The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

, acting as part of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church). It has performed in the

Salt Lake Tabernacle The Salt Lake Tabernacle, also known as the Mormon Tabernacle, is located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, in the U.S. state of Utah. The Tabernacle was built from 1863 to 1875 to house meetings for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sa ...

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 LDS Church members who are eligible for a

temple recommend In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord. Temples are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually ...

, between 25 and 55 years of age at the start of choir service, and live within of

Temple Square Temple Square is a complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately ...

. 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 Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

(1965),

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

(1969), Ronald Reagan (1981), George H. W. Bush (1989), George W. Bush (2001), and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

(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 George Edward Percy Careless (September 24, 1839 – March 5, 1932) was a prominent Latter-day Saint composer and conductor. Careless was born in London, England. As a child he studied at the Royal Academy in London. He performed at Exeter Hall ...

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 Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...

, ''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 The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for its recording of the "

Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" or "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" outside of the United States, is a popular American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe. Howe wrote her l ...

". 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 Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

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 Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...

" 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 Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, (; born 9 November 1965) (known professionally as Bryn Terfel) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and '' ...

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer, actress and businesswoman. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys K ...

(of

Gladys Knight and the Pips Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s. Starting out as simply ...

), Sting (of

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

Ric Ocasek Richard Theodore Otcasek (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the primary co-lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the rock ...

(of

The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes ( keyboard ...

), and

The Osmonds The Osmonds were an American family music group who reached the height of their fame in the early to mid-1970s. The group had its best-known configurations as a quartet (billed as the Osmond Brothers) and a quintet (as the Osmonds). The group ...

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 28 countries outside the United States. * Performed at 13 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 William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

. 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: * Performed over 20 times at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, including at the Opening Ceremony, where they sang the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

and the

Olympic Hymn The Olympic Hymn ( el, Ολυμπιακός Ύμνος, ), also known as the Olympic Anthem, is a choral cantata by opera composer Spyridon Samaras (1861–1917), with lyrics by Greek poet Kostis Palamas. Both poet and composer were the choice of ...

under the direction of John Williams. * The American Bicentennial in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(July 4, 1976) * The Constitution's bicentennial celebration at

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers. The structure forms the centerpi ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

(1987) It has also participated in several significant events, including: * National broadcasts honoring the passing of U.S. Presidents: **

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

(April 12, 1945) **

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

(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 Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

(1926) Hollywood Bowl. *

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(1934) Century of Progress Exposition. *

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

(1935)

California Pacific International Exposition The California Pacific International Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego, California during May 29, 1935–November 11, 1935 and February 12, 1936–September 9, 1936. The exposition was held in Balboa Park, San Diego's large c ...

. *

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

(August 19 – September 17, 1955)

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Prince Albert Hall in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, Scheveningen,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, Bern,

Palais de Chaillot The Palais de Chaillot () is a building at the top of the in the Trocadéro area in the 16th ''arrondissement'' of Paris, France. For the Exposition Internationale of 1937, the old 1878 Palais du Trocadéro was partly demolished and partly ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Also sang at the dedication of the Bern Switzerland Temple on 11 September 1955 on this tour. *

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

(1968, 1972) *

(1973, 1998) *

(June 5–21, 1982) Bergen International Festival in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, Stockholm,

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Aalborg,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, Royal Albert Hall in

. *

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

and the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

(June 8–29, 1991)

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, Strasbourg,

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. *

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

(December 26, 1992 – January 6, 1993)

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

. * Japan/

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

(September 8–13, 1979) Festival Hall in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Kaikan Hall ROHM Theatre Kyoto, originally known as Kyoto Kaikan, is a concert hall and performance venue located in Kyoto, Japan. The main hall was first opened in 1960 and seated 2,005 patrons. The facility closed in 2012 and was redeveloped over a four-yea ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

, Fumon-kan Hall in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Seoul National Theater in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

. * Japan/

(1982) *

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(May 24–30, 1981) "Week of Music of the Americas" and

Ibirapuera Auditorium The Ibirapuera Auditorium ( pt, Auditório Ibirapuera) is a building conceived by Oscar Niemeyer for the presentation of musical spectacles, situated in Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo. History The auditorium completes the group of buildings in Ibi ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

. * South Pacific (June 14 – July 5, 1988) Laie,

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, Christchurch, Wellington, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney. * Eastern United States (2003) Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, Wolf Trap, Virginia, Wolftrap, Saratoga Springs, New York, Saratoga, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood. * Canada and Eastern United States (June 20–27, 2011) Chautauqua, New York, Chautauqua, New York City, Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Toronto,

* Western United States (2012) * Midwest United States (June 12–20, 2013)

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Indianapolis, Madison, Wisconsin, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis. * Eastern United States (June 24 – July 7, 2015) Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel Woods, Bethesda, Maryland, Bethesda, Boston, New York City, Saratoga Springs, New York, Saratoga Springs. * Western Europe (June 27 – July 16, 2016) Brussels,

, Nuremberg,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. *U.S. West Coast (June 19 – July 2, 2018) Costa Mesa, California, Costa Meta,

, Berkeley, California, Berkeley, Mountain View, California, Mountain View, Rohnert Park, California, Rohnert Park, Vancouver, Seattle.

