27th day of Christmas

Eric Whitacre is a young American composer and conductor who is creating a new, breathtaking and very, very popular genre of choral music. While choral music is often stereotyped as old and stuffy, Whitacre is changing that. I think his compositions paint pictures in contemporary sound that are ethereal and beautiful to listen to.

The composition and style of Whitacre's music is not just what makes it modern- he also brings a contemporary approach to performance. Bringing individual voices from around the globe together, Whitacre created a cyber internet youth choir and conducted their performance of several of his compositions. While the logistics (and difficulty) of blending voices from around the world boggles my mind, Whitacre's end result is impressive and thoroughly modern. Here is his piece, Lux Aurumque, written with Latin text of the Edward Esch poem:

                                                                     Light, 

                                                                     warm and heavy as pure gold

                                                                     and angels sing softly

                                                                     to the new-born babe.

For a more traditional performance, I recommend you listen to this sublime recording by English choir Polyphony.