The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square have announced dates and venues for their rescheduled Heritage Tour. The tour was originally postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The choir will perform in seven cities across four Nordic countries and the United Kingdom, leaving Salt Lake City on June 16, 2022, and returning to the United States on July 7, 2022. The tour will include performances in the following cities and venues:
- Stockholm, Sweden, June 18, 2022, Konserthuset Stockholm
- Helsinki, Finland, June 21, 2022, TBA
- Copenhagen, Denmark, June 25, 2022, DR Koncerthuset
- Oslo, Norway, June 28, 2022, Oslo Spektrum
- Edinburgh, Scotland, July 1, 2022, Usher Hall
- Newport, South Wales, July 4, 2022, International Convention Centre Wales
- Cardiff, Wales, July 6, 2022, St. David’s Hall (benefit concert, invitation only)
Choir President Ron Jarrett said the name of the tour is a nod to the choir’s history. Some of its earliest members had roots in Wales and other areas of Europe that the choir will visit during its upcoming tour.
"We stand on the shoulders of these musical pioneers who created a legacy that has influenced the entire world for good. What an honor it will be to share the joy and peace the music of the choir brings in some of the very places where it all began,” said Jarrett.
Choir History
The first conductor of The Tabernacle Choir, John Parry, was an early Welsh convert to the Church who later emigrated to Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1849, he led 85 Welsh members in a singing group, and he was soon asked by Church President Brigham Young to form an official choir.
Another future conductor of the choir, George Edward Percy Careless, began his musical career in London in 1862 after completing formal studies at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1865, Young approached Careless and said, “Brother George, I have a mission for you. I want you to be chief musician of the Church. I want you to take The Tabernacle Choir and the Theatre Orchestra and lay a foundation for good music.” And that is just what he did during his tenure.
The Tabernacle Choir first traveled to Europe on a seven-week concert tour in 1955. Since that first grand tour, the choir has returned to Europe five times, including tours to Western and Central Europe in 1973; Northern Europe in 1982; Eastern Europe in 1991; Western and Southern Europe in 1998; and Central Europe in 2016. The choir last toured these four Nordic cities 39 years ago in 1982. It has not visited Wales or Scotland since the first European tour in 1955.
The choir has toured extensively across the United States and abroad since its first tour outside of Utah in 1893. These tours have included performances in music capitals from Israel and Russia to Japan and Australia. A complement of approximately 65 members of the orchestra has traveled on tour with the choir since 2005.
The 360-voice choir — frequently accompanied at home by the orchestra, with its member roster of more than 200 — can also be heard weekly as part of the “Music and the Spoken Word” broadcast. This 30-minute program is the world’s longest continuing network broadcast, and it currently airs on over 2,000 radio, TV, cable and satellite stations worldwide.
The choir and orchestra are active recording artists with their own recording label, which has released over 90 CDs, DVDs and books. Ticket sales are now available at Stockholm, Copenhagen and Edinburgh. For more information, visit TabChoir.org/tour.