Meet the 12 Musicians Who Sang With the Tabernacle Choir at October 2025 General Conference

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By Christine Rappleye, Church News

Alexandra Dalman was 8 years old when The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square went on tour to Australia and she saw them perform in Melbourne.

“I remember sitting there and hearing the sound and feeling the Spirit so strong,” she said. She had the prompting that she should pursue singing with the Tabernacle Choir, and told her dad: “This is what I want to do. I want to be a singer, and I want to sing with the Tabernacle Choir.”

This weekend, Dalman sang alto with the 360-voice Tabernacle Choir during the October 2025 general conference.

“I’ve done everything in my life to be here today,” Dalman, who lives in Adelaide, Australia, said in a group interview with Church News.

This conference, there were 12 singers from 10 countries, three of whom sang at previous general conferences. The singers ranged from professional musicians and instructors with various degrees in music to those who sing as a hobby while working in different fields.

Alvaro Martins and Thalita Carvalho, both of Brazil, were part of the pilot group in April 2023. Elise Helene Gauthier of France sang during the October 2024 conference.

The other singers included Dalman of Australia; Celeste Temple of Hamilton, New Zealand; Dave Daplin and Kierby Nanol, both of the Philippines; Anna-Maria Karumo of Sweden; Emilia Kemppainen of Finland; Ed Pentreath of England; Mark Gem Clave of Qatar; and Pythagore Matubu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

About the Global Members

Global choir members go through a multistep audition process, similar to the process for choir members who live within 100 miles of Salt Lake City. Global choir members receive endorsements from local leaders, submit recordings and complete a theory test. They also sing live for choir officials, which sometimes happens in the middle of the night depending on time differences. Additionally, global members must have English proficiency and the ability to travel to the United States.

And like those who live in Utah and audition for the choir, some global members have auditioned more than once.

See thetabernaclechoir.org/global-participant-program for more information.

The global choir members spend about two weeks in Salt Lake City before general conference for musical training, which includes choir school and rehearsals; meeting with the Church’s music department; seeing Temple Square and the Salt Lake Tabernacle; and learning more about the choir’s history and music.

October 2025 Tabernacle Choir global members

• Alexandra Dalman, Australia, alto
• Celeste Temple, New Zealand, soprano
• Dave Daplin, Philippines, tenor
• Kierby Nanol, Philippines, bass
• Alvaro Martins, Brazil, baritone
• Thalita Carvalho, Brazil, soprano
• Anna-Maria Karumo, Sweden, alto
• Ed Pentreath, England, tenor
• Elise Helene Gauthier, France, soprano
• Emilia Kemppainen, Finland, soprano
• Mark Gem Clave, Qatar, tenor
• Pythagore Matubu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, tenor

The global participants are set apart as missionaries, like other members of the choir.

The first pilot group sang at the April 2023 general conference. In April 2024, choir leaders announced that it had become a permanent program. It’s anticipated that a dozen singers will come to Salt Lake City to perform in each general conference. Each singer serves for up to five years or until they have visited general conference twice.

• April 2023: 10 singers from six countries and territories.
• October 2023: 10 singers from eight countries and territories.
• April 2024: 12 singers from 10 countries.
• October 2024: 14 musicians from 12 countries.
• April 2025: 12 singers from six countries and territories.
• October 2025: 12 singers from 10 countries.

Here’s more about each of the global choir members at the October 2025 general conference.

‘Closer to Heaven’

Carvalho’s degree is in choir conducting, so she’s watched the way conductors direct choirs, including the Tabernacle Choir conductor. And she’s noticed a different feeling when she hears the choir — she can feel the Spirit.

“Even though I’ve been working with music my whole life, every time I listen to the Tabernacle Choir, we can feel something different,” said Carvalho, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, who sings soprano.

Being a global member has helped her see the testimonies of the other global singers.

“I know that all of us really believe in our Savior, Jesus Christ. There is no doubt about that,” she said.

Martins, of Natal, Brazil, was in the choir in April 2023 when a temple was announced for his city. “I can’t even tell in words,” he said of his excitement that day. He directed the youth choir for the temple groundbreaking in May.

Growing up, his ward didn’t have a pianist for several years, but a missionary would occasionally play. “I felt so different when we had the sacrament meeting with the piano. … It was a different experience.”

Martins’ aunt, who was the ward music director, invited him to learn to play the piano when he was 12. A missionary helped teach him some basics, and Martins started playing just the melody and slowly began adding other parts.

Martins, who is an attorney and sings baritone, has sung in his university choirs and in ward and stake choirs.

Carvalho and Martins are both excited for the Tabernacle Choir’s tour stop in Brazil next February — and they’ve seen the excitement of others in Brazil, too.

The first time Clave saw a piano was as a child in the Philippines when a new Church building was constructed in his area. Without a musical background, he began teaching himself to play. He was 10 when he was called as the branch pianist.

Later, while serving a mission in the Philippines, “I told myself that everything that I learned on my own, I should share it,” Clave said. He began teaching others to play the piano so they would have someone to play in sacrament meeting.

Clave, who has lived in Qatar since 2013 and works for an automotive company, said in the past couple of years he has developed an eye condition that makes it difficult to see music. His son is now a ward pianist.

