Most choirs require their members to have a great voice, enjoy wearing a robe and be available for rehearsals in the same location. This is not the case for composer Eric Whitacre. In his classic talk from TED2011, Whitacre explains how he came to lead a chorus of more than 2,000 singers located all around the globe, each singing for a camera on YouTube.

“Human beings will go to any lengths necessary to find and connect with each other,” says Whitacre, as he shares highly moving testimonials from the far-flung singers. “People seem to be experiencing an actual connection from a virtual choir.”

Today’s TED Weekends explores the theme: “A crowd-sourced future.” Featuring essays from Eric himself as well as TED Talks favorites Charlie Todd and Marcin Jakubowski, TED Weekends looks at the many different ways that disparate individuals can be brought together to pool their creativity. To get you in the spirit, here are 11 TED Talks on the power of crowds.

1. Jamie Drummond wants us to crowdsource the world’s goals
2. Katherine Fulton says crowdsourcing is the future of philanthropy
3. Jimmy Wales on the birth of Wikipedia
4. Damon Horowitz calls for a “moral operating system”
5. Lucien Engelen is telling you to crowdsource your health
6. Paul Lewis reveals the potential of crowdsourcing the news
7. Rachel Botsman says the currency of the new economy is trust
8. Massimo Banzi explains how Arduino is open-sourcing imagination
9. Luis von Ahn created massive-scale online collaboration
10. Avijit Michael speaks about the impact of social media on government
11. Alastair Parvin is crowdsourcing architecture for everyone, by anyone