Tabernacle Choir’s mission is to expand its international reach through rehearsals, tours, and translations.

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SALT LAKE CITY – The tabernacle choir on Temple Square is one of the more recognizable symbols of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And it’s well-known and well-respected both outside and inside the United States, says former Utah governor Mike Levitt, now president of the Tabernacle Choir.

He remembered being at a small inn in Scotland, and when the subject of choir came up, Levitt told him that the innkeeper watched the choir broadcast every week. Speaking about his weekly broadcast, it was clear that the singer was important to him.

Even for people who aren’t members of the church, Levitt said the choir “stirs up important emotions.” Many people have commented on how Christmas music is an important part of Christmas for them.

The choir is now seeking to grow its global audience as a tool to help spread the message of the Church around the world. Levitt said it’s important for people to feel connected to the tabernacle choir wherever the church is organized.

“Our sponsor, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is a church with a worldwide mission. The Tabernacle Choir is certainly one of the symbols of the church and an important one, if you will. We find ways to highlight or enhance that global mission of the church,” Levitt said.

One change is adding the words “worldwide” to the choir’s mission statement, which Levitt says is an intentional reminder that the choir’s purpose is to reach everyone and “deliver the kind of music of peace and healing that helps people feel.” Divine feeling in them.”

“The Tabernacle Choir in Temple Square offers music that inspires people around the world to draw closer to the divine and feel God’s love for His children.”

– Mission Statement of Tabernacle Choir

Church President Russell M. In a Nov. 15 meeting with a choir organization to expand the choir’s reach, Nelson shared how he sees choirs as part of the church’s growth around the world.

“The church will continue to grow and fill the world. It will continue to bless many nations, languages, and people. The Lord is speeding up the work of the global assembly of Israel in His promise. You can be sure that the Tabernacle will be a vital part of that era,” President Nelson said. .

3 new initiatives: experiments, visits and translations

Along with the expanded mission are three initiatives: inviting people from other countries to sing with the choir, translating “music and spoken word” broadcasts into other languages, and making frequent, but small, tours.

Levitt said he hopes each of these pilot projects will help choir presidents and church leaders better understand how to communicate the church’s message around the world and “support and exemplify” the church’s global mission.

Levitt said he and others outside the United States have learned that if they see people from their own countries in the choir — and with the church itself — they have a deeper connection.

So at the next General Assembly, people from Mexico, Central America, South America, West Africa, the Philippines and Asia will be invited to join the choir. Levitt said they expect to add five to 20 people to the 360-person choir.

This may be a one-time or occasional event, depending on how this first process goes, but they hope that this effort will bring more connections with choirs around the world. It may lead to the development of other ways for people outside the United States to sing with the tabernacle choir.

With the help of church leaders around the world, the choir is already taking steps to identify and select people with choir qualifications in these countries and help them go through the same audition process that current choir members have gone through. . Levitt said each of these candidates would be eligible to be in the choir if they lived near Salt Lake City, where the choir is based.

To help them prepare, they travel to Salt Lake City a month before general conference and begin live rehearsals with the choir.

“The choir will be a great way to get to know each other better. I think it will be a powerful symbol to people around the world that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an international church. Mission,” Levitt said.

The Choir’s weekly broadcast, “Music and the Spoken Word,” is the longest-running weekly network broadcast in the world. It was broadcast for the first time in 1929 and has been distributed in many stations around the world. Levitt said the show’s audience in some parts of the world isn’t as large as it could be because it’s in English.

To make the broadcast more accessible, the choir plans to read the narration, the same words spoken by Lloyd D. Newell, translated by speakers of other languages.

At this point, they plan to create languages ​​in Spanish and Portuguese, but as they learn more about its viability, Levitt said, they are interested in translating the weekly broadcast into languages ​​around the world so people can hear and see the broadcast in their own language. .

“We believe this will be something that will be well-received around the world,” Levitt said.

The choir has been touring for 175 years, typically every two years. Levitt said the church now plans to expand this by changing the choir’s itinerary. He plans to travel with smaller groups for shorter periods of time – but more frequently. The new travel concept may include collective performance, multiple performances in one location, and a focus on digital media before and after travel.

The choir will test this new approach during a trip to Mexico City on June 13-19, 2023.

“I think it will be clear as we begin this process that we are going around the world to take the message of the choir and the church all over the world,” Levitt said.

He said the change in the choir’s mission is not only a reminder to the choir, but also a reminder that all Latter-day Saints are part of the universal church.

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