Earlier today, Tabernacle Choir music director Mack Wilberg and associate music director Ryan Murphy announced the guest artist for the 2022 Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. This holiday season the Choir will be joined by singer, actress, Broadway superstar, and Disney Legend Lea Salonga.
“We are delighted to have Lea Salonga with us as we welcome the community back to the Conference Center for our Christmas concerts,” Wilberg told Church Newsroom. “Her compelling voice will bring the holiday spirit to the hearts of our audiences with joy, peace, light and love.”
Salonga may be most recognized as the spectacular singing voice for Disney’s Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (1992) and Mulan (1998), but her resumé far surpasses those two animated films. Salonga made her professional debut at just 7 years old in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I with Repertory Philippines and released her first recorded album when she was just 10. She has been honored with the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World awards for her work on Broadway and has starred in Broadway productions of Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, Flower Drum Song, Allegiance, and Once on This Island. A native of the Philippines, Salonga was the first Asian woman to play the roles of Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables on Broadway, the first Asian actress to win a Tony Award, and the first Filipino artist to sign with an international record label. In 2011, Salonga was also inducted as a Disney Legend by The Walt Disney Company for her vocal work as Princess Jasmine and Mulan.
In 2020, Salonga shared a list of her 12 favorite Christmas songs and performances on BroadwayWorld.com, including a video on Day 7 from The Tabernacle Choir.
"Carol of the Bells by the Tabernacle Choir will instantly put you in the Christmas spirit,” she wrote for BroadwayWorld.com. “All of those incredible voices in chorus is something otherworldly. I’ve heard this piece of music in so many different versions so many times —in movies, on television, on the radio—but [this] performance will always remain my favorite and the most iconic to me."
In 2017, Salonga recorded a live album with the BYU Chamber Orchestra in Manila. The album, “The Story of My Life: Lea Salonga Live from Manila,” later won the BroadwayWorld Album Award for Best New EP/Solo Release, beating recordings from Broadway stars Ben Platt of Dear Evan Hansen, Leslie Odom Jr. of Hamilton, and Kristin Chenoweth of Wicked.
Past Broadway stars to perform with The Tabernacle Choir in recent years include Kristin Chenoweth, Hamilton star Christopher Jackson, Megan Hilty, Alfie Boe, Matthew Morrison, Laura Michelle Kelly, Santino Fontana, Angela Lansbury, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Laura Osnes, Sutton Foster, and Audra McDonald.
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The narrator for this year’s Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert will be announced on November 4.
You can read more about this year’s concert and how to register for tickets on Church Newsroom.
