A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong | Eric Whitacre

Translator: Silas Jørgensen Reviewer: Jonas Tholstrup Christensen

I wanted to be a rock star.

Jeg ville gerne være en rock-stjerne

I dreamed of it, and that's all I dreamed of.

Det var min store drøm, og også det eneste jeg drømte om.

To be more accurate, I wanted to be a pop star.

Faktisk var det pop-stjerne jeg gerne ville være.

This was in the late '80s.

Det her var i slut 80'erne.

And mostly I wanted to be the fifth member

Og mest af alt ville jeg gerne være det femte medlem

of Depeche Mode or Duran Duran.

af Depeche Mode eller Duran Duran

They wouldn't have me.

De ville ikke have mig.

I didn't read music, but I played synthesizers and drum machines.

Jeg kunne ikke læse noder, men jeg kunne spille på synthesizer og tromme maskiner.

And I grew up in this little farming town in northern Nevada.

Og jeg voksede op i en lille landsby i det nordlige Nevada.

And I was certain that's what my life would be.

Og jeg var sikker på at det var sådan mit liv ville være.

And when I went to college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Og da jeg tog på college ved Nevada's universitet i Las Vegas

when I was 18,

da jeg var 18

I was stunned to find

var jeg chokeret over at opdage

that there was not a Pop Star 101,

at der ikke var en opskrift på at blive popstjerne

or even a degree program for that interest.

eller en uddannelse i den retning.

And the choir conductor there

Og kor-dirigenten dér

knew that I sang

vidste at jeg sang

and invited me to come and join the choir.

og tilbød mig at komme og blive en del af koret.

And I said, "Yes, I would love to do that. It sounds great."

Og jeg sagde: "Ja, det vil jeg meget gerne. Det lyder fedt."

And I left the room and said, "No way."

Og så forlod jeg rummet og sagde: "Aldrig i livet."

The choir people in my high school were pretty geeky,

Dem der gik til kor var ret nørdede

and there was no way I was going to have anything to do with those people.

og jeg skulle under ingen omstændigheder have noget at gøre med dem.

And about a week later, a friend of mine came to me and said,

Og en uge senere sagde en ven til mig:

"Listen, you've got to join choir.

"Hør her, du bliver nødt til at blive en del af koret."

At the end of the semester, we're taking a trip to Mexico,

I slutningen af semesteret tager vi en tur til Mexico

all expenses paid.

med alt betalt

And the soprano section is just full of hot girls."

og sopran sektionen er fuld af lækre piger.

And so I figured for Mexico and babes,

Og så tænkte jeg at for Mexico og lækre damers skyld

I could do just about anything.

kunne jeg gøre stortset hvad som helst.

And I went to my first day in choir,

Og jeg tog til min første dag i koret

and I sat down with the basses

og satte mig ned ved basserne

and sort of looked over my shoulder

og prøvede sådan at lure på

to see what they were doing.

hvad det var at de lavede.

They opened their scores, the conductor gave the downbeat,

De åbnede deres partiturer og dirigenten gav forslaget

and boom, they launched into the Kyrie

og slam, så gik de i gang med Kyrien

from the "Requiem" by Mozart.

fra Mozarts rekviem.

In my entire life I had seen in black and white,

I hele mit liv havde jeg set ting i sort/hvid

and suddenly everything was in shocking Technicolor.

og nu var det pludselig i farver.

The most transformative experience I've ever had --

Det var den mest forvandlende oplevelse jeg nogensinde havde haft,

in that single moment, hearing dissonance and harmony

i det korte øjeblik at høre dissonans og harmoni

and people singing, people together,

og syngende mennesker, mennesker der var sammen

the shared vision.

om en fælles vision.

And I felt for the first time in my life

Og jeg følte for første gang i mit liv

that I was part of something bigger than myself.

at jeg var en del af noget større end mig selv,

And there were a lot of cute girls in the soprano section, as it turns out.

og der var en masse søde piger i sopran sektionen, viste det sig.

