page_title: Mormon Tabernacle Choir
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Mormon Tabernacle Choir / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square performing on December 3, 2005, in the LDS Conference Center under the direction of Craig Jessop. The choir is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is named after the Salt Lake Tabernacle, where it has performed for over a hundred years.
context_page_description: The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir that is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for over 100 years. The Tabernacle houses an organ, consisting of 11,623 pipes, which usually accompanies the choir.
  The choir was founded in August 1847, one month after the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. Prospective singers must be LDS Church members who are eligible for a temple recommend, between 25 and 55 years of age at the start of choir service, and live within 100 miles of Temple Square.
  The choir is one of the most famous choirs in the world. It first performed for a U.S. President in 1911, and has performed at the inaugurations of presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. The choir's weekly devotional program, Music & the Spoken Word, is one of the longest-running radio programs in the world, and has aired every week since July 15, 1929.
context_section_description: The Tabernacle was completed in 1867 and the choir held its first concert there on July 4, 1873.
  The choir started out fairly small and rather undisciplined. In 1869, George Careless was appointed as the choir's conductor and the Tabernacle Choir began to improve musically. Under Careless, the first large choir was assembled by adding smaller choral groups to the main Salt Lake Choir. This larger choir, just over 300, sang at the church's October 1873 general conference. It was at this point that the choir began to match the size of the spacious Tabernacle. On September 1, 1910, the choir sang the song, "Let the Mountains shout for Joy", as their first ever recording. Three hundred of the 600 members showed up for the recording.
  Since July 15, 1929, the choir has performed a weekly radio broadcast called Music & the Spoken Word, which is one of the longest-running continuous radio network broadcasts in the world.
  Later directors brought more solid vocal training and worked to raise the standards of the choir. The choir also began improving as an ensemble and increased its repertoire from around one hundred songs to nearly a thousand. In July 1929, the choir performed its first radio broadcast of Music & the Spoken Word. By 1950, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performed numerous concerts each year and had released its first long-playing recording. During the 1950s, the choir made its first tour of Europe and earned a Grammy Award for its recording of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". Later directors of the choir continued to hone and refine the choir's sound.
  At the end of the choir's 4,165th live broadcast on July 12, 2009, the show's host, Lloyd D. Newell, announced another milestone that the show had hit: the completion of its 80th year in existence. The show has been televised since the early 1960s and is now broadcast worldwide through approximately 1,500 radio and television stations.
  On October 5, 2018, the choir retired the name "The Mormon Tabernacle Choir" and adopted the name "The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square" in order to align with the direction of LDS Church leadership regarding the use of terms "Mormon" and "LDS" in referencing church members. The new name retains the reference to the historic Salt Lake Tabernacle, which has been the choir's home for over 150 years, and its location on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.
  Several award-winning popular artists have reflected on the beauty of the choir's music publicly including: Bryn Terfel, Gladys Knight (of Gladys Knight and the Pips), Sting (of The Police), James Taylor, Ric Ocasek (of The Cars), and The Osmonds.
caption: The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square performing on December 3, 2005, in the LDS Conference Center under the direction of Craig Jessop
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