Marina Belica | May 30, 2022, https://chorusamerica.org/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 30, 2022
CONTACT: October Project / octoberprojectmusic@gmail.com
INFO: bit.ly/rtm-choir
May 30, 2022: 130 performers from 17 countries unite to bring comfort and healing to a wounded world in October Project’s Worldwide Choir of Return to Me, a dual audio/video release that will premiere on YouTube on June 21st.
Return to Me, written by award-winning songwriters Julie Flanders and Emil Adler, has a history of over 50 million view-listens on YouTube. This new pop-choral version features October Project lead singer Marina Belica and a worldwide virtual choir, supported by the same creative team that won a 2021 Telly and Anthem Award for the group’s Virtual Choir of Joy – conductor Ryan Heller, Artistic Director of Chorus Austin, vocal arranger Keiji Ishiguri, and video editor Ulrich Vilbois.
Graced and interwoven with hand-drawn animations by Phoebe Cavise, the video also features a breathtaking postlude of the song, arranged by Grammy-winning composer/artist/arranger Evan Ziporyn and performed by acclaimed cellist Maya Beiser (described as a “force of nature” by The Boston Globe).
The choir recording is mixed and mastered by Grammy Award winners Ed Boyer (Pentatonix, Pitch Perfect, Glee, The Sing-Off) and Bill Hare (Pentatonix, King’s Singers, Voces8) who together are credited with redefining the sound of a-cappella singing, with additional sound production by Emil Adler.
In the shadow of the war in Ukraine and the 15 million lives lost around the world to COVID, October Project hopes to bring attention to humanitarian organizations providing relief to refugees and people in need around the world through this release. Says Flanders, “So many of us have been touched by the experience of loss and yearning through recent world events. Our losses may be different, but we FEEL them in similar ways. This song is intended as an offering of loving comfort, rapturous beauty and healing connection.”
The video premiere of the Worldwide Choir of Return to Me coincides with Make Music Day, a worldwide celebration of music that encourages EVERYONE, young and old, amateur and professional, to make and share music – a guiding principle behind the virtual choirs that October Project has produced. An audio single will be released on Spotify and all of the major streaming and download services on June 24th.
