Mormon Tabernacle Choir celebrates centennial
SALT LAKE CITY — In anticipation of the centennial of the Cathedral of the Madeleine Aug. 15, the world renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir returned for two historic concerts April 18-19. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir under the direction of Mack Wilberg, opened the Madeleine Festival of the Arts and Humanities accompanied by the Orchestra at Temple Square. "Their opening piece, ‘Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,’ was so powerful with approximately 300 singers and 65 musicians," said Drew Browning, Madeleine Festival program director. "The sacred environment of the Cathedral of the Madeleine and the known quality of their singing in the acoustical space of the cathedral was nothing other than magical. "I just cannot describe it any other way," said Browning. "I had out-of-state relatives here from several places in the country, and they were really quite wowed by the concert. It was really quite special. I just thought it was unbelievable." Mormon Tabernacle Choir Director Mack Wilberg led the audience on a journey around the world with a performance called "A Celebration in Sacred Song." The concert began with three German hymns, followed by two Russian songs of praise. They then sang three English Psalms, joined by Madeleine Choir School soloists sixth-grader Deron Parcell and seventh-grader Jonathan Savastano. Parcell was also a soloist on "Halle, Halle, Halle." Wilberg specifically requested that choristers from the Madeleine Choir School sing solo parts in Holst’s "Psalm 86," and "Halle, Halle, Halle," a traditional Caribbean melody. This was Parcell’s second solo collaboration with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, having performed with them in last year’s Dear Valley Music Festival. Parcell is only in his second year at the Madeleine Choir School, and has also performed with the Utah Symphony and Opera, and with Dr. Brady Allred’s Salt Lake Choral Artists. This was Savastano’s debut performing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He will also be singing with the Utah Symphony during Music Director Keith Lockhart’s grand finale concert in May. "It was nice to see a range of selections that Wilberg put together that showed sacred songs from various places around the world," said Browning." The final selections were American folk hymns and African-American spirituals. "To end the concert with ‘Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,’ was stunning," said Browning. "Within three weeks of their recent CD being released, it has reached number one on the Classical Billboard chart. So it is just phenomenal. "We have been planning for this celebration for about five years," said Browning. "It was October 2004, when I started thinking about the centennial in 2009, and how it would really be nice to open the centennial year Madeleine Festival with something very special. I knew that when we re-opened the Cathedral of the Madeleine in 1993, after it had been restored, we had asked the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to perform. The program was called "Music for a Great Space." To our knowledge that was the only other time in history the Mormon Tabernacle Choir had ever sang here. So we invited them to come back. "We knew we would have to schedule more than one performance due to the limited seating in the Cathedral and our previous experience with tremendous crowds trying to attend the 1993 concert," said Browning. "It has been a pleasure to be here in this historical and sacred place," said Wilberg. "What a thrill it has been to be with you and for you to be with us." Mormon Tabernacle Choir member Scott Russon said the sound in the Cathedral was great. "There was a feeling that I had when we were singing ‘Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,’" said Russon, who has been in the choir for a year. "The last verse," added Lindsey Snarr, who has been in the choir for seven years. "It just took over my body from top to bottom. It was big." "Exactly," said Russon. "I just had this sense that everybody in the whole Cathedral was feeling this, and there was a feeling of reverence to God. No matter how you perceive God, it was to him. It was such a worshipful feeling." "The sound in the Cathedral was great. The ceilings are so high, it makes such a cathedral sound," said Jeffrey Scott, a young orchestra member. "It was really nice. I really enjoyed playing here. We thank them for inviting us." The Mormon Tabernacle choir is composed of 360 volunteer singers aged 25 to 60, who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They practice and perform weekly. The choir originated in the mid-19th century. A small choir first sang for a conference of the LDS Church in 1847, just 29 days after the first pioneers arrived to settle in the Salt Lake Valley.
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