So to prepare for conference, Clave, who sings tenor, listened to the Tabernacle Choir’s music. But hearing them in person for the first time? “It feels closer to heaven.”

Musical Missionaries

By the time Dalman heard the Tabernacle Choir perform in Australia, she was learning to play the piano. Then, as a teenager, she started singing in choirs. She was told she had a loud voice, “so I started taking singing lessons to refine that loud sound.” Dalman has a graduate degree in music performance. She served a mission in Melbourne and was part of her mission’s choir.

“Music can help people feel the Spirit and help people understand God’s love for them,” she said.

Temple, of Hamilton, New Zealand, is the youngest of six children in a musical family that would also sing and play instruments together — something that they still do. “We’re always in the garage on the instruments.”

In Salt Lake City, the schedule had rehearsals, devotionals, choir school and more, said Temple, who is a midwife and sings soprano. “You should feel really exhausted and overwhelmed. … But it’s like a happy overwhelm.”

Like many of the global members, it was her first time in Salt Lake City. “It’s full of amazing stuff with things you love and people that you love.”

Kemppainen is originally from Sweden and now lives with her family in Finland. Her father was a musician and “music was just always around.” Initially, she wanted to be a ballerina, but when that didn’t work out, she decided to pursue music and taught music in school.

When her family moved to Finland, they couldn’t bring their piano. When they bought a piano, she sat down to play and was frustrated. “I wanted to be useful. I wanted to be able to use my talent,” she said. She added that the next Church calling she received was ward pianist.

“Music was always a part of my life,” said Kemppainen, who sings soprano.

Testimony Strengthening

Gauthier, of France, started first with piano, then switched to the viola, then started singing. The soprano singer has lived in Paris, France, and in Vienna, Austria, for three years while studying vocal performance. She is pursuing a career as a professional singer.

“What music is for is to share the Spirit with other people,” she said. And singing with the Tabernacle Choir “is a very direct path to share that very important message with people.”

She and Dalman have both seen how posting on social media about their experiences has led to people asking about their faith. It’s also helped others be more excited to watch general conference sessions.

Pentreath, of Ipswich, England, grew up in a musical family, where he learned to play the violin and trombone. Their family rule was that each child had to complete one of their practice sessions before early-morning seminary classes. “It taught us discipline and is how we grew up,” Pentreath said.

He played solos and his siblings played in quartets. He used the money he earned playing music to help pay for his mission.

“Music was definitely the way that I felt Spirit and gained my testimony when growing up,” he said. He added, “I think music connects me to the plan of salvation better than anything else.”

Studying the Tabernacle Choir’s song lyrics while learning the music also helped his testimony, he said.

“The music is lovely, but the words are just always inviting peace. They’re always inviting us to the Savior,” said Pentreath, who sings tenor.

Karumo of Stockholm, Sweden, said the Tabernacle Choir’s music plays at her house each Sunday. She played viola as a child and then sang in choirs, including high school and university choirs. She now studies medicine and currently works as an oncologist in a palliative care center.

While visiting her brother in the United States, Karumo was invited to rehearse with the Tabernacle Choir. “I figured, that was it,” she said of singing with the choir. “The Lord knows that I love music, and I love singing [in] choirs.”

Karumo, who sings alto, is friends with singers who were part of the global members pilot project and who encouraged her to apply. Auditioning for the Tabernacle Choir was the “scariest thing I’ve done pretty much in my life.”

But being accepted “was a tender mercy of the Lord,” Karumo said.

“We do have the responsibility to continue the work back home,” she said, noting the contributions of those in the pilot programs.

‘Dream Come True’

Daplin, a tenor from the Philippines, said his mother always loved music. He competed in a vocal competition at 6 years old and joined choirs throughout school. After serving a mission, Daplin and Nanol were part of a choir in the Philippines with global member Ronald Baa, which helped them both learn more music theory.

Looking back, Daplin said he sees how he was “being prepared for this time. … And I’m actually living testimony for that.”

Nanol’s grandparents and their 11 children “were very passionate about singing” when a neighbor helped introduce them to the Church. It was the Tabernacle Choir’s music that helped with Nanol’s grandparents’ conversion as they waited for VHS tapes from general conference.

“They left a huge legacy in their local area,” said Nanol, who sings bass. “It helped the church in Cagayan de Oro flourish.” He thought about while he was in Salt Lake City, especially the first time he walked into the Tabernacle.

Music also impacted his own conversion. At 16, he was away from the Church when someone invited him to join the ward choir.

Nanol said he’s excited to bring what he’s learned back to his hometown.

Matubu’s mother is a traditional singer in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and she taught him and his siblings to sing. He was 11 when his family joined the Church.

Soon, their district was split and the pianist was in the other district. So Matubu’s branch president invited him to learn to play the piano, arranging for the other branch’s pianist to teach Matubu.

Matubu, who sings tenor, has since studied music at the National Institute of Arts, Kinshasa, and helped organize choirs for the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple dedication in 2019.

He first heard the Tabernacle Choir sing in general conference when his family received VHS tapes several months after general conference.

He wondered: “What do I have to do to be one of them? One of the guys singing in the choir?”

Matubu added, “This is a dream come true.”

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