A few weeks ago, I posted about an amateur choir in Belgium. The second video in that post was of the choir singing a piece written and conducted by Eric Whitacre.

Whitacre’s piece really stuck with me, so I decided to go back and do a little research. I came across the composer/conductor’s TedTalk, and down the rabbit hole I went… Whitacre’s music is very soothing and lush and lovely, and when he got the idea to put it out into the universe, asking YouTube singers to record their parts for a virtual choir, he did something magical.

He’s an incredibly charismatic guy, and very interesting, so I’ll let him tell you.

(Here’s the full version of the video if you’d like to see it.)

And as if that weren’t enough magic, a year later, the composer brought together, via Skype, no less, another virtual choir, this time singing live with a flesh-and-blood choir for a live Ted audience. I love how Whitacre’s mind works!

And now Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir is just a thing that happens on a happily regular basis!

There’s even a youth choir, with proceeds going to UNICEF!

You can keep up on what Whitacre’s up to on his website.