Tabernacle Choir



The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for over 100 years. The Tabernacle houses an organ, consisting of 11,623 pipes, which usually accompanies the choir.

The choir was founded on August 22, 1847, twenty-nine days after the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. Prospective singers must be church members who are eligible for a temple recommend, between 25 and 55 years of age at the start of choir service, and live within 100 mi of Temple Square.

The choir is one of the most famous in the world. It first performed for a U.S. president in 1911, and has performed at the inaugurations of presidents Lyndon B. Johnson (1965), Richard Nixon (1969), Ronald Reagan (1981), George H. W. Bush (1989), George W. Bush (2001), and Donald Trump (2017). The choir's weekly devotional program, Music & the Spoken Word, is one of the longest-running radio programs in the world, and has aired every week since July 15, 1929.

History


The Tabernacle was completed in October 1867 and the choir held its first concert there on July 4, 1873.

The choir started out fairly small and rather undisciplined. On April 6, 1869, George Careless was appointed as the choir's conductor and the Tabernacle Choir began to improve musically. Under Careless, the first large choir was assembled by adding smaller choral groups to the main Salt Lake Choir. This larger choir, just over 300, sang at the church's October 6–8, 1873 general conference. It was at this point that the choir began to match the size of the spacious Tabernacle. On September 1, 1910, the choir sang the song "Let the Mountains shout for Joy" as their first ever recording. Three hundred of the 600 members showed up for the recording.

Since July 15, 1929, the choir has performed a weekly radio broadcast, Music & the Spoken Word, which is one of the longer-running continuous radio network broadcasts in the world.

Later directors brought more solid vocal training and worked to raise the standards of the choir. The choir also began improving as an ensemble and increased its repertoire from around one hundred songs to nearly a thousand. On July 15, 1929, the choir performed its first radio broadcast of Music & the Spoken Word. By 1950, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performed numerous concerts each year and had released its first long-playing recording. During the 1950s, the choir made its first tour of Europe and earned a Grammy Award for its recording of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

At the end of the choir's 4,165th live broadcast on July 12, 2009, the show's host, Lloyd D. Newell, announced another milestone that the show had hit: the completion of its 80th year in existence. The show has been televised since the early 1960s and is now broadcast worldwide through approximately 1,500 radio and television stations.

On October 5, 2018, the choir retired the name "The Mormon Tabernacle Choir" and adopted the name "The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square" in order to align with the direction of LDS Church leadership regarding the use of terms "Mormon" and "LDS" in referencing church members. The new name retains the reference to the historic Salt Lake Tabernacle, which has been the choir's home for over 150 years, and its location on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Several award-winning popular artists have reflected on the beauty of the choir's music publicly, including Bryn Terfel, Gladys Knight (of Gladys Knight & the Pips), Sting (of The Police), James Taylor, Ric Ocasek (of The Cars), and The Osmonds.

Milestones


Since its establishment, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has performed and recorded extensively, both in the United States (where U.S. President Ronald Reagan called it "America's Choir" ) and around the world. The following are some of its key points:
 * Visited twenty-eight countries outside the United States.
 * Performed at thirteen World's Fairs and Expositions.
 * Released more than 130 musical compilations and several films and videotapes.
 * Reached more than 100 million YouTube views on its channel (in October 2017).
 * "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" became the choir's first video to surpass 10 million YouTube views (in July 2020).

The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has performed for ten presidents of the United States beginning with William Howard Taft. The choir has also performed at the inaugurations of United States presidents Lyndon B. Johnson (1965), Richard M. Nixon (1969), Ronald Reagan (1981), George H. W. Bush (1989), George W. Bush (2001), and Donald Trump (2017).

Other notable events the choir has performed at include the following: It has also participated in several significant events, including:
 * Performed over twenty times at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, including at the opening ceremony, where they sang the national anthem and the Olympic Hymn under the direction of John Williams.
 * The American Bicentennial in Washington, D.C. (July 4, 1976)
 * The Constitution's bicentennial celebration at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1987)
 * National broadcasts honoring the passing of U.S. presidents:
 * Franklin D. Roosevelt (April 12, 1945)
 * John F. Kennedy (November 24, 1963)

