The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square revises mission to reflect LDS church’s global membership

ST. GEORGE — Once referred to as “America’s Choir” by an American president, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (formerly the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) is planning to launch pilot programs aimed at extending the reach of the choir throughout the world.

In this file photo, The former Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs during the opening session of the two-day Mormon church conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 2, 2016 | AP Photo by Rick Bowmer, St. George News

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in a press release last week that the mission of its famed choir was being redefined to better reflect the global membership of the church.

“The Church will continue to grow. It will fill the world. It will continue to bless more and more nations, tongues and people,” LDS church President Russell M. Nelson told the choir last week. “The Lord is hastening his work in the promised global gathering of Israel. You can be sure that the Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra and Bells at Temple Square will be a pivotal part of that era.”

As a testament to the choir’s more global approach, the choir presidency added the words “throughout the world” to the existing mission statement, according to a church press release. The revised statement reads: “The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performs music that inspires people throughout the world to draw closer to the divine and feel God’s love for His children.”

Included in this new focus are three pilot programs:

  • The choir’s long-running Sunday broadcast of “Music and the Spoken Word” will begin to be expanded to other nations. This will involve foreign-language versions of the broadcast, native speakers and additional elements catering to their specific audiences. These new broadcasts are slated to begin sometime next year.
  • Plans are also in the works to allow church members from Mexico, Central America, West Africa, the Philippines and Asia to audition to perform with the Tabernacle Choir during the church’s next general conference in April 2023.
  • The choir also will be making shorter, more frequent tours where it historically traveled the world once every two years. The next travel assignment for the choir will take it to Mexico City in June 2023.

Choir President and former Utah Gov. Michael O. Leavitt said in the church’s press release that the pilot programs are “aimed at building a deeper sense of kinship and attachment with the Church and the Choir among members and nonmembers of the Church in these countries.”

In this file photo, members of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, above, sing during The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ twice-annual church conference in Salt Lake City, April 2, 2022 | AP Photo by Rick Bowmer, St. George News

The programs themselves may be a one-time event or continue from time to time, Leavitt added.

“The most likely outcome, however, is that through this pilot project we will gradually see new options and possibilities that will help the Choir better represent the worldwide Church,” he said.

The move to expand the choir’s reach – and therefore that of the LDS church – falls in line with a four-fold vision Leavitt and these two counselors outlined for the choir earlier this year.

Elements of that vision include the expansion of the Tabernacle Choir’s digital audience, magnifying the choir’s missionary role, reflecting the church’s worldwide mission and increasing the choir’s overall visibility across the world.

Originally named the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the choir was formed over a century ago and has grown to feature 360 men and women – all volunteers – who perform weekly for the Music and the Spoken Word program and several large events. In the past, these events have included the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and presidential inaugurations. It was during one of the inaugurations of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s that the choir was referred to as “America’s choir.”

Music and the Spoken Word has been broadcast continually since 1929 and is one of the longest-running programs in history. The program can be found on YouTube.

The longtime name of the choir was changed to The Tabernacle at Temple Square in 2018 to reflect an increasing push by Nelson to get away from the use of the term “Mormon” and emphasize the proper name of the church instead.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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