Touring timeline of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square
Over the last 150 years, there are few symbols of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as iconic as the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. From humble beginnings, the choir has undergone numerous changes, played for presidents and traveled the globe.
Below are some of the significant dates in the choir’s history, courtesy of Heidi Swinton, choir biographer:
Touring: 1800s
July 4, 1873: First public concert of Choir — outside of General Conference — in honor of Independence Day
Sept. 28, 1880: The Choir (about 150 singers) takes its first trip away from Salt Lake City, to American Fork.
Aug. 29-Sept. 12, 1893: The Choir’s first major tour is to the Chicago World’s Fair and Eisteddfod contest.
Touring: 1901 – 1920
March 14-24, 1902: Toured California cities giving concerts in San Francisco, Sacramento, Berkley and Palo Alto as part of the San Francisco World’s Fair.
Aug. 21-Sept. 1, 1909: Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition Tour including stops in LeGrand, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.
Oct. 23-Nov. 26, 1911: Embarked on a 5,500-mile tour, performed 50 concerts between Utah and New York City. They also sang in the East Room of the White House for President William Howard Taft and at the dedication of the Oliver Cowdery monument, “Praise to the Man” while on tour.
Touring: 1921 -1940
July 15, 1929: First broadcast of what became “Music and the Spoken Word.” Director Anthony Lund (1871-1935), organist Edward P. Kimball (1882-1937) and Ted Kimball (1910-1985) announced the program on KDYL, predecessor to today’s KSL radio.
Sept. 8-19, 1934: Chicago and the Century of Progress — 14 one-hour concerts. Henry Ford invited the choir to present a series of concerts for one week at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago.
July 18-28, 1935: Choir gave 14 concerts at the California-Pacific International Exposition at San Diego in the Ford Bowl, now called “Starlight Bowl, at the invitation of the Ford Motor Company.
Touring: 1941 to 1960
Aug. 17, 1941: Choir travels to southern California for concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Opera Association. The choir also sponsored a concert at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium.
April 4-6, 1943: The choir sang at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. The music was the same as at the dedication.
Aug. 19-Sept. 17, 1955: The choir, with 361 voices, tours Europe starting in Glasgow, Scotland and traveling through Wales, England, The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. Sang at Sporthalle Schoenberg for German saints who could cross the border and for the refugees from the Russian zone. The evening concert was shared in countries behind the Iron Curtain by Radio Free Europe and broadcast over RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) to eastern Germany. While in Bern, Switzerland, they participated in the dedication of the Swiss Temple. The tour ended at the Palais De Chaillot in Paris, France. The choir gave fourteen concerts in twelve major cities. This was the first trip by the choir outside of the United States.
1958: Grand Eastern American Tour including Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Washington D.C., Maryland, New York at Carnegie Hall, Constitution Hall in Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto and Illinois.
Nov. 26-29, 1959: A portion of the Choir were at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles when the Tabernacle Choir won a Grammy for the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
Touring: 1961-1980
Aug. 12-19, 1962: Pacific Northwest tour performing in Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, British Columbia; World’s Fair Arena in Seattle and throughout Washington.
May 23-26, 1963: Concerts in East Bay Interstate Center in Oakland, California. Cornerstone laying ceremony for the Oakland Temple and the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles.
July 20-Aug. 1, 1964: New York World’s Fair Tour playing 13 concerts in 12 days, appearing before 70,000 people across 5,400 miles. They visit Houston, New Orleans, the White House, New York (Carnegie Hall), Cleveland, Milwaukee and Minneapolis.
Aug. 21-30, 1967: Expo ’67 Tabernacle Centennial Tour in Nebraska, Montreal, Rhode Island, New York, Michigan and Oklahoma.
Jan. 18-20, 1969: Inauguration program of Richard Nixon, Washington, D.C.; pre-inaugural concert at the Capitol.
Dec. 16, 1970: Choir sang for National Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C.
