How COVID-19 Impacts The Tabernacle Choir Organization
This webpage is updated as new information becomes available. Changes are listed by the publication date of the COVID-necessitated changes, with the most recent date first.
CHANGES ANNOUNCED AUGUST 21, 2020
2020 live concert events including the Christmas concert have been cancelled:
- Fall concert for the Orchestra at Temple Square
- November concert for the Bells at Temple Square
- Christmas 2020 concert for The Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square, and Bells at Temple Square.
The Choir will explore ways to continue its annual traditions of TV specials and Christmas CD and DVD recordings for 2021.
Remaining 2020 Choir audition cycle phases will be postponed until 2021.
Applicants who were successful in Phase 1 of the 2020 audition application process are receiving a letter from the Choir informing them that the remaining three audition phases will be postponed until 2021.
CHANGES ANNOUNCED JUNE 16, 2020
2021 Rescheduled Heritage Tour Dates Announced.
The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square will travel internationally from Thursday, 17 June through Thursday, 8 July 2021. The tour will include performances in the same cities previously planned for the 2020 tour which was rescheduled to 2021 due to the pandemic.
The 2020 Music for a Summer Evening annual concert will be presented as a special internet and television broadcast.
Instead of the annual concert usually presented in conjunction with community-wide Pioneer Day celebrations which have been cancelled due to COVID-19, The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra will present a special 60-minute online and television broadcast entitled Music for a Summer Evening: Celebrating 90 Years of Broadcasting.
CHANGES ANNOUNCED MAY 8, 2020
The Pre-Tour concert scheduled for June 11, 2020, is cancelled.
The public concert by The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square scheduled prior to their tour departure has been cancelled for this year.
The Bells at Temple Square Spring Concert scheduled for June 12, 2020, is cancelled.
The public spring concert by the Bells at Temple Square has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled.
The Restoration Concert scheduled for May 29, 30, 2020, has been cancelled.
The concert by The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Restoration will not be held.
CHANGES ANNOUNCED APRIL 30, 2020
The 2020 Heritage Tour has been postponed until 2021. More details will be published in a few weeks.
The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, originally scheduled to tour six cities in four Nordic countries and the United Kingdom from June 25 - July 16, 2020, has been postponed until 2021. The 2021 performances will be in all the same cities planned for the original tour. Further information about revised dates and ticket information will be published later. Until that time, patrons are asked not to contact the concert venues until further details are available.
CHANGES ANNOUNCED MARCH 13, 2020
Consistent with the direction provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to postpone large public gatherings in areas challenged by the COVID-19 virus, The Tabernacle Choir organization has cancelled concerts and made changes to its public broadcasts and rehearsals.:
Music & the Spoken Word: Special encore performances will be broadcast.
Since Sunday, March 15, 2020, live broadcasts originating from Temple Square have not being held. Special encore broadcasts, previously recorded, are being streamed and broadcast each week at the regularly scheduled time 9:30 a.m. mountain on Sunday mornings.
Spring Chorale and Orchestra Concert, March 20–21, 2020, is cancelled.
The public spring concert by the Orchestra at Temple Square and Temple Square Chorale has been cancelled.
Choir and Orchestra Concert of Handel’s Messiah is cancelled; Stream Still Airs.
The live event scheduled in the Tabernacle on Friday and Saturday, April 10–11, has been cancelled. However, the previously recorded 2018 Messiah concert by the Choir and Orchestra with world-class soloists was streamed over the internet on April 10 as previously scheduled.
This permitted a performance of this beloved oratorio—an Easter tradition for so many—to be available in homes and areas where public events can still be held. More information can be found on TabChoir.org/Messiah.
It is anticipated that the biennial tradition of Handel’s Messiah performances by the Choir and Orchestra and guest soloists will resume at Eastertime in 2021.
Weekly Choir Rehearsals Not Being Held.
The Thursday Choir rehearsals in the Tabernacle are not being held.
Weekly Bells Rehearsals Not Being Held.
The Wednesday Bells rehearsals in the Tabernacle are not being held.
Daily Organ Recitals Cancelled.
The daily organ recitals in the Tabernacle will be temporarily suspended beginning on Sunday, March 15th until further notice.