And the choir conductor there knew that I sang and invited me to come and join the choir.

It wasn't a virtual choir.

I call that the hidden choir.

This is Sleep, the Virtual Choir.

Let's try it again. Ooh, the TED choir.

Eric Whitacre A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong

This is Lux Aurumque sung by the Virtual Choir.

I feel a closeness to this choir almost like a family.

Richard Carter I'm Richard Carter, and this is the Sashimi Tabernacle Choir.

In its essence, the orchestra and the choir are much more than artistic structures.

In an audience as sophisticated as this one, that would be preaching to the choir.

It wasn't a bad debut for the TED choir, not a bad debut at all.

And once again, in Edinburgh with the wonderful African Children's Choir who I simply adore.

And because of that, then a lot of singers started saying, All right, what's Virtual Choir 2.0?

Choir I'm hooked on a feelin' I'm high on believin' That you're in love with me DD So Richard came up from Houston last year to visit us in Detroit here and show the wonderful Sashimi Tabernacle Choir.

What I'd like to close with then today is the first look at Sleep by Virtual Choir 2.0.

It is a dream come true to be part of this choir, as I've never been part of one.

One father, who had initially balked at his daughter coming out in such a choir, now writes songs for them.

And about a week later, a friend of mine came to me and said, Listen, you've got to join choir.

Choir When you hold me in your arms DD This is all computer controlled in an old Volvo.

Improbably, this LGBT singing choir has demonstrated how women are investing in tradition to create change, like alchemists turning discord into harmony.

In a moving and madly viral video last year, composer Eric Whitacre led a virtual choir of singers from around the world. He talks through the creative challenges of making music powered by YouTube, and unveils the first 2 minutes of his new work, Sleep, with a video choir of 2,052. The full piece premieres April 7 .

I decided to write a piece for choir a couple of years later as a gift to this conductor who had changed my life.

The choir people in my high school were pretty geeky, and there was no way I was going to have anything to do with those people.

That's why the child's development in the orchestra and the choir provides him with a noble identity and makes him a role model for his family and community.

And I went to my first day in choir, and I sat down with the basses and sort of looked over my shoulder to see what they were doing.

And it's in complete silence when I filmed it, because I was only hearing the music in my head, imagining the choir that would one day come to be.

And so I decided for Virtual Choir 2.0 that I would choose the same piece that Britlin was singing, Sleep, which is another work that I wrote in the year 2000 poetry by my dear friend Charles Anthony Silvestri.

We also recognize that a lot of the products that we make those videos and so forth you know, they don't reach everybody, and so we've been fostering projects that reach people outside of academia, and outside of the choir that most ecologists preach to.

And I had this idea if I could get 50 people to all do this same thing, sing their parts soprano, alto, tenor and bass wherever they were in the world, post their videos to YouTube, we could cut it all together and create a virtual choir.

Virtual Choir The evening hangs beneath the moon A silver thread on darkened dune With closing eyes and resting head I know that sleep is coming soon Upon my pillow, safe in bed, a thousand pictures fill my head I cannot sleep my mind's aflight and yet my limbs seem made of lead If there are noises in the night Eric Whitacre Thank you very, very much. Thank you.