I decided to write a piece for choir

Jeg besluttede mig for at skrive et stykke for kor

a couple of years later

et par år senere

as a gift to this conductor

som en gave til den dirigent

who had changed my life.

som havde forandret mit liv.

I had learned to read music by then, or slowly learning to read music.

På det tidspunkt havde jeg lært at læse musik, eller var i hvert fald begyndt.

And that piece was published,

Og stykket blev udgivet

and then I wrote another piece, and that got published.

og så skrev jeg et andet stykke, og det blev udgivet.

And then I started conducting,

Og så startede jeg med at dirigere

and I ended up doing my master's degree at the Juilliard School.

og endte med at tage min kandidat ved Juilliard.

And I find myself now in the unlikely position

Og nu finder jeg mig selv i den usandsynlige situation

of standing in front of all of you

at jeg står foran jer

as a professional classical composer and conductor.

som en professionel, klassisk komponist og dirigent.

Well a couple of years ago,

For et par år siden

a friend of mine emailed me

sendte en ven mig en mail

a link, a YouTube link,

et link, et YouTube link

and said, "You have got to see this."

og sagde: "Du bliver nødt til at se det her."

And it was this young woman who had posted a fan video to me,

Og det var den her unge kvinde som havde lagt en fan video til mig op

singing the soprano line

hvor hun sang sopran stemmen

to a piece of mine called "Sleep."

fra mit stykke "Sleep (Søvn)."

(Video) Britlin Losee: Hi Mr. Eric Whitacre.

(Video) Britlin Losee: Hej hr. Eric Whitacre.

My name is Britlin Losee,

Mit navn er Britlin Losee

and this is a video

og det her er en video

that I'd like to make for you.

som jeg gerne vil lave til dig.

Here's me singing "Sleep."

Her er jeg så hvor jeg synger: "Sleep."

I'm a little nervous, just to let you know.

Jeg er lidt nervøs, bare så du ved det.

♫ If there are noises ♫

♫ Hvis der er lyde ♫

♫ in the night ♫

♫ i natten ♫

Eric Whitacre: I was thunderstruck.

Eric Whitacre: Jeg var lamslået.

Britlin was so innocent and so sweet,

Britlin var så uskyldig og så sød

and her voice was so pure.

og hendes stemme var så ren.

And I even loved seeing behind her;

Og jeg elskede at jeg i baggrunden kunne se

I could see the little teddy bear sitting on the piano behind her in her room.

en lille bamsebjørn sidde på et klaver i hendes værelse.

Such an intimate video.

Det var en så intim video

And I had this idea: if I could get 50 people

og jeg fik den her idé: "Hvis jeg kunne få 50 mennesker

to all do this same thing,

til at gøre det samme,

sing their parts -- soprano, alto, tenor and bass --

synge deres stemmer - sopran, alt, tenor, bas -

wherever they were in the world, post their videos to YouTube,

hvorend i verden de var og så lægge det op på youtube,

we could cut it all together and create a virtual choir.

så kunne vi klippe det sammen og lave et virtuelt kor.

So I wrote on my blog, "OMG OMG."

Så jeg skrev på min blog "OMG OMG."

I actually wrote, "OMG,"

Jeg skrev faktisk, "OMG,"

hopefully for the last time in public ever.

forhåbentlig var det sidste gang jeg skrev det offentligt.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And I sent out this call to singers.

Og jeg efterlyste sangere

And I made free the download of the music

og jeg gjorde det gratis at downloade musikken

to a piece that I had written in the year 2000

til et stykke jeg havde skrevet i år 2000

called "Lux Aurumque," which means "light and gold."

som hed "Lux Aurumque", hvilket betyder "lys og guld."

And lo and behold, people started uploading their videos.

Og ganske vist, så begyndte folk at uploade deres videoer.

Now I should say, before that,

Det skal siges, at før det,

what I did is I posted a conductor track

gjorde jeg det at jeg lagde en video op

of myself conducting.

hvor jeg dirigerede stykket.

And it's in complete silence when I filmed it,

Og der var totalt stille da jeg filmede det,

because I was only hearing the music in my head,

fordi jeg kun hørte musikken i mit hovede,

imagining the choir that would one day come to be.

og forestillede mig det kor som en dag ville eksistere.

