Eric Whitacre at McDonald's

Posted at 3:05 PM on March 19, 2009 by John Birge

This weekend in Minneapolis, Eric Whitacre conducts his music with the VocalEssence Choir, St. Olaf Choir, and a 170-voice high school honor choir.

Whitacre is no stranger to fame; really, how many other choral music composers have 11,182 Facebook friends?

But even as child he'd already gotten his Warholian fifteen seconds of fame, in a McDonald's commercial. Click play to watch, and click here to read his charming blog post with the rest of the story. That's Eric with his face in the books (literally), at about 0:17!

Meanwhile, Eric stopped by Classical Minnesota Public Radio to talk about the Eric Extravaganza; we had a wonderful, wide-ranging conversation that included a look back to the past, a sneak preview of things to come (he revealed that "Paradise Lost" is coming to Carnegie Hall), and the weekend's world premiere of his new piece, "Nox Arumque."