MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Before any notes were played in Mexico City’s National Auditorium for The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and Orchestra at Temple Square’s first performance there in more than 50 years, the audience showed musicians they were welcome.
During the nearly two-hour concert in the largest city in North America on Saturday, June 17, the applause and cheers continued throughout the evening as the audience at times clapped or sang along to the music — especially the encore song “Cielito Lindo” — and other