The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for over 100 years. Its weekly devotional program, Music & the Spoken Word, is one of the longest-running radio programs in the world, having aired on radio every week since July 15, 1929, and on television every week since October 1949.
The choir was founded on August 22, 1847, shortly after the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. Prospective singers must be LDS Church members who are eligible for a temple recommend, be between 25 and 55 years of age at the start of choir service, and live within of Temple Square.
The Tabernacle Choir is one of the most famous choirs 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).
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: 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) It has also participated in several significant events, including: 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. To Lima, Peru (February 18-23, 2025) - The choir and orchestra at Temple Square performed in the Estadio Nacional de Lima as its inaugural visit to Peru and a continuation of its Latin-American legacy tour "Canciones de Esperanza" ("Songs of Hope"). The 50,068 seat venue was filled to capacity and many attendees visited from neighboring countries like Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia. The choir was joined by renowned artists like Mauricio Mesones, Fonseca, Los Kjarkas, The Fabre Family, as well as emcee performers Adassa and Alex Melecio. The concert was broadcast live to "watch parties" in other countries, and an estimated 70,000 viewers participated live. The choir was accompanied by Elder Ulisses Soares, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
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,See this update for details. before subsequently being canceled.As verified here. 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.As verified here. In late 2023, the choir announced that the next stop in their tour would be the Philippines in 2024.As verified in this release.
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 series consists of a Wednesday dress rehearsal, Saturday afternoon recording session and three performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings followed with a shortened version of the concert on Sunday morning in the weekly Music and the Spoken Word broadcast. 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 2024: Broadway actress Ruthie Ann Miles and actor Dennis Haysbert 2025: Broadway actress Stephanie J. Block and her husband, actor Sebastian Arcelus.