ChurchBeat: There’s no place like home for holiday concerts

Dancers perform around the Tree of Life with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and Orchestra at Temple Square during a Christmas concert at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday. Due to the pandemic, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched a new “Christmas Collection” concert series on Tuesday night. Each day at 6 p.m. MST through Dec. 23, the church will broadcast a new concert with videos submitted by performers from all over the world.  | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

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The pandemic erased a major Christmas staple from this month’s calendar of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Christmas concert by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square in Salt Lake City that annually drew 60,000 people over three performances and was taped for future national broadcasts.

Gone, too, are the school choirs that sang to bustling crowds all day long throughout December in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building next to the Salt Lake Temple.

You better not pout, though. This won’t be the year without a Christmas concert. “Bells are ringing, children singing, all is merry and bright,” ’cause here comes Christmas music tonight.

And every other night between now and Christmas Eve.

The church launched a new “Christmas Collection” concert series on Tuesday night. Each day at 6 p.m. MST through Dec. 23, the church will broadcast a new concert with videos submitted by performers from all over the world.

Soloists like Yulia Tymochko of Rivne, Ukraine, will be highlighted alongside larger groups like the Redwood Ringers 12-bell Choir from California.

Families provided videos for the broadcasts. So did high school choirs. Missionary choirs from Korea, Bulgaria and Spain got involved. So did a stake in El Salvador and Young Single Adults from South Africa.

One group from Utah named itself “Hinge Point.” It will sing “Heaven Everywhere.” Another group called “The Merriam Websters” will perform “Once in Royal David’s City.”

Songs will be performed in English, Swedish, French, Spanish and other languages.

You can find the broadcasts at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

There will be some special exceptions:

• The kickoff concert aired on Tuesday, when apostles and other church leaders read from Luke 2 in multiple languages, sister missionaries led a virtual tour of Temple Square and performers sang and played for the 45-minute broadcast, “Celebrating the Light of the World.”
• On Sunday night, the First Presidency Christmas Devotional will be held at 6 p.m. MST. The music will be selected from previous Christmas devotionals by the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. Watch the livestream here.
• On Dec. 14, the church will broadcast a special called “Light the World: Social Sing and Serve.” Watch it here.

Meanwhile, three previous Christmas concerts by the Tabernacle Choir and its guest stars will air at 6 p.m. MST on BYUtv on the following days:

• Dec. 3, Tabernacle Choir with Sutton Foster and Hugh Bonneville, 2017.
• Dec. 10, Tabernacle Choir with Kristin Chenoweth, 2018.
• Dec. 17, Tabernacle Choir with Kelli O’Hara and Richard Thomas, 2019.

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke briefly Tuesday after other church leaders read from Luke 2 during the Christmas concert kickoff. His remarks referred to church leaders’ efforts over the past 14 months to encourage people to #HearHim, learning how to listen to Jesus Christ’s voice and influence in their lives.

“The shepherds heard him as they heard heavenly hosts testifying of him,” Elder Cook said. “As we celebrate that sacred event, we likewise can hear him. In doing so, we will find peace and joy amid the trials that surround us.”

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