Mormon Tabernacle Choir Finishes California Portion of 2018 Tour
Contributed By Jason Swensen, Church News associate editor
Lloyd Newell speaks during a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on Monday, June 25, 2018. Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
Related Links
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
First tip if you ever find yourself on tour with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square: learn the language.
Luggage pull. Organ sound check. Guest conductor. Load and go.
They are all “tour talk” you can expect to hear several times a day during the ongoing 2018 Classic Coast Tour.
After a week, you’ll likely start using them yourself.
Following the Wednesday, June 27, concert at Sonoma State University, the choir and orchestra has put behind them five concerts in the seven-city tour. California stops in Costa Mesa, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Mountain View, and Rohnert Park have been added to the choir’s rich history in the Golden State.
Audiences in Vancouver, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, await.
Days before the 2018 Tour began, choir president Ron Jarrett said his hope was for audiences to leave concerts with their spirits soaring. The California audiences have certainly had a lot of fun—with shouts of “Bravo!” and “Encore!” after each performance. (The choir and orchestra always seem eager to oblige.)
Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square tour. Graphic by Aaron Thorup, Deseret News.
Many of the same selections are performed throughout the tour—but each venue takes on its own personality. And the guest conductors who take the baton to lead the choir and orchestra for an encore number are reflecting that uniqueness.
Numbered among the guest conductors have been a pair of prominent local choir directors, a California lawmaker, and a radio personality.
Friends are being made. Bridges are being built. But numerous choir and orchestra members say their greatest desire is to testify of Christ through their music.
Selections of, say, the “American Songbook” and the choral masters are surely highlights of each show. But the concerts are defined by beloved hymns such as “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and, aptly, “God Be with You Till We Meet Again.”
Isabella Kroutil and her mother, Holly Kroutil, watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on Monday, June 25, 2018. Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on Monday, June 25, 2018. Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
Mack Wilberg, music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, watches the start of the concert from backstage before going on at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on Monday, June 25, 2018.
Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
Robert Gerlach gets ready backstage before the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on Monday, June 25, 2018. Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on Monday, June 25, 2018. Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
Members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sail around San Francisco Bay with the San Francisco Sailing Company on a recovery day between concerts on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.
Michael Young and other members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sail around San Francisco Bay with the San Francisco Sailing Company on a recovery day between concerts in California on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.
Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
Hillary Fuller sails with other members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir around San Francisco Bay with the San Francisco Sailing Company on a recovery day between concerts on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
Brad Winn takes a selfie while sailing with members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir around San Francisco Bay with the San Francisco Sailing Company on a recovery day between concerts on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
Rebecca Cheney rides a cable car through San Francisco on a recovery day between Mormon Tabernacle Choir concerts on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
