Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre occupies a rare space, a contemporary composer whose choral writing actually reached a wide audience. Pieces like Sleep and Lux Aurumque have a shimmering, suspended quality that I find instantly recognizable, and his Virtual Choir projects pulled singers worldwide together long before that kind of thing was common. Coming out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, this Reno native built a career on making serious choral music feel accessible without dumbing it down. What I admire most is that he is also a compelling speaker and conductor, not just a name on a score. He genuinely widened the audience for choral music.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Eric Whitacre

Name (Japanese)

エリック・ウィテカー

Reading

えりっく・うぃてかー

Born

January 2, 1970 (age 56)

Origin

Reno, Nevada, United States

Occupation

conductor / composer / musicologist / choir director / physician

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Dog

High school

Douglas High School

University

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttps://ericwhitacre.com/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/ericwhitacre/
• Xhttps://x.com/EricWhitacre
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric%20Whitacre
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%86%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q726206

Tags

• Nevada
• conductor
• composer
• musicologist

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.