Tabernacle Choir to Tour Japan

The Tabernacle Choir will perform ten concerts in Japan during a tour August 15 to 28, the First Presidency has announced.

The choir will perform in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, and at the Tsukuba Science Expo ’85 in a new science center forty miles north of Tokyo.

The choir’s host and tour sponsor will be the Chukyo TV Broadcasting Co., Limited, which will broadcast one of the concerts nationwide. Chukyo TV is a major Japanese network and maintains a sister station relationship with Bonneville International Corporation and KSL-TV in Salt Lake City. The choir’s weekly international broadcasts originate through KSL-TV and KSL Radio.

The choir will also videotape a benefit program for later broadcast by the Chukyo network.

Tabernacle Choir President Wendell M. Smoot, Jr., said the concerts are scheduled in Osaka Saturday, August 17, and Monday, August 19; in Nagoya Tuesday, August 20; in Tokyo Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, August 21 to 23; at the Tsukuba Expo (two concerts) Saturday, August 24; and in Tokyo Monday and Tuesday, August 26 and 27.

“The choir is thrilled to return to Japan,” Brother Smoot said. “We remember the warm reception we received in 1979 and look forward to renewing and extending our friendships.” During its first visit to the Far East in 1979, the Tabernacle Choir performed in Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kyoto, Japan, and in Seoul, Korea.

Since that tour, the choir has also performed in locations from Jackson, Wyoming, to Brazil, Sweden, Finland, and Canada. The group traveled to Washington, D.C., in 1981 for the inauguration of United States President Ronald Reagan.

Jerold Ottley, Tabernacle Choir director, will conduct the concerts. Organ and piano accompaniment will be provided by Robert Cundick and John Longhurst, Tabernacle organists.

Some 325 choir members, plus staff members and guests, will make the tour.