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Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square back on for 2022 tour

By Genelle Pugmire special To The Standard-Examiner - | Jun 19, 2021
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The 360-voice Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square celebrates 90 years in broadcasting "Music & the Spoken Word."

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The new, digitally friendly logo unveiled April 23, 2020, for The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. It will be the sixth logo since 1903.

The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square are on the move again.

While The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not announced when the choir will start meeting again and broadcasting “Music and the Spoken Word” live, on Friday it announced the original Heritage Tour is back on for 2022.

The tour was originally postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The choir will perform in seven cities across four Nordic countries and the United Kingdom, leaving Salt Lake City on June 16, 2022, and returning to the United States on July 7. The tour will include performances in the following cities and venues:

  • Stockholm, Sweden, June 18, Konserthuset Stockholm.
  • Helsinki, Finland, June 21, TBA.
  • Copenhagen, Denmark, June 25, DR Koncerthuset.
  • Oslo, Norway, June 28, Oslo Spektrum.
  • Edinburgh, Scotland, July 1, Usher Hall.
  • Newport, South Wales, July 4, International Convention Centre Wales.
  • Cardiff, Wales, July 6, St. David’s Hall (benefit concert, invitation only).

Choir President Ron Jarrett said the name of the tour is a nod to the choir’s history. Some of its earliest members had roots in Wales and other areas of Europe that the choir will visit during its upcoming tour.

“We stand on the shoulders of these musical pioneers who created a legacy that has influenced the entire world for good. What an honor it will be to share the joy and peace the music of the choir brings in some of the very places where it all began,” Jarrett said.

Choir history

The first conductor of The Tabernacle Choir, John Parry, was an early Welsh convert to the church who later emigrated to Salt Lake City. In 1849, he led 85 Welsh members in a singing group, and he was soon asked by church President Brigham Young to form an official choir.

Another future conductor of the choir, George Edward Percy Careless, began his musical career in London in 1862 after completing formal studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

In 1865, Young approached Careless and said, “Brother George, I have a mission for you. I want you to be chief musician of the church. I want you to take The Tabernacle Choir and the Theatre Orchestra and lay a foundation for good music.” And that is just what he did during his tenure.

The Tabernacle Choir first traveled to Europe on a seven-week concert tour in 1955. Since that first grand tour, the choir has returned to Europe five times, including tours to Western and Central Europe in 1973; Northern Europe in 1982; Eastern Europe in 1991; Western and Southern Europe in 1998; and Central Europe in 2016. The choir last toured these four Nordic cities 39 years ago in 1982. It has not visited Wales or Scotland since the first European tour in 1955.

The choir has toured extensively across the United States and abroad since its first tour outside of Utah in 1893. These tours have included performances in music capitals from Israel and Russia to Japan and Australia. A complement of approximately 65 members of the orchestra has traveled on tour with the choir since 2005, according to church information.

Ticket sales are now available at Stockholm, Copenhagen and Edinburgh. For more information, visit TabChoir.org/tour.

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