This year’s annual Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day Concert will feature renowned Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins. The concert will be held Friday, 20 July, and Saturday, 21 July, at 8:00 p.m. in the Conference Center.
While currently known to U.S. audiences as a top contender on ABC’s 14th season of Dancing with the Stars, Ms. Jenkins is known worldwide as a prolific classical crossover artist in the world. She is recognized for her unique renditions of popular songs, operatic arias and hymns. She has released eight studio albums, won two Classical BRIT awards and sold in excess of seven million albums since launching her career in 2004.
“I am looking forward to singing with the 360 voices of this incredible choir,” said Miss Jenkins. “It will be an honor and a pleasure.”
The annual choir tradition started in 1839 in Nauvoo, Illinois, when the Church organized a dramatic company, choir, band, singing school, dancing school and university where music instruction was offered. Just two weeks after the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, a choir of Welsh and English singers formed the forerunner of today’s award-winning Tabernacle Choir. Their first performance was in a crude, open-air bowery with a thatched branch and sagebrush roof, located on what is now Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
The concert will open with a salute to the Mormon pioneers who settled the Salt Lake Valley. The concert repertoire will then feature a variety of music showcasing the versatility of both Miss Jenkins and the choir and orchestra, including songs from the Broadway stage and Hollywood screen, conducted by Mack Wilberg, music director of the choir. Interspersed with the musical numbers will be multimedia presentations of well-known personalities discussing the joy they find in music.
Free tickets for these concerts are required. Because of high demand for tickets, they are distributed through a random selection process. Those interested may register on the Internet at www.lds.org/events beginning Saturday, 19 May, at 12:01 a.m. The registration period will remain open through Monday, 28 May, at 11:59 p.m. Those without Internet access may register over the phone at 801-570-0080 (local) or at 1-866-537-8457 (toll free). Please see the website for further information regarding ticket confirmation and standby availability.
The concert will also be shown at various LDS stake centers over the Church satellite system on Saturday, 21 July, with subsequent rebroadcasts to many areas of the world.
In addition, the performance will be rebroadcast in its entirety on BYUtv on 21 July, at 7:00 p.m. and again on 24 July, at 6:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. and midnight. KBYU Eleven will air the concert on 22 July, at 7:00 a.m. and on 23 July, at midnight. BYU tv International will carry the performance on 21 July, at 7:00 p.m., 22 July, at midnight and again on 24 July, at 7:00 p.m.