Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square

There are many people who know nothing about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Mormon Church but they have heard of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is wonderful to live so close to them and their performances while we are serving a mission here in Salt Lake.

One month after the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley the choir was founded in August 1847. Since July 15, 1929, the choir has performed a weekly radio broadcast called Music and the Spoken Word, which is the longest continuing radio network broadcast in the world. The show has been televised since the early 1960s and is now broadcast worldwide through some 2,000 radio, television stations and cable systems.

Ronald Reagan once called them "America's Choir". 

There are 360 men and women in the choir. They can be as young as 25 and they can serve for 20 years or until age 60, whichever comes first. They must live within 100 miles of the Tabernacle on Temple Square. They have a Thursday evening rehearsal that is open to the public and the broadcast is every Sunday morning at 9:30 am (MST).

 

I have been disappointed that Tucson has never carried the weekly broadcast of the program on any radio or TV station. I am including a list of all the ways that you can get a LIVE broadcast every Sunday morning at 9:30 am (MST). 

Sirius XM Radio—Channel  143

Satellite TV  Dish Network—Channel  9403

Satellite TV  DirecTV—Channel  374

It is also live stream on KSL.com  (radio station here in SLC) and on BYUTV.

Each cable company is different for BYUTV so you will have to check was listings guide.
BYUTV's website is here and you can also go to to their DVR tab(I little way down on the page) and watch earlier programs.

Today, 11 Nov 2012 there was a very special Veteran's Day program and it is available by going here. Just click on the word "here" (in the previous sentence and it will take you right to the program!!!
 

During the summer months (June-Aug.) and during the month of Dec., when there are more visitors to SLC and Temple Square, the weekly Sunday broadcast is held in the Conference Center so there is room for a larger audience. The rest of the time they are in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. 

Every week the host, Lloyd D. Newell gives an inspirational message that ties in with the musical selections that are performed that day. I love the short but uplifting thoughts he gives! I found that the messages can be read and even printed from this website.

The Orchestra at Temple Square accompanies the choir most every week. It was created in 1999 and has developed into a nationally recognized symphony orchestra. The Orchestra undertakes its own concert season performing many times a year.

Like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the 110-member Orchestra is purely a volunteer organization. Many of the Orchestra’s members are professional musicians who give their time and talents in support of the Church without any financial compensation.

The choir did announce on 31 Oct. that they have launched their own YouTube channel and it is HD quality. The address is YouTube.com/MormonTabChoir.They also have a website. The YouTube Channel will be a place to go to view previous Sunday morning broadcasts. I just checked it out and it is a pretty awesome place to listen to the choir.

Twice a year they hold tremendously popular special programs--the 24th of July and the Christmas Concert. Both are so popular that the tickets are obtain through a lottery. There are performances on Thurs., Fri., and Sat., evenings and a shortened performance on Sunday for the weekly broadcast. The performances are in the Conference Center which is across from Temple Square and our apartment!! The performance is free but tickets are required. 

The Christmas program is not carried on BYUTV like many other programs. The Sunday morning shortened  concert will be broadcast at the choir's usual 9:30 am slot. The entire Christmas concert is recorded and shown the next Christmas season, usually on PBS stations and is sold on DVD.

This year's Christmas Concert is 13-16 Dec. The two guest performers are Alfie Boe who played Jean Valjean at the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary concerts in London and TV journalist, Tom Brokaw. The ticket sign up started 13-22 Oct. Only one ticket request per household. We emailed our kids and asked them to sign up so that we would have a better chance for getting tickets. We received our rejection email this week that we did not get tickets. The email said that there were over a million requests!!! The good news is that 2 of our kids did get tickets. We will be able to share with other missionaries.

There is nothing quite like hearing the choir in person. They are wonderful on CDs and watching on TV but there is nothing to compare to hearing and seeing them in person.  It is a wonderful way to begin each Sabbath day.