down to Christchurch, New Zealand. Each of the States in the US is represented by a local singer.
About the Virtual Choir
The Virtual Choir began in May 2009 as a simple experiment in social media when a fan of Eric’s music recorded a video of herself singing ‘Sleep’ and shared it on YouTube. Moved by the video, Eric asked others to record and upload their voices and join her to form a choir. Although never intended to replace live music-making, this innovative crowd/online project has drawn together a close community from around the globe who come together through music and form extraordinary bonds. The Virtual Choirs have over 15 million combined hits on YouTube. Fly to Paradise is taken from the award winning musical ‘Paradise Lost by Eric Whitacre which boasts 10 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards Nominations, the 2008 Los Angeles Garland Award, and the LA Weekly Award. The show, heavily inspired by Japanese anime and manga, is a hybrid of musical theatre, opera, electronica and film score.
Associated Digital Single Release
Fly To Paradise (UNQUIET UNQ0001)
Digital Release Out Now
‘Fly to Paradise’s is now available as a digital single release and features professional choir, the Eric Whitacre Singers, and solo by Grammy® Award winning Hila Plitmann, who also led the team of soloists for the Virtual Choir 4. Despite using the same sound bed/electronica, the digital single release could not include the Virtual Choir participants; trying to manage the legalities of over thousands of participants under 101 different copyright (and other) laws proved impossible. Proceeds from the sale of the digital single will be ploughed back into choral projects.
Download links for Digital Single:
Press Quotes about the Virtual Choir
“’This is not just an act of art; it’s a human act,’ said Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano” Billboard April 2012
“Virtual Choir 3 cemented Whitacre’s status as mastermind of a truly global phenomenon” Gramophone, April 2012
“The virtual choir has proved a tremendous success since it first started in 2009, with only 185 singers from 12 countries. But even as it’s grown in size and popularity, it has never compromised its integrity.” ABC News, April 2012
Further Links