The young men from the Phoenix Boys Choir have performed for U.S. presidents, on radio, for television and film and now, you can hear their voices on a video game.
For the last two years, members of the Phoenix Boys Choir have been working on the soundtrack for the video game Sword of the Sea.
Herbert Washington is the artistic director for PBC. He says the group was approached by Grammy-nominated video game composer Austin Wintory.
“And he brought these eight measure melodies — and many of them; more than 30 of these. And so the boys have to use their musicianship and learn the piece on the fly and then record it,” he said.
Wintory then wove the choir throughout the soundtrack.
“And so when you play the video game, what you'll hear is the boys in the background on top of this ethereal soundscape.”
The boys heard their performance for the first time Tuesday night. To quote Gen Alpha, the cohort many of these young men belong to, the experience was slay.
“So as soon as you hear a choir, you know that it is the Phoenix Boys Choir. And the boys got to hear the launch of this game, and play it, and listen to their voices and the way they describe it as surreal that you’re inside a video game.”
Washington says that besides performing on this soundtrack, they were also compensated for their work, just like a professional musician.
