Having already performed at three inaugural ceremonies and an additional three inaugural parades for presidents, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir will add another historic performance to their list at the start of the new year.
The U.S. Presidential Inauguration Committee invited the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to perform at the inauguration ceremony for President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice President-Elect Michael Pence on January 20, 2017, as Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States.
In response to this invitation, Ron Jarrett, president of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, told Mormon Newsroom, "The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has a great tradition of performing at the inaugurals of U.S. presidents. Singing the music of America is one of the things we do best. We are honored to be able to serve our country by providing music for the inauguration of our next president."
Along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, 16-year-old America's Got Talent star Jackie Evancho will perform and sing the national anthem.
President-Elect Trump's inauguration will take place over three days beginning January 19, when Trump will lay a wreath at Arlington Cemetery, and will be filled with events, concerts, and performances.
Dubbed "America's Choir" by President Ronald Reagan and a "national treasure" by President George H. W. Bush, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir first performed in a presidential inaugural ceremony in 1965 for Lyndon B. Johnson, singing "This Is My Country." Later, the choir performed at the inaugural ceremonies for Richard M. Nixon (1969) and George H. W. Bush (1989) and at the inaugural parades for Ronald Reagan (1981), George H. W. Bush (1989), and George W. Bush (2001). In addition, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has performed for five other U.S. presidents on different occasions: William Howard Taft (1911), Dwight D. Eisenhower (1958), John F. Kennedy (1963), Gerald Ford (1974), and Jimmy Carter (1978).