The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square will present Handel’s “Messiah,” in a live performance with two simulcasts Thursday, March 22, and Friday, March 23, at 7:30 p.m., in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, with a live internet stream of the Friday performance.
The Easter season concert reprises a similar event held two years ago and was met with enormous success.
In addition to the live gathering in the tabernacle, a premium simulcast will be presented in the nearby Joseph Smith Memorial Building Legacy Theater and a closed-circuit simulcast in the Conference Center Theater, according to an announcement from the Tabernacle Choir organization.
The concert will also be shown via live internet stream at motab.org/messiah, LDS.org and Mormon.org on Friday, March 23, with a pre-concert feed beginning at 7 p.m. MDT and the full concert following at 7:30 p.m. MDT.
Tickets for all three locations will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. MDT at lds.org/events. Due to an anticipated high demand for tickets, they are being limited to two per request.
Mack Wilberg, music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, will conduct the concert, which presents the oratorio in its entirety.
Four guest soloists with extensive musical backgrounds will be featured: Amanda Woodbury, Tamara Mumford, Tyler Nelson and Tyler Simpson.
“We are delighted to have wonderful soloists join for this year’s ‘Messiah,’” Wilberg said. “Their performance with the choir and orchestra will result in a concert we hope will bring the glorious magnitude of Handel’s masterpiece into the hearts and minds of our audience.”
Various community, music and church groups are being invited to join their voices with the choir in a sing-along at various locations throughout the world using the live stream on March 23.
Two years ago, the performance was viewed some 170,000 times in 95 countries. Ron Jarrett, choir president, said, “Through the miracle of modern technology, we are looking forward to having virtual audiences and voices with us again this year. This is a wonderful way to celebrate the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ with people all over the world.”
The live stream will be available from the choir’s website through April 9 to accommodate time zones and schedules. The program will also be broadcast through the Church’s satellite system for use by local congregations. BYUtv will air the concert on Palm Sunday, March 25, at 3:30 p.m. MDT and again on Easter Sunday, April 1, at 10 p.m.
To assist participants, the choir organization is providing resources such as connection instructions and a downloadable PDF file of the concert program with the text of the oratorical and historical information about “Messiah,” at www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/messiah. Participants are asked to post their experiences on social media with the hashtag #MessiahLive.