Afterwards, I played a piano track underneath

Bagefter spillede jeg et klaver spor

so that the singers would have something to listen to.

så sangerne havde noget at lytte efter.

And then as the videos started to come in ...

Og så, da videoerne begyndte at strømme ind ...

(Singing)

(Sang)

This is Cheryl Ang from Singapore.

Det her er Cheryl Ang fra Singapore.

(Singing)

(Sang)

This is Evangelina Etienne

Det her Evangelina Etienne.

(Singing)

(Sang)

from Massachusetts.

fra Massachusetts.

(Singing)

(Sang)

Stephen Hanson from Sweden.

Stephen Hanson fra Sverige.

(Singing)

(Sang)

This is Jamal Walker from Dallas, Texas.

Det her er Jamal Walker fra Dallas, Texas.

(Singing)

(Sang)

There was even a little soprano solo in the piece,

Der var endda en lille sopran solo i stykket

and so I had auditions.

så jeg havde auditions

And a number of sopranos uploaded their parts.

og en del sopraner uploadede deres videoer.

I was told later,

Jeg fik senere fortalt,

and also by lots of singers who were involved in this,

og også af en masse sangere som var involveret i det,

that they sometimes recorded 50 or 60 different takes

at de nogengange optog 50 eller 60 gange

until they got just the right take -- they uploaded it.

indtil det var lige som de ville have det -- de uploadede det.

Here's our winner of the soprano solo.

Her er vores vinder af sopran soloen.

This is Melody Myers from Tennessee.

Det her er Melody Myers fra Tennessee.

(Singing)

(Sang)

I love the little smile she does right over the top of the note --

Jeg elsker det lille smil hun laver på den høje tone

like, "No problem, everything's fine."

sådan: "Det er da ikke noget problem, det går fint."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And from the crowd

Og ud fra mængden

emerged this young man, Scott Haines.

kom en ung mand, Scott Haines.

And he said, "Listen, this is the project

Og han sagde: "Hør her, det her er det projekt

I've been looking for my whole life.

jeg har ledt efter hele mit liv.

I'd like to be the person to edit this all together."

Jeg vil gerne være ham der klipper det hele sammen."

I said, "Thank you, Scott. I'm so glad that you found me."

Jeg sagde: "Tak scott. Jeg er meget glad for at du fandt mig."

And Scott aggregated all of the videos.

Og Scott kombinerede alle videoerne.

He scrubbed the audio.

Han fiksede lyden.

He made sure that everything lined up.

Han sørgede for at alt passede sammen.

And then we posted this video to YouTube about a year and a half ago.

Og så lagde vi det ud på Youtube for omkring halvandet år siden.

This is "Lux Aurumque" sung by the Virtual Choir.

Det her er "Lux Aurumque" sunget af det Virtuelle Kor.

(Singing)

(Sang)

I'll stop it there in the interest of time.

Jeg stopper det hér på grund af tiden.

(Applause)

(Applaus)

Thank you. Thank you.

Tak, tak.

(Applause)

(Applaus)

Thank you.

Tak.

So there's more. There's more.

Men der er mere, der er mere.

Thank you so much.

Mange tak.

And I had the same reaction you did.

Jeg havde den samme reaktion som jer

I actually was moved to tears when I first saw it.

jeg blev faktisk rørt til tårer første gang jeg så det.

I just couldn't believe the poetry of all of it --

Jeg kunne ikke fatte poesien bag det hele -

these souls all on their own desert island,

de her sjæle på hver deres lille ø

sending electronic messages in bottles to each other.

som sender elektroniske beskeder i små flasker til hinanden.

And the video went viral.

Videoen blev meget populær.

We had a million hits in the first month

Den blev set en million gange i den første måned

and got a lot of attention for it.

og der var stor interesse for den.

And because of that, then a lot of singers started saying,

Og på grund af det, var der en masse sangere der begyndte at sige:

"All right, what's Virtual Choir 2.0?"