Jan 21, 1973: Choir sang at White House devotional services as part of President Richard Nixon’s inauguration, East Room of the White House.
August 1973: Oberammergau concert on stage of the Passion Playhouse; concert in the Louvre Court in Paris, France; concert at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. Recording session with Royal Philharmonic in Kingsway Hall.
July 18-19, 1974: Expo ’74 in Spokane, Washington
Sept. 13, 1974: Washington, D.C. for temple open house and dedication. President Gerald Ford (1913-2006) attended a concert at the Kennedy Center where the choir performed.
June 28, 1976: Eastern States Bicentennial Tour ending with the dedication of the Visitors Center at the Washington Temple.
July 4, 1976: Choir participates in the U.S. Bicentennial tours in Utah, Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Washington, D.C.
Sept 8-13, 1979: The choir gives 13 concerts in Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, and then Seoul, South Korea.
Touring: 1981 – 2000
Jan. 20, 1981: Inauguration of President Ronald Reagan who calls the group “America’s Choir.”
June 5-22, 1982: Choir toured England, Scandinavia and Europe.
June 22 -July 1, 1984: Toronto and Ottawa, Canada, and Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, and the Red Rocks in Colorado.
Aug. 15-28, 1985: Choir tours Japan.
June 14-July 6, 1988: Expo ’88 Pacific Tour in Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia
Jan. 18-22, 1988: Inauguration of President George H. W. Bush
June 8-29, 1991: Choir tours Eastern Europe including Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Russia.
July 19-Aug. 1, 1992: Summer tour commemorating Columbus’ 500th Anniversary from Richmond, Virginia, ends at the RLDS (Community of Christ) Auditorium Conference Center, in Independence, Missouri
Dec. 26, 1992-Jan. 6, 1993: Tours Israel and performs with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Concert at the BYU Jerusalem Center.
July 29-30, 1996: San Francisco, Davies Symphony Hall as part of “Festival of History Week.” “Sesquicentennial of the arrival of the Ship Brooklyn bringing Saints to San Francisco.”
April 5, 1997: 150th Anniversary of the arrival of the pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. Toured Utah.
Touring: 2001 – Present
Jan. 18-21, 2001: Inauguration of President George W. Bush.
June 15-24, 2001: Southern States Tour — Eight concerts in five state covering about 2,025 miles.
June 26-30, 2002: Choir sings at the dedication of the newly rebuilt Nauvoo Temple.
June 19, 2003: Utah Gov. Michael G. Leavitt proclaims it “Mormon Tabernacle Choir” Day for 75 years of broadcasting, and in preparation for Northeastern United States and Canada Tour.
June 17 – Jul7 3, 2005: Pacific Northwest Tour — Performed nine concerts in five states.
June 21-July 3, 2007: Canada-Midwest Tour – Performed nine concerts in five states.
June 20-27, 2011: Centennial tour of Canada and Eastern United States celebrating 100 years of multi-city tours.
June 12-20, 2013: Choir tours the midwestern United States.
June 24-July 7, 2015: Choir tours the eastern United States.
June 27-July 16, 2016: Choir Tours Western Europe, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Rotterdam, Vienna, and Zurich.
Jan. 20, 2017: Inauguration of President Donald Trump.
June 18-Jul 3, 2018: West Coast Choir Tour in California, Washington and Vancouver, Canada.
-
- Mormon Tabernacle Choir at St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow, USSR in 1991.
-
- Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square sing in Toronto concert in 2011.
-
- Kirtland Temple, where the Tabernacle Choir began, is shown during dedication services.
-
- The Tabernacle Choir sings at the 1989 inauguration for George W. Bush.
-
- “Sesame Street” character Big Bird gets a lesson on how to be a conductor from Tabernacle Choir conductor Mack Wilberg during the choir’s annual “Christmas Concert” at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Dec. 14, 2017.
-
- The Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Linderhof Castle, Bavaria, Germany in 1973.
-
- The Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, in 1955.