Tours
From its first national tour in 1893, under the direction of Evan Stephens, to the Chicago World's Fair, the choir has performed in locations around the world, including:
 * Los Angeles (1926) Hollywood Bowl.
 * Chicago (1934) Century of Progress Exposition.
 * San Diego (1935) California Pacific International Exposition.
 * Western Europe (August 19 – September 17, 1955) Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff, Prince Albert Hall in London, Amsterdam, Scheveningen, Copenhagen, West Berlin, Wiesbaden, Bern, Palais de Chaillot in Paris. Also sang at the dedication of the Bern Switzerland Temple on 11 September 1955 on this tour.
 * Central America (1968, 1972)
 * Western Europe (1973, 1998)
 * Western Europe (June 5–21, 1982) Bergen International Festival in Bergen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Aalborg, Rotterdam, Royal Albert Hall in London.
 * Central Europe and the former Soviet Union (June 8–29, 1991) Frankfurt, Strasbourg, Zürich, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Warsaw, Moscow, Leningrad.
 * Israel (December 26, 1992 – January 6, 1993) Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv.
 * Japan/Korea (September 8–13, 1979) Festival Hall in Osaka, Kaikan Hall in Kyoto, Fumon-kan Hall in Tokyo, Seoul National Theater in Seoul.
 * Japan/Korea (1982)
 * Brazil (May 24–30, 1981) "Week of Music of the Americas" and Ibirapuera Auditorium in São Paulo.
 * South Pacific (June 14 – July 5, 1988) Laie, Honolulu, Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney.
 * Eastern United States (2003) Interlochen, Wolftrap, Saratoga, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood.
 * Canada and Eastern United States (June 20–27, 2011) Chautauqua, New York City, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Toronto, Washington, D.C.
 * Western United States (2012)
 * Midwest United States (June 12–20, 2013) Chicago, Columbus, Indianapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis.
 * Eastern United States (June 24 – July 7, 2015) Bethel Woods, Bethesda, Boston, New York City, Saratoga Springs.
 * Western Europe (June 27 – July 16, 2016) Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Rotterdam, Vienna, Zürich.
 * U.S. West Coast (June 19 – July 2, 2018) Costa Meta, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Mountain View, Rohnert Park, Vancouver, Seattle.
 * In the Philippines (February 20-29, 2024) - The Choir, with 400 singers and orchestra members, for the second stop of its world tour, performed for the first time in the Philippines during the interfaith concert with Leaders, including Cardinal Jose Advincula at the University of Santo Tomas. The Choir also performed at Makati Shangri-La, Manila and SM Mall of Asia where Lea Salonga will perform as guest artist. It also visited the Manila American Cemetery to honor the fallen US soldiers.

Multi-year global ministry tour
A "heritage tour," which would have taken the Choir to various European venues, had been planned for 2021, but was postponed to 2022, before subsequently being canceled. In 2023, the choir announced it would embark on a multi-year, multi-stop global ministry tour. The first stop took the choir to Mexico City, Mexico for six days, where they performed multiple concerts, engaged in service projects, and recorded a music video. In late 2023, the choir announced that the next stop in their tour would be the Philippines in 2024.

Christmas concerts


The choir performs an annual Christmas concert in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City during the month of December. Typically, the concert consists of three performances: a Thursday dress rehearsal, followed by Friday and Saturday concerts. The combined audience for each concert series is approximately 63,000. Tickets to the concert are free, and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. A live album (CD/DVD) is typically released, along with the concert being aired on PBS and BYUtv, during December of the following year. The concert traditionally concludes with a performance of "Angels, from the Realms of Glory".

Guest artists participate and sing with the choir most years. A guest narrator is also invited most years to read the Christmas story from the Book of Luke. Past guest artists have included:
 * 2000: R&B singer Gladys Knight and actress Roma Downey
 * 2001: Actress Angela Lansbury
 * 2002: News anchor Walter Cronkite
 * 2003: Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and baritone Bryn Terfel
 * 2004: Broadway actress Audra McDonald and actor Peter Graves
 * 2005: Soprano Renée Fleming and actress Claire Bloom
 * 2006: Soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø
 * 2007: A cappella group the King's Singers
 * 2008: Broadway singer Brian Stokes Mitchell and actor Edward Herrmann
 * 2009: Jazz singer Natalie Cole and historian David McCullough
 * 2010: Pop singer David Archuleta and actor Michael York
 * 2011: Operatic baritone Nathan Gunn and actress Jane Seymour
 * 2012: Tenor Alfie Boe and news anchor Tom Brokaw The event also featured Col. Gail "Hal" Halvorsen.
 * 2013: Soprano Deborah Voigt and actor John Rhys-Davies
 * 2014: Broadway actor Santino Fontana and The Sesame Street Muppets
 * 2015: Broadway actress Laura Osnes, actor Martin Jarvis, and four Metropolitan Opera soloists.
 * 2016: Tenor Rolando Villazón
 * 2017: Actress Sutton Foster and actor Hugh Bonneville
 * 2018: Actress and coloratura soprano Kristin Chenoweth
 * 2019: Broadway actress Kelli O'Hara and actor Richard Thomas
 * 2020: No concert (owing to COVID-19 pandemic)
 * 2021: Broadway actress and soprano Megan Hilty and actor Neal McDonough
 * 2022: Broadway actress Lea Salonga and actor David Suchet
 * 2023: Broadway actor Michael Maliakel and actress Lesley Nicol

