Media Specialist
Brenda Aguirre, born and raised in Midland, TX, knew she wanted to sing since she was five years old. Brenda has been participating in choirs since 7th grade, including school choirs and church choirs. Throughout her life, Brenda has been a choir officer, participated in Solo/Ensemble Contests, All-Region Choirs, UIL Contests, All-State Choir and has performed in Washington, D.C. with her high school choir. Today, Brenda is a student at Midland College, and she participates in the St. Stephen’s Church Choir, Midland-Odessa Symphony & Chorale, the Midland College Chaparral Singers and is a scholarship singer at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. Recently, Brenda auditioned and was selected for a one-of-a-kind experience, the Virtual Choir.
The Virtual Choir is a choir composed of recorded voice parts played at one time. Each person in the choir creates an individual recording of their assigned part (soprano, alto, tenor or bass). The videos are then put into one track with accompaniment, which allows all voices and accompaniment to be played at the same time creating one singular song.
The first Virtual Choir experiment was a video called “Lux Arumque,” created by Eric Whitacre. Eric Whitacre is a renowned composer, conductor and lecturer. After Brenda saw the first video, she knew immediately that she wanted to participate. When Mr. Whitacre posted information on auditions for Virtual Choir 3, Brenda was determined to be in it.
Brenda said, “I recorded myself singing using my iPhone about 7 times. It was a real struggle for me because of the many distracting sounds that interfered with my video. For example, toward the end of my second attempt in recording, I was confident that the sound was good until my young nephew walked in to ask me a question.” Once Brenda had her video recorded, she sent it in with fingers crossed hoping to be selected. A couple of months after submitting her audition recording, she received an invitation to attend the launching of the video in New York.
“Only those who participated in the Virtual Choir 3 received the email, which meant I had made it,” said Brenda. Virtual Choir 3 is using the song “Water Night,” and is composed of 3,746 videos uploaded from 2,945 singers from 73 countries singing one or more parts. “Water Night” is a 14-part piece of music based on a poem written by Octavio Paz.
The Virtual Choir 3 video was used to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the loss of Titanic. On April 14th, the video was heard in Titanic Belfast, an iconic new Visitor Centre located in the heart of Belfast, Ireland. The Centre is dedicated to the birthplace of the Titanic.
According to the website of Eric Whitacre, the creator of Virtual Choir, “Following the celebrations around the opening of the new building and marking 100 years since the loss of Titanic, the projection of the Virtual Choir 3 in the atrium of Titanic Belfast will provide a moment of contemplation for the lost souls.” Brenda has a passion for choir, but the one thing she finds vital for people to know is that “the most important thing to remember overall in a choir is the actual music and what the composer is trying to share with the world. Singing is from the heart, and everyone has the ability to be the one voice that can change the world.”
The video of Virtual Choir 3 can be seen at http://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir
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