Tabernacle Choir Achieves Historic Milestone
You’ve probably heard of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. You may know it by its former name, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It may be the most well-known choir in the world, and it is ranked among the best.
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square is a 360-voice volunteer chorus based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It had its beginnings in 1847.
The Broadcast
Ninety-six years ago, on July 15, 1929, it started broadcasting a weekly radio program. The program was soon distributed on national networks and became known as “Music and the Spoken Word.” It is the longest continuous weekly network broadcast in the world. On July 13, 2025, the choir reached a milestone: its 5000th broadcast.
From its small beginnings, the program’s audience has grown to six million in over 50 countries, reached through radio, television, and internet streaming.
Being a member
Being a member of the Choir is demanding. Singers must be 25-55 years old when they are accepted, and they must leave at age 60 or after 20 years, whichever comes first. Members sing for 11 years on average. The average singer spends around 20 hours per week to prepare for about 75 performances per year. In addition to the weekly broadcasts, the Choir sings at church events, performs in concerts on tour, and presents broadcast specials and recordings.
Choosing the music
According to its mission statement, the Choir “performs music that inspires people throughout the world to draw closer to the divine and feel God’s love for His children.” The music is intended to appeal to a wide variety of musical tastes. Jerald Ottley, who conducted the Choir from 1972 to 1999, said, “If we performed only ‘high brow’ choral works we would be disappointing the core of our audience who may be just as moved by ‘Danny Boy’ as others are by a work of Bach or Brahms. . . . The music that communicates is the music that is important, no matter how we musicians might regard it from a strictly musical point of view.”
The Choir typically performs a mix of hymns, folk songs, patriotic pieces, Broadway tunes, and choral classics. Many of the pieces are arranged by Mack Wilberg, the Choir’s Music Director since 2008.
Challenges
Wilberg spoke about special challenges facing the Choir. “You're always striving for it to be as perfect as it can possibly be, given that we only rehearse 2 1/2 hours a week, on Thursday evenings. And we perform, usually between 300 and 400 pieces a year. Which is a lot of music on very little rehearsal. And so it’s always a challenge.” Associate Music Director Ryan Murphy added, “Just about everything we do gets put online, and everything we do has a microphone over it. And so the quality has to be very high.”
The size of the Choir creates additional challenges. It is difficult to achieve precision with 360 singers. In addition, it is hard for singers to hear each other in the Tabernacle or the Conference Center, the Choir’s customary performance venues.
Wilberg said that beautiful voices are important, but “almost more important is that those who are members of the choir have to have a particular skill set in order to really survive in the choir. Because we move at such an intense and fast pace, that unless you have the skills to be able to do it, it's not going to probably be a very pleasant experience.”
Want to join?
Choir members undergo an audition process that stretches over nine months. It starts with an application with a digital voice recording. This is followed by a written and aural test of musical ability and aptitude that lasts over two hours. Candidates who pass the test are interviewed by the Choir’s organizational leaders and audition in person with the music director and associate music director. They listen to solo singing and test for vocal range and sight-reading ability.
In the last stage, candidates advance to the Chorale at Temple Square and Choir School. This is a combination of test and preparation. Perfect attendance is required a two rehearsals per week for 16 weeks. Each week, one rehearsal is devoted to preparing a concert, typically some choral masterwork. The other rehearsal teaches choral technique, music theory, and Choir procedures, concluding with a final exam. Those who are accepted into the Choir also commit to a second 16-week session the next year.
Although the audition process is difficult and the work is demanding, many people dream of singing in The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. On average, about 300 individuals apply each year, and only about 10 percent are admitted. Those who make it consider it a privilege to sing with this remarkable group and share their voices and spirits with millions across the world.