Former member of Mormon Tabernacle Choir called as new president
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs between speakers at the 182nd Annual General Conference Saturday, March 31, 2012, at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. JORDAN STEAD / Daily Herald
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs during the Saturday morning session of the April 2012 general conference. Ph: Intellectual Reserve
Ronald Jarrett, the new president of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. Ph: Intellectual Reserve
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has a new president, but he’s no stranger to the choir, its operations or its mission.
President Ronald B. Jarrett sang in the choir for nearly eight years before serving as assistant to choir president Mac Christensen from 2008 to 2011. At that point, he began serving with his wife as a public affairs missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Frankfurt, Germany. The couple was 13 months into their mission when Jarrett received a call from LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson to serve as president of the choir in June 2012. Their mission was cut short, and Jarrett began his duties Aug. 1.
“I’m thrilled with the First Presidency’s selection of our dear friend Ron Jarrett as the new president of the choir,” outgoing choir president Christensen said in a news release. “Ron will do a magnificent job and will touch many hearts.”
Jarrett worked as a teacher for 12 years and an elementary school principal for 22 years before his retirement, so he is familiar with administration. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Brigham Young University and a postgraduate certificate from the University of Utah, and music has always been part of his life. He played the clarinet and piano as a youth and sang in school choirs during junior high and high school before becoming involved with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as an adult. As president of the choir, Jarrett’s work is on a volunteer basis, meaning he isn’t paid for the time he spends performing his duties. Jarrett’s prior experience with the choir not only helps him understand the day-to-day responsibilities before him, but also allows him a clear view of the choir’s overarching purposes.
“We were thrilled to find out we would have someone leading us who understands us, who has a background with the choir and who shares a background and a commitment to taking the choir where it needs to go,” says Scott Barrick, Mormon Tabernacle Choir general manager, who handles the choir’s business and legal affairs.
Jarrett says he is excited to help the choir touch the lives of people around the world. As president, he oversees the choir’s operations, staff and marketing. He also has administrative duties that include making sure the details associated with the choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square run smoothly and that programs stay within budget. And that is no small job — the choir has 360 volunteer members and has performed in North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific.
Since its beginnings in 1847, the choir has earned two platinum and five gold albums, and its rendition of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” won a Grammy Award in 1959. The choir was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame in 2004 and had an album at No. 1 on Billboard’s classical chart for eight weeks in 2007. And it’s still moving forward.
“I am thrilled with the opportunity of being able to serve in this position,” Jarrett says. “I consider it a great responsibility. It is such a joy to share all that is beautiful, all that is appropriate, all that is worthwhile with the world. We want to touch the hearts of people everywhere through this great medium. … It is truly a great work to be involved in.”
It’s a work that Jarrett first engaged in many years ago when he began music lessons, which he says he decided to do when he recognized he wasn’t a gifted athlete.
“I had to find something else to help me express myself, and I selected music. I’ve never regretted that,” he says. “All of my experiences in music have taught me that what I chose was important for me and my future. Music has been a big part of my life. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without it.”
Jarrett says he wants to help the choir share its music with people around the world, and he says he hopes to never lose sight of what it’s like to sit in the choir seats.
“Having been in the seats for a while and having experienced all that’s there for the choir members to enjoy and participate in, I want to make sure I don’t lose that [insight] when I’m busy with details or business responsibilities,” he says. “I want to always put things in perspective by considering what the choir members are feeling. I don’t want to lose that touch.”
Jarrett says he also has a clear view of what the choir needs to do to help meet the spiritual needs of an increasingly secular world.
“We can’t get to everyone in the world, but our focus will begin to shift to looking to the future through the digital processes,” he says. “That includes finding a niche with the younger generation to help them connect with the music using the Internet and other new media.”
Barrick says he and others associated with the choir share that same vision.
“When the choir celebrated the 75th anniversary of ‘Music and the Spoken Word,’ President Hinckley said the choir was just at the foothills of what it can accomplish,” Barrick said, referring to the late Gordon B. Hinckley, 15th president of the LDS Church. “I get emotional about where we are on our climb of that mountain. The recording industry is changing significantly, and the choir has always been on the forefront of advances. It’s hard to do that. We have a Facebook page with nearly 250,000 ‘Likes,’ a Twitter following, and an e-newsletter with thousands of subscribers. We’re just trying to do everything we can to expand the reach of the choir, not only through traditional mechanisms, but also through new means to reach the younger demographic.”
Jarrett has a great responsibility to guide the choir into the future, but he doesn’t have to do it all on his own. President Monson has a special interest in the choir, and Jarrett says he occasionally receives direction from Monson.
This weekend, the choir is performing music for LDS general conference in Salt Lake City, and Jarrett says the most important thing he can do is prepare the choir to help LDS Church members spiritually.
“We invite them to fast, to go to the temple, to pray about the music, to do a good deed, to forgive someone they have wronged, to put their lives in order the best they can so that as they come to conference, their offering — their music — will touch the hearts of all who listen,” Jarrett said. “We want to open the doors for the Spirit to reach in.”