Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre (born 1970) is an American composer of choral and symphonic music and electronica. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, he was a student of composers John Corigliano and David Diamond. Perhaps his best known work is Cloudburst, composed in 1992. He has also served as a guest conductor for scores of ensembles throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and America. He has also gained repute for his "Paradise Lost: Opera Electronica."

Related Topics:
1970 - American - Composer - Choral - Symphonic - Electronica - Juilliard School of Music - John Corigliano - David Diamond - 1992

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Although he is most famous for his choral works, he has also composed works for band and wind ensemble, his most famous being Ghost Train his first instrumental piece, composed at the age of 23. Other popular intrumental works for high school and college wind ensembles include "October", "Sleep", and "Equus".

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Eric Whitacre has also written several works based on the poetry of E.E. Cummings and Octavio Paz. His piece "Water Night", adopted from the lyrics of another Whitacre piece "Cloudburst", is very popular among high school and college vocal ensembles across the country.

Related Topics:
E.E. Cummings - Octavio Paz

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One of his works, "Sleep," was originally based upon text from the poem "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening". After extensive legal battles, however, he was forced to discontinue use of the Robert Frost text. Whitacre had poet Charles Anthony Silvestri compose a new text that exactly matched the existing music. Silvestri's libretto was inspired by his watching his daughter fall asleep.

Related Topics:
Robert Frost - Charles Anthony Silvestri

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The text for "Five Hebrew Love Songs" was composed at Whitacre's request by his Israeli wife, Hila Plitmann, a fellow Julliard graduate, while on tour in Germany shortly after their marriage. The pitches of the "bongs" in movement four, "Snow," are the exact pitches of the bells that woke them each morning. The music of movement four is strongly related to that of another of his pieces, "Winter."

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Eric founded the group BCM International, a quartet of like-minded composers consisting of himself, Steven Bryant, Jonathan Newman, and James Bonney, who, according to their mission statement, aspire to "create music for the wind ensemble medium not bound by traditional thought or idiomatic cliché". BCM International's online discussion forum, which features participation by all four BCM members and others, dissects various topics related to music.

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