A couple years ago, we released an episode called The Virtual Choir.

It was about a five-part choir series from composer Eric Whitaker that premiered on YouTube.

The Virtual Choir started as a small, experimental project with 185 people singing into their computer cameras. By the fifth virtual choir,

it had grown to include nearly 4,000 singers from all over the world. Back then, Eric didn't

know where to go next, or whether the virtual choir would even continue. But no one could have

imagined what was coming in 2020, and the story of the virtual choir was far from over.

This will be our last episode of 2020, and we thought the best way to wrap up this weird year would be to bring this story up to the present moment.

So I got back in touch with Eric. We re-edited the episode, and we added a whole new ending.

If you remember listening to the original episode,

you'll definitely want to hear this new version.

And if you've never heard it before, you're in for a real treat.

Here we go.

Thank you. You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.

I'm Dallas Taylor.

The music you're hearing right now is not an ordinary choir.

It's a teenager in her bedroom singing into a laptop microphone.

It's a grandparent performing while their grandchild helps with the camera.

And it's a businessman, reliving his years of choir in school.

What you're actually hearing are hundreds of individual voices performing both together

and alone.

The result is mesmerizing and powerful and greater than the sum of its parts.

This performance is the first installment of what's known as the virtual choir.

...