Pioneer Day concerts
The choir holds a yearly summer concert in mid-late July as part of Utah's Pioneer Day celebrations. Unlike the Christmas concerts, there are only two shows: one on Friday and the other on the following Saturday. The tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. A guest artist is typically invited every year. Past guest artists have included:


 * 2011: Brian Stokes Mitchell and Linda Eder
 * 2012: Katherine Jenkins
 * 2013: Nathan Pacheco and Lindsey Stirling
 * 2014: Santino Fontana and Sylvia McNair
 * 2015: Laura Osnes
 * 2016: King's Singers
 * 2017: Alex Boyé
 * 2018: Matthew Morrison and Laura Michelle Kelly
 * 2019: Sissel Kyrkjebø
 * 2020: No concert (owing to COVID-19 pandemic)
 * 2021: No concert (owing to COVID-19 pandemic)
 * 2022: Shea Owens
 * 2023: Adassa, Alex Melecio,

Leadership
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has about fifteen staff members including a president, directors, organists, a Music and the Spoken Word announcer, and two business-related staff members.

Music directors
Mack Wilberg is the current director, with associate director Ryan Murphy.

Organists
Richard Elliott, Andrew Unsworth, Linda Margetts, Brian Mathias, and Joseph Peeples are the current organists.

Music and the Spoken Word announcers
Since its inception in 1929, the "spoken word" segment of the program has been voiced by four separate individuals. The original writer, producer, and announcer of the spoken portion of the broadcast was Edward (Ted) Kimball, who would stand at the top of a tall ladder and announce the name of each performance piece into the microphone suspended from the Tabernacle ceiling. Kimball remained at the post for only 11 months, when he was replaced by Richard L. Evans, who continued in that capacity until his death in 1971. J. Spencer Kinard took over as announcer in 1972 until he stepped down in 1990. Lloyd D. Newell has been the announcer since then.

Awards and inductions
The choir has a number of awards, including the National Medal of Arts (2003), a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus (1960), and four Emmy Awards (1987, 2013, 2014). The choir is also an inductee to the American Classical Music Hall of Fame (2015) and the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcasting Hall of Fame (2004). The 320-person choir is the largest act to chart on the Billboard Hot 100—their version of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" reached No. 13 in 1959.

Other awards
1944
 * Peabody Award — Music and the Spoken Word for Outstanding Entertainment in Music

1961
 * Peabody Award — Music and the Spoken Word — "Let Freedom Ring"

1981
 * Freedoms Foundation's George Washington Award — Music and the Spoken Word — Fourth of July Broadcast

1988
 * Freedoms Foundation's George Washington Award

2003
 * International Radio and Television Society Foundation's Special Recognition Award
 * Chorus America's Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence

2004
 * Library of Congress' National Recording Registry — Handel's Messiah (1959)

2006
 * Mother Teresa Award

2010
 * National Radio Hall of Fame — Music and the Spoken Word

Recordings
Since its first recording in 1910, the choir has earned five gold albums (two in 1963: The Lord's Prayer and Handel's Messiah; one in 1979: The Joy of Christmas; and two in 1985: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Sings Christmas Carols and Joy to the World) and two platinum albums (in 1991, Hallmark Christmas: Carols of Christmas and in 1992, Hallmark Christmas: Celebrate Christmas!). The choir has made over 200 recordings and continues to produce albums. For some live performances and albums, the choir has collaborated with large orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Orchestra at Temple Square. The choir's own record label was formed in 2003.

Filmography

 * This Is Cinerama (1952)
 * Mr. Krueger's Christmas (1980), starring James Stewart
 * Nora's Christmas Gift (1989)
 * Singing with Angels (2016)