2009 U. S. Central States Tour in Progress
Click here for special
tour CD offers!
From June 18-29 the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square
are on the road! Stops include Cincinnati, Ohio; St. Louis, Missouri;
Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri; Norman, Oklahoma;
and Denver, Colorado. Check the links below as the tour progresses. Daily
updates will point to articles written by members of the Choir and Orchestra
as well as coverage by the media.
"Take Home the Tour" Winners:
At each concert, new subscribers to the Choir's weekly newsletter are being
entered into a drawing for a set of "Take Home the Tour" CD's. To date, the
winners are:
Cincinnati: Deborah Boyd of Springfield, Ohio
St. Louis: Amy Parent of Savoy, Illinois
Des Moines: Renée Montgomery of Ames, Iowa
Omaha: Jim Jorgensen of Blair, Nebraska
Kansas City: Faye Ronk of Raymore, Missouri
Norman: Dennis Marshall of Stillwater, Oklahoma
Denver (Red Rocks): Mathew Jensen of Lakewood, Colorado
Concert and "On the Road" Reports from Members of the Choir and Orchestra:
Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square
Video Presentations and Interviews Now Available
A video press kit with short video segments about the Choir and interviews with the leadership and
members of the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square are now available.
Click here for a list of those interviewed with accompanying
interview topics.
New Music Video
My Song in the Night
Track from the Choir and Orchestras' latest album Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing: American
Folk Hymns & Spirituals (see below for details).
UPDATE: Come Thou Fount
is No. 1 on Billboard Chart Click here
for more info.
New CD! Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing: American Folk
Hymns & Spirituals
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square
are pleased to announce their latest recording entitled
Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing: American Folk Hymns & Spirituals.
Eloquent, straightforward, and full of homespun vigor, the American folk hymn of the early 19th
century reflected the robust enthusiasm and hardiness so characteristic of life on the frontier.
Simple religious texts, easily learned, were set to popular melodies drawn from the folk songs,
ballads, and dances of the day, creating a lively hymn tradition that flourished in the camp
meetings and revivalist gatherings of the “Second Great Awakening.” It was truly a music of the people.
Similarly, the African-American spiritual – a close cousin to the folk hymn – expressed the profound
emotions of the slave experience while drawing on the same musical sources and religious ideals that
formed the American folk hymn.
Other sacred song traditions also grew from these same roots. The musical worship of the early
Mormon Church, for example, often included newly-penned texts sung to popular tunes of the day, and
one of the most beloved LDS hymns, “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” is itself an authentic American folk hymn.
This recording honors the enduring vitality of these folk hymns and spirituals and their ability to
anchor the soul in faith. From the sturdy strains of “Saints Bound for Heaven” and the fervent
entreaty of “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” to one of the most popular folk hymns of all time,
“Amazing Grace,” these songs and hymns gave comfort, hope, and confidence to the early American
pioneers of two hundred years ago. Their power and simplicity still inspire us today.
Click here for a track listing
and purchase
information.
Click here to hear Steven Kapp Perry interview Mack Wilberg about the album.
New Associate Music Director Named
Ryan Murphy has been appointed Associate Music Director of the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir. As Associate
Music Director, Murphy will be responsible to assist Dr.
Mack Wilberg, Music Director, with the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in rehearsals, concerts,
tours and the weekly broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word.
He will also serve as the conductor of the Temple Square Chorale,
the preparatory ensemble for new singers in choir service.
Murphy has extensive choral conducting and professional
musical theater experience. Prior to his appointment,
he conducted six choirs in the Boston area, including
two choirs at the prestigious New England Conservatory
of Music. He served for four years as the choral director
at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, an internationally
recognized secondary school affiliated with the New England
Conservatory. He was the music director for the Tuacahn
Theatre in the St. George, Utah area from 2005 to 2007
following five seasons as music director at the Sundance
Institute in Provo, Utah. While in Boston, he maintained
an active performing schedule including collaborations at
the Tanglewood Summer Festival.
Murphy graduated from Brigham Young University with a
degree in piano and organ performance and pedagogy.
He also has a master's degree in choral conducting from
Brigham Young University and will receive his doctorate
in choral conducting from Boston University in May of this year.
The Redeemer Available on DVD
Recording from 2008 Easter Concerts
The Redeemer was composed in 1978 by former Mormon Tabernacle Organist Robert
Cundick who served for 27 years on Temple Square. This oratorio-like sacred service of music grew
out of a desire by Brigham Young University professor of music Ralph Woodward to produce a work of
genuine stature that would have meaning not only for Latter-day Saints, but all Christians. A
setting of scriptural text drawn from the four standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, the composition honors the life and mission of the Savior Jesus Christ.
In April of 2008--the 30th anniversary of its premiere--Director Mack Wilberg led the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in a moving performance of the work.
Dr. Wilberg was especially well prepared to provide a sensitive interpretation since he served as
rehearsal pianist for the 1978 premiere under the baton of Dr. Woodward.
With the release of this magnificent DVD, it is hoped that people from all over the world will
now have the opportunity to experience this deeply spiritual and exceptionally beautiful
composition. For a sample, see the video below which features the chorus "How Beautiful Upon
the Mountains."
Click here to purchase.
Music Video
Praise to the Man
Title track from the Choir and Orchestras' latest album (see below for details).
