Peter Hollens is a talented vocal artist from Oregon who specializes in a cappella-style music. He shares his videos with the world through social media, where he’s gathered millions of followers and subscribers, and racked up over a billion views.
While Hollens’ voice on its own is heavenly, he sometimes collaborates with other musical artists for projects.
In this video Hollens paired up with 200 young vocalists for an a cappella cover of “You Raise Me Up.” As you might have guessed, the results are breathtaking…
“You Raise Me Up” is a song that lifts a lot of people’s souls.
It was originally composed by Rolf Løvland (from Secret Garden) with Irish songwriter, Brendan Graham, penning the lyrics. Over the years, “You Raise Me Up” has been taken on by artists like Josh Groban, Celine Tam, Celtic Thunder, and Nordic Tenors.
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Hollens too was inspired to cover the song – but also because his fans put out a request for it. In the YouTube description he explains:
“One of the reasons I did this song was because of the beautiful version the Celtic Woman did of You Raise Me Up. The biggest reason however, is because of you and your requests…”
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The beginning of the video shows Hollens on a theater stage. Yet, he’s not alone…
With the help of brilliant editing, there are actually three separate “Hollens” sitting on stools, and each one of them is contributing to the song. It’s a neat technique that Hollens has used in some of his other videos as well.
Eventually, all five of the stools fill up.
The Peter Hollens in the middle sings the lyrics to “You Raise Me Up” while the others create beautiful music with their mouths. Although he’s only one person – it’s like an entire a cappella ensemble is on stage.
When the camera focuses on the “audience” you can see dozens of young vocalists watching silently.
200 singers from different a cappella groups participated in Hollen’s video, which was filmed at the Tower Theatre in Bend, Oregon.
The huge choir of singers joins Hollens with their own angelic voices.
If you’re someone who gets chilled listening to beautiful music that sounds like it comes from up above – you might need a sweater for this one.
“You Raise Me Up” is powerful on its own, with lyrics that can pull on heartstrings. Listening to Hollens belt them out is simply divine. But with the blending of the choir – it becomes a recipe for goosebumps.
Multiple viewers shared that their goosebumps emerged at 2:22.
Since the video was uploaded to YouTube it’s been “liked” over 102K times!
Many people have been moved by the soul-stirring performance of “You Raise Me Up, leaving comments like:
“Got chills when the chorus joined in fully. Amazing job to all of you involved in this! Thank you for performing such beautiful music and making the world a more beautiful place to be.”
Another viewer commented:
“I feel such inspiration from this. And those kids are amazing. This arrangement is flawlessly beautiful”
Someone else wrote:
“I am literally crying right now. Beautiful”
Peter Hollens is an artist who warms hearts and brightens lives with his music. His a capella version of “You Raise Me Up” with 200 vocalists is one you don’t want to miss.
Watch the powerful performance for yourself below!
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