" Okay, hvad skal vi til det Virtuelle Kor 2.0?"

And so I decided for Virtual Choir 2.0

Så jeg besluttede mig for, at jeg til det Virtuelle Kor 2.0

that I would choose the same piece that Britlin was singing,

ville vælge det samme stykke som Britlin sang.

"Sleep," which is another work

"Sleep", hvilket er et andet værk

that I wrote in the year 2000 --

som jeg skrev i år 2000 -

poetry by my dear friend Charles Anthony Silvestri.

digtet af min kære ven Charles Anthony Silvestri.

And again, I posted a conductor video,

Og igen lagde jeg en dirigent video op

and we started accepting submissions.

og vi begyndte at tage imod indsendinger.

This time we got some more mature members.

Den her gang fik vi nogle mere modne medlemmer

(Singing)

(Sang)

And some younger members.

Og nogle yngre medlemmer

(Video) Soprano: ♫ Upon my pillow ♫

(Video) Sopran: ♫ På min pude ♫

♫ Safe in bed ♫

♫ Sikker i min seng ♫

EW: That's Georgie from England. She's only nine.

EW: Det er Georgie fra England, hun er kun ni.

Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever seen?

Er det ikke det sødeste du nogensinde har set?

Someone did all eight videos --

En lavede alle otte videoer -

a bass even singing the soprano parts.

en bas som endda sang sopran stemmerne.

This is Beau Awtin.

Det her er Beau Awtin.

(Video) Beau Awtin: ♫ Safe in bed ♫

(Video) Beau Awtin: ♫ Sikker i min seng ♫

EW: And our goal -- it was sort of an arbitrary goal --

EW: Og vores mål - det var en slags udefinerbart mål -

there was an MTV video where they all sang "Lollipop"

der var en MTV video hvor de alle sammen sang "Lollipop"

and they got people from all over the world to just sing that little melody.

og de fik folk fra hele verden til at synge den her lille melodi.

And there were 900 people involved in that.

Og der var 900 mennesker involveret i det.

So I told the singers, "That's our goal.

Så jeg fortalte sangerne, "Det her er vores mål.

That's the number for us to beat."

Det er det nummer vi skal slå."

And we just closed submissions January 10th,

Og vi lukkede for indsendinger d. 10 Januar.

and our final tally was 2,051 videos

og vores endelig antal var 2,051 videoer

from 58 different countries.

fra 58 forskellige lande.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Applaus)

From Malta, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam,

Fra Malta, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam,

Jordan, Egypt, Israel,

Jordan, Egypten, Israel,

as far north as Alaska and as far south as New Zealand.

så langt nord som Alaska og så langt syd som New Zealand.

And we also put a page on Facebook

Og vi lavede en side på facebook

for the singers to upload their testimonials,

hvor sangerne kunne fortælle om deres oplevelse,

what it was like for them, their experience singing it.

hvordan det var for dem, deres oplevelse ved at synge med.

And I've just chosen a few of them here.

Og jeg har valgt nogle få her.

"My sister and I used to sing in choirs together constantly.

"Min søster og jeg plejede at synge sammen i kor altid.

Now she's an airman in the air force constantly traveling.

Nu er hun i luftvåbnet og rejser hele tiden.

It's so wonderful to sing together again!"

Det er så dejligt at synge sammen igen!"

I love the idea that she's singing with her sister.

Jeg elsker det at hun synger sammen med hendes søster.

"Aside from the beautiful music,

"Udover smuk musik,

it's great just to know I'm part of a worldwide community of people I never met before,

er det fantastisk at vide at jeg er en del af et verdensomspændende fællesskab af mennesker jeg aldrig har mødt

but who are connected anyway."

men som alligevel er forbundet med hinanden."

And my personal favorite,

Og min personale favorit,

"When I told my husband that I was going to be a part of this,

"Da jeg fortalte min husbond at jeg ville være en del af det her,

he told me that I did not have the voice for it."

fortalte han mig at jeg ikke havde stemmen til det."

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of you have heard that too.

Ja, det er jeg sikker på mange af jer også har hørt.