This video is also available in high definition at the BYU Broadcasting
Website (click here).
Praise to the Man
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square
are pleased to announce their recording
Praise to the Man: Songs Honoring the Prophet Joseph.
This recording is perhaps the most uniquely “Mormon” recording
released by the Choir and Orchestra as well as a testament to
the faith and legacy of Joseph Smith and the early Latter-day
Saints. Filled with new arrangements of beloved LDS hymns,
this recording evokes the feelings of those early saints—feelings
of hope, faith and joy.
The recording begins with a stirring arrangement of “The
Morning Breaks” by Music Director, Mack Wilberg. For many
Latter-day Saints, the visit of God the Father and His Son
to Joseph Smith marks the beginning of what they term “the
Restoration”—a time when God’s truths and principles were
again restored to the earth after a long hiatus. “The
Morning Breaks” speaks to this time of new beginnings
when “the dawning of a brighter day, majestic, rises
o’er the world.”
The recording also highlights a number of favorite
Latter-day Saint hymns including a joyous arrangement
of “Now We’ll Sing with One Accord” by Tabernacle Organist,
Richard Elliott, a powerful setting of “Praise to the Man”
and a tender arrangement of “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer,”
both by Music Director, Mack Wilberg. In addition, several
other prominent Latter-day Saint composers contributed to
this project including Sam Cardon and Nathan Hofheins.
Two selections from The Children’s Songbook are also
included.
“This project has been a labor of love for all involved,”
said Wilberg. “For the members of the Choir and Orchestra,
this recording has given them a chance to express their
testimonies of something that is very dear to them—the
life and mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith—and it’s
been a wonderful experience from start to finish.”
Click here for a track listing
and purchase
information.
Click
here to listen to Carole Mikita's interview with Mack Wilberg (interview starts after a
newscast).
Click here to
listen to Steven Kapp Perry's interview with Mack Wilberg.
Music Video
Rejoice and Be Merry: Nativity Play
This video is also available in high definition at the BYU Broadcasting
Website (click here).
Holiday Album Rejoice and Be Merry! Now Available
Following the success of their #1 Billboard and Grammy-nominated album Spirit of the
Season, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is proud to announce Rejoice and Be Merry!, the
next musical masterpiece in a series of highly acclaimed and commercially successful holiday
albums. Rejoice and Be Merry! featuring special guests The King's Singers, is presented
with the originality and sophistication that have made these albums a holiday treasure for
families everywhere.
If you watch KBYU TV in Utah or BYU Television (carried on all Dish Network and Direct TV
satellite
services), you may have seen something that has the look and the feel of an MTV music video but
featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. Your eyes aren’t
deceiving you. The music video is a joint venture between BYU Broadcasting and the Choir.
“When we heard Mack Wilberg’s arrangement of ‘Called to Serve’ we thought there was a way to
give it a wider audience that would benefit both the Choir and BYU Broadcasting,” said Jim Bell,
Senior Producer at BYU-TV. The idea for the music video was born.
Like most projects with the Choir and Orchestra, several things were actually done at once
to get the footage needed for the video. One Sunday in January following Music and the Spoken
Word,
the men of the Choir and all of the Orchestra spent 45 minutes doing a number of takes of the
song.
The men were spread out evenly through the Tabernacle for the best visual effect. A number of
separate cameras were filming at the same time. The footage was used not only for the BYU music
video but also for a video appearance of the Choir at the May 2008 Women’s Confer-ence at BYU as
well as a promotional piece used at Deseret Book’s Time Out for Women series throughout the
spring
and fall.
Matt Eastin, a film maker who works on projects with BYU Broadcasting, took the Tabernacle footage
and added other footage of real missionaries around the world. He spent a day shooting the
activities
of a companionship of elders and another one of sisters in the Utah Provo mission as they worked
with
contacts and investigators. The result is a highly moving, slightly different slice on missionary
work
and this fervent song which has inspired missionaries of all types. The video can be viewed
online by
clicking on the image below. You can also access a high definition version on the BYU broadcasting
website by clicking here.
If you like the video, you’ll be sure to want to get the CD. It’s music for every kind of
missionary.
Click here for more information.
Mack Wilberg Requiem Released
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square are excited to announce the release of
their latest album: Mack Wilberg Requiem and Other Choral Works.
Beyond his distinction as Associate Conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Mack Wilberg has
carved out a career both as one of the most successful choral arrangers in the world today and as
a composer of powerfully engaging original works.
This latest composition brings a fresh and contemporary approach to the time-honored tradition of
the Requiem. Featuring world-renowned soloists Bryn Terfel and Frederica Von Stade, it is a
fitting introduction to a moving new piece that is sure to grow in stature in the coming years.
The recording also includes several additional Wilberg original compositions.
Historical Roster:
Click here for a
comprehensive list of all who have served in the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple
Square.
Check this site often for information about all
the activities of the Choir,
the Chorale and the Orchestra. You'll find
details about performances, rehearsals,
recordings, auditions and tours and much more.
Sign up on our mailing
list to receive earliest notification of
distribution dates for concert tickets and
performance information.
Click here
to
go to the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir Performing Arts Family Internet Resources Site (an internal administrative
website for members of the Choir, Orchestra, and Bells on Temple Square only).
2009 U. S. Central States Tour in Progress
