The Tabernacle Choir organization is thrilled to announce the schedule for the return to Temple Square of daily organ recitals, weekly Choir and Bell ensemble rehearsals and Music & the Spoken Word broadcasts. For over 150 years the Salt Lake Tabernacle—and since 2000, the Conference Center—have been the Temple Square locations for live events for music lovers and visitors from around the world. In March 2020, the pandemic temporarily halted all events on Temple Square and around the world.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Heritage Tour by The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, originally scheduled for June 17–July 8, 2021, has been postponed until 2022. The 2022 performances will be in all the same cities planned for the original tour.
For nearly a quarter of a century, from 1974–1999, Jerold Ottley directed The Tabernacle Choir from its home on Temple Square. His tenure at the Choir included 1,300 Music & the Spoken Word broadcasts, 30 commercial recordings, more than 20 major tours around the world, and thousands of rehearsals and performances. Ottley died on Friday, February 19, 2021, in Salt Lake City. He was 86.
What happened when the COVID pandemic suspended daily organ performances on Temple Square—a tradition going back to 1908? The five talented Tabernacle and Temple Square organists started a new tradition for this unique time using the technology available today to stream organ concerts from Temple Square. The result: Piping Up! Organ Concerts at Temple Square is now available each and every Wednesday at noon mountain time!
