Eric Whitacre

This week I’ll be in Chicago at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic conducting this new transcription of Libertas Imperio for concert band and electronics. (Libertas is from my opera/musical Paradise Lost:Shadows and Wings). I’ll also be freezing my butt off. Why can’t they hold this convention in Miami? Or in May?

The very excellent Lockport High School Band (Brian Covey is their brilliant director) commissioned the transcription and asked me to conduct. I’ll be working with them tomorrow night, and the performance will be at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. I just hope it’s loud.

The piece will be in print this Spring; the printed score will be bundled with a CD of the backing track. And I’d love to take this moment to credit my dear friend Steven Bryant for all of his work with me on the electronics. If you don’t know his work, check out his website; he’s a brilliant composer and is responsible for a lot of the track’s visceral sound world.

Here’s the original track from Paradise Lost, with killer vocals supplied by Dan Callaway (Logos) and Kevin Odekirk (Ignis).

And here is the electronica track that will accompany the band:

And finally, as a small token of appreciation to you, dear reader, I humbly offer a Libertas Imperio ringtone. Please feel free to put it on your phone and turn up the volume to 11.

Click here to download the ringtone.