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. 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

and actress Roma Downey * The Wonder of Christmas, 2001: Actress Angela Lansbury * The Wonder of Christmas, 2002: News anchor Walter Cronkite * The Wonder of Christmas, 2003: Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and baritone

* The Wonder of Christmas, 2004: Broadway actress Audra McDonald and actor Peter Graves (actor), Peter Graves * The Wonder of Christmas, 2005: Soprano Renée Fleming and actress Claire Bloom * Spirit of the Season (album), 2006: Soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø * Rejoice and Be Merry!, 2007: A cappella group the King's Singers * Ring Christmas Bells (album), 2008: Broadway singer Brian Stokes Mitchell and actor Edward Herrmann * The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), 2009: Jazz singer Natalie Cole and historian David McCullough * Glad Christmas Tidings, 2010: Pop singer David Archuleta and actor Michael York (actor), Michael York * Once Upon a Christmas (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), 2011: Operatic baritone Nathan Gunn and actress Jane Seymour (actress), Jane Seymour * Home for the Holidays (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), 2012: Tenor Alfie Boe and news anchor Tom Brokaw The event also featured Gail Halvorsen, Col. Gail "Hal" Halvorsen. * Let The Season In (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), 2013: Soprano Deborah Voigt and actor John Rhys-Davies * Keep Christmas With You, 2014: Broadway actor Santino Fontana and List of Sesame Street Muppets, The Sesame Street Muppets * Hallelujah! (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), 2015: Broadway actress Laura Osnes, actor Martin Jarvis (actor), Martin Jarvis, and four Metropolitan Opera soloists. * O Come Little Children (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), 2016: Tenor Rolando Villazón * A Merry Little Christmas (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), 2017: Actress Sutton Foster and actor Hugh Bonneville * Angels Among Us (album), 2018: Actress and coloratura soprano Kristin Chenoweth * Christmas Day in the Morning (Tabernacle Choir album), 2019: Broadway actress Kelli O'Hara and actor Richard Thomas (actor), Richard Thomas * 2020: No concert (owing to COVID-19 pandemic) * O Holy Night (Tabernacle Choir album), 2021: Broadway actress and soprano Megan Hilty and actor Neal McDonough * 2022: Broadway actress Lea Salonga and actor Sir David Suchet

Pioneer Day concerts

The choir holds a yearly summer concert in mid-late July as part of Utah's Pioneer Day (Utah), 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

Leadership

The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has about 15 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 (musician), Ryan Murphy.

Organists

Richard Elliott (organist), Richard Elliott, Andrew Unsworth (musician), 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 Ted Kimball, 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 NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame, 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 "Battle Hymn of the Republic, The Battle Hymn of the Republic" reached No. 13 in 1959.

Other awards

1944 * List of Peabody Award winners (1940-1949)#1943, Peabody Award — ''Music and the Spoken Word'' for Outstanding Entertainment in Music 1961 * List of Peabody Award winners (1960-1969)#1961, Peabody Award — ''Music and the Spoken Word'' — "Let Freedom Ring" 1981 * Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Freedoms Foundation's George Washington Award — ''Music and the Spoken Word'' — Fourth of July Broadcast 1988 * Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, 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#2004, National Recording Registry — ''Messiah (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), Handel's Messiah'' (1959) 2006 * Mother Teresa Award 2010 * National Radio Hall of Fame#Programs, 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 (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), The Lord's Prayer'' and ''Messiah (Mormon Tabernacle Choir album), 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

, the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Orchestra at Temple Square. The choir's own record label was formed in 2003.

Chart-topping albums

Filmography

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

References

External links

Tabernacle Choir Official site

article by Kirk Johnson, ''New York Times'' {{Authority control 1847 establishments in Utah American choirs Columbia Records artists Latter Day Saint musical groups Musical groups established in 1847 Musical groups from Salt Lake City Musical groups from Utah Performing arts in Utah Tabernacle Choir, Temple Square United States National Medal of Arts recipients