Eric Whitacre is one of the most popular and performed composers of his generation. His works are loved by choirs all over the globe, and he has won numerous composition awards. Whitacre is also in great demand as a conductor: his Virtual Choir was a massive YouTube hit, and his new professional choir, the Eric Whitacre Singers, forms the core ensemble for his disc Light & Gold on Decca Records, conducted by the composer himself. This book of pieces for mixed choir presents an inspiring selection from the recording.

Eric Whitacre's choral music has become a worldwide musical sensation. This release presents a new collection of works conducted for the first time by the composer himself. Performed by The Eric Whitacre Singers along with guests Laudibus and The King Singers.

Water Night is Eric Whitacre's follow up to his Grammy Award winning album Light & Gold and features seven world premiere recordings. It includes performances by the Eric Whitacre Singers, the London Symphony Orchestra, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and soprano Hila Plitmann.

Here are six whimsical settings of Ogden Nash poems that are perfect for a lighter portion of your program or as an encore. They are easily-learned and fun to perform!

The City and the Sea is a new collection of five compositions from one of the world's most popular choral composer based on the poems of e.e. cummings. 'i walked the boulevard' - White key clusters in the piano create the rhythmic framework for the playful vocals sung in unison declamation or that ricochet one part to another in this vividly portraying an urban street scene. 'the moon is hiding in her hair' - This languorous setting features a chaconne-like left hand pattern in the piano along with right hand cluster chords and legato vocal phrases in octaves to create a meditative musical atmosphere. 'maggie and milly' - With the characteristic clusters broken into arpeggios for this movement, this playful work features delightful wordplay and simple fun! 'as is the sea marvelous' - This tender setting creates an image of the ebb and flow of the sea through pulsating parallel cluster chords in the piano and long legato vocal phrases. 'little man in a hurry' - Full of colorful contrasts, this final movement from The City and the Sea dances with fun and humor! The rhythmic wordplay and deconstructed syllables poem hurtle ever faster to the final sudden 'stop' for an extraordinary concert finale.

Set to a text by William Butler Yeats, 'The Stolen Child' was commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and The King's Singers to celebrate their 25th and 40th anniversaries, respectively. The chorus represents the voice of 'the human child, innocent and naive' while the six solo voices represent the 'water and the wild,' seducing the children away from the world with the promise of endless revelry and eternal youth. Excerpted from Whitacre's music theater work Paradise Lost 'Sleep My Child' for SATB and soloists is marked by delicate, ethereal sounds and purity of tone.

Translated as 'Night and Gold,' this work is a companion work to Lux Aurumque (Light and Gold) with themes, both textual and musical, taken from Lux Aurumque and the composer's music theater work Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings. In Latin.

This a cappella collection of pieces for mixed choir by Eric Whitacre is the first available printed music compilation of its kind for the composer. The book includes pieces of varying difficulty, wide-raning in theme, from the iconic Sleep and Water Night to the quietly angelic Lux Aurumque (Light and Gold) and the recent Nox Aurumque (Night and Gold). A Boy and a Girl and This Marriage are both wonderfully tener pieces and the inclusion of the early Go, Lovely Rose marks the beginning of a journey thorugh Whitacre's choral output from this first success to the present day.

The powerful fusion of Octavio Paz's Spanish text and Eric Whitacre's musical imagery has made 'Cloudburst a favorite with good high school choirs and beyond in the U.S. and abroad. Of timeless beauty, 'Waternight' speaks to singers and audiences of all generations, offering a high point in any concert program. A Boy and a Girl is a tender, delicate poem put to music by Eric Whitacre. It was commissioned by the 2002 California All-State Chorus. 'When David Heard' uses the text of David, lamenting the slaying of his son Absalom (II Samuel 18:33). It is a major work, with great dramatic moments describing the feeling of a father's loss.

'i will wade out' the first piece in the set, cries out with lush, neo-romantic harmonies. In 'hope, faith, love, life' each word is repeated as a musical meditation, quoting different works from Whitacre's choral library.' I 'i thank you God, for this most amazing day,' the shimmering quality of the chords help to convey the Whitacre's feeling of the text used in the poem. All three pieces are based on the poems by e.e. cummings, and are part of Eric Whitacre's series, titled 'Three Songs of Faith.'

'Sleep' is the collaboration between Eric Whitacre and poet Charles Anthony Silvestri, drawing on the mystical moment between awareness and sleep. For the setting of Lux Aurumque, Whitacre chose the Latin translation of an Edward Esch poem, enhancing the elegant simplicity of this new work. The text explores Leonardo da Vinci's dreams of flying. The blend of Italian madrigal and contemporary style supports the text, once again, by Charles Anthony Silvestri.

in 'Five Hebrew Love Songs - inspired by Whitacre's trip to Switzerland - each song is a 'postcard,' capturing lush, romantic moments in full. The songs are dedicated to Jerusalem born Hila Plitmann - poet of the beautiful text, and the Whitacre's wife. A simple and delicate setting of the timeless love poem by the Sufi poet Jalal al-Din Rumi, 'This Marriage' marks the first time that Whitacre has written for four-part a cappella chorus without divisi. Composed in the spirit of the Renaissance works written to Elizabeth I - 'fair Oriana' - 'Her sacred Spirit Soars,' written for double choir, is in the signature Whitacre style with brilliant choral textures unfolding into a majestic final salute, 'Long live, Oriana!' 'Little Birds' is the third setting of words by Octavio Paz (Water Night; Cloudburst) from Eric Whitacre. 'Little Birds' pays homage to Gabriel Faure with its running piano part and fluid sensual melodies. According to the Whitacre 'it holds mysterious and magical effects', imitating delicate birds. Suitable for festival or competition use.

Go, Lovely Rose is structured around the cyclical life of a rose, and is connected throughout by the opening 'rose motif,' a seed that begins on the tonic and grows in all directions before it blossoms, dies and grows again. Each season is represented. With A Lily In Your Hand is from a prodigious series of poems arranged in thematic 'suites,' later collected and in 1983 published as Suites. The original poem is titled: Curva. I Hide Myself is a simple little song. All of the musical suggestions come from a careful study of the poem, a quiet, passionate soul occasionally speaking a little bolder than the age will allow. She loves almost to the point of distraction, and this mood must prevail in the performance: shy and sullen, her passion surging to the surface only to sink back into the silence that is herself.