People in chorus tends to be much more emotional or at least wear their hearts on their sleeve. They are generally the kind to hold hands and cry. It’s just a different personality type. Eric Whitacre Read Quote
I’m not a culture snob. So while, of course, I think the Mozart ‘Requiem’ or, say, Beethoven’s ‘Ninth’ are some of the greatest works of art in the history of humankind, that’s not to say the Beatles or Queen or Simon and Garfunkel aren’t brilliant, beautiful, important works of art that should be sung without a sense of irony. Eric Whitacre Read Quote
I wouldn’t say that I’m actually trying to cause chills in the audience, but certainly my goal is to, at the very least, effect a physiological response – at the most, to effect some sort of state change, ideally, in the audience. Eric Whitacre Read Quote
Since I first fell in love with choral music when I was 18 and began composing at 21, I’ve been listening to these recordings of British choirs. I just fell in love with that sound – that pure, clean, pristine sound – and I think it’s probably been the biggest influence on my sound. Eric Whitacre Read Quote
I’m a self-confessed geek, and my whole concept of music at first was entirely electronic. In many ways, it turned out to be an advantage. I was so green, so utterly naive about the nature of classical music, that I did things that made me look totally, deliberately unorthodox. Eric Whitacre Read Quote
When you look back on music history, it falls into these neat periods, but of course, the period you yourself are living through seems totally scattered and chaotic. Eric Whitacre Read Quote
To have a live choir there on the stage and then these singers from different countries signing with us in real time through Skype, it’s as if there aren’t borders anymore. Eric Whitacre Read Quote
I don’t know if it is a spiritual, physiological or psychological phenomenon, but I believe now more than ever that singing is a universal, built-in mechanism designed to cultivate empathy and compassion. Eric Whitacre Read Quote
I truly thought I was going to be in pop music. And then I joined a choir to meet girls, and everything changed in the first rehearsal. Eric Whitacre Read Quote