Me too.

Det har jeg også selv.

"It hurt so much, and I shed some tears,

"Det gjorde så ondt, og jeg fældede nogle tårer,

but something inside of me wanted to do this despite his words.

men noget inden i mig ville gøre det her til trods for hans udtalelse.

It is a dream come true to be part of this choir,

Det er en opfyldelse af en drøm at være en del af det her kor,

as I've never been part of one.

da jeg aldrig har været en del af et.

When I placed a marker on the Google Earth Map,

Da jeg skulle sætte en markør på Google Earth kortet

I had to go with the nearest city, which is about 400 miles away from where I live.

måtte jeg vælge den nærmeste by, som er 650 km fra hvor jeg bor.

As I am in the Great Alaskan Bush,

Da jeg bor i bushen i Alaska

satellite is my connection to the world."

er sattelit min forbindelse til verden."

So two things struck me deeply about this.

To ting omkring det her slog mig dybt.

The first is that human beings

Det første er at mennesker

will go to any lengths necessary

vil gå til uanede længder om nødvendigt

to find and connect with each other.

for at finde og få forbindelse til andre.

It doesn't matter the technology.

Teknologien er ligegyldig.

And the second is

Det andet er at

that people seem to be experiencing an actual connection.

folk synes at opleve en reel forbindelse.

It wasn't a virtual choir.

Det var ikke et virtuelt kor.

There are people now online that are friends; they've never met.

Der er folk online nu som er venner; de har aldrig mødtes.

But, I know myself too, I feel

Men jeg kender også mig selv, jeg føler

this virtual esprit de corps, if you will, with all of them.

en virtuel esprit de corps, om man vil, med dem alle sammen.

I feel a closeness to this choir --

Jeg føler en nærhed til det her kor -

almost like a family.

næsten lige som en familie.

What I'd like to close with then today

Det jeg gerne vil afslutte med i dag

is the first look

er et første kig

at "Sleep" by Virtual Choir 2.0.

på "Sleep" af det Virtuelle Kor 2.0.

This will be a premiere today.

Det her er en premiere.

We're not finished with the video yet.

Vi er ikke færdige med videoen endnu.

You can imagine, with 2,000 synchronized YouTube videos,

Du kan prøve at forestille dig, med 2000 synkroniserede YouTube videoer

the render time is just atrocious.

tager det vanvittigt langt tid at flette dem sammen.

But we do have the first three minutes.

Men vi har de første tre minutter.

And it's a tremendous honor

Og det er en kæmpe ære for mig

for me to be able to show it to you here first.

at kunne vise den til jer først.

You're the very first people to see this.

I er de første der kommer til at se det.

This is "Sleep," the Virtual Choir.

Det her er "Sleep," det Virtuelle Kor.

(Video) Virtual Choir: ♫ The evening hangs ♫

(Video) Virtuelt Kor: ♫ Aftenen hænger ♫

♫ beneath the moon ♫

♫ under månen ♫

♫ A silver thread on darkened dune ♫

♫ En sølvtråd på en mørk sandbanke ♫

♫ With closing eyes and resting head ♫

♫ Med lukkede øjne og hvilende hovede ♫

♫ I know that sleep is coming soon ♫

♫ Ved jeg at søvnen er på vej ♫

♫ Upon my pillow, ♫

♫ På min pude

♫ safe in bed, ♫

♫ sikker i min seng ♫

♫ a thousand pictures fill my head ♫

♫ tusind billeder fylder mine tanker ♫

♫ I cannot sleep ♫

♫ Jeg kan ikke sove ♫

♫ my mind's aflight ♫

♫ mine tanker flyver ♫

♫ and yet my limbs seem made of lead ♫

♫ og alligevel synes mine lemmer tunge ♫

♫ If there are noises in the night ♫

♫ Hvis der er lyde i natten ♫

Eric Whitacre: Thank you very, very much. Thank you.

Eric Whitacre: Mange, mange tak. Mange tak.

(Applause)

(Applaus)

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Mange tak. Tak. Tak.

(Applause)

(Applaus)