The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square: 2019 By the Numbers
The work of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square organization is multi-faceted. Check out the 2019 update of “By the Numbers” to get a better sense of the amazing work done by this organization made up almost entirely of volunteers!
.
200,000,000 |
The Choir’s Youtube channel has 200,000,000 views. |
900,000 |
The Choir’s library contains over 900,000 pieces of music. |
545,000 |
The Choir’s Facebook page has 545,000 followers. |
11,623 |
The Tabernacle Organ has 11,623 pipes. |
7,708 |
The Conference Center organ has 7,708 pipes. |
4,698 |
By the end of the 90th year celebrations in July 2020, the Choir will have completed 4,739 broadcasts of Music & the Spoken Word, the longest continuous weekly network broadcast in history. |
2,000 |
Over 2,000 radio, television, internet, and cable stations carry the Music & the Spoken Word broadcast. |
360 |
The Choir is made up of 360 sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses—all volunteers who rehearse a minimum of 6 hours each week. |
200 |
The Choir has made over 200 recordings since 1910. |
200 |
There are 200 instrumentalists on the roster of the Orchestra at Temple Square. The number who perform at a given performance varies by the repertoire. Approximately 65 Orchestra members accompany the Choir on tour. |
172 |
It’s been 172 years since the Choir’s early beginnings at a Church conference, three weeks after Latter-day Saint pioneers arrived in Salt Lake City in 1847. |
152 |
The venerable Salt Lake Tabernacle, from which the Choir takes its name, has been in existence for 152 years. It was initially completed in 1867 and re-dedicated in 1875. |
90 |
The Choir has been broadcasting the weekly Music & the Spoken Word for 90 years, since July 29, 1929—the longest continuous weekly radio broadcast in the world. |
75 |
On average, the Choir performs 75 times each year |
30 |
The Choir has visited 30 countries. |
5 |
The Choir has earned 5 gold records (sales of 500,000 units). |
4 |
There are 4 performing groups in The Tabernacle Choir organization: The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, Orchestra at Temple Square, Bells at Temple Square, and Chorale at Temple Square. |
4 |
The Choir has won 4 Emmy Awards: The first in 1987, for the musical special Christmas Sampler; the second in 1989, a Special Governor’s Award for Music & the Spoken Word; the third in 2013, for The Joy of Song with Katherine Jenkins; and the most recent in 2014 for the special Mormon Tabernacle Choir Presents an Evening with James Taylor and the Utah Symphony. |
3 |
Music & the Spoken Word has had 3 program announcers in over 90 years of continuous broadcasting: Richard L. Evans (1930–1971), J. Spencer Kinard (1972–1990), and Lloyd D. Newell (1990–present). |
3 |
The Choir or Music & the Spoken Word has been inducted into 3 halls of fame: the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (2004), the National Radio Hall of Fame (2010) and the American Classical Music Hall of Fame (2015). |
2 |
The Choir has earned 2 platinum records (sales of 1,000,000 units). |
1 |
Richard P. Condie, music director of the then Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was presented 1 Grammy Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus—1959 for “Battle Hymn of the Republic” with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. |