Eric Whitacre signs album deal

Eric Whitacre, the American composer has secured an exclusive, long-term recording contract with the Decca label, and will record his debut album ‘Light & Gold’ in August.

Light & Gold will include some of Whitacre’s best-loved choral works as well as three world premiere recordings. Whitacre will conduct the choir, to include the Eric Whitacre Singers, marking the first time he has conducted his own music on a recording.

Unusually for a serious classical composer, Whitacre received no formal musical training before the age of 18. A chance performance of Mozart’s Requiem as a student changed his life and he went on to study at the Juilliard in New York.

Whitacre commented on the signing: “I couldn’t be more excited to be working with Decca – the company’s rich artistic history and commercial success is unassailable, and to be on the same label as Cecilia Bartoli, Bryn Terfel, Jamie Cullum and Sting is amazing... Importantly, we have a shared vision, drive and passion to develop the extraordinarily wonderful opportunities that technology offers to our world.”

Whitacre recently created a social media storm by assembling a ‘virtual choir’. He assembled 185 singers from around the world and conducted them in his composition Lux Aurumque, in a video posted on YouTube. It has already amassed millions of views.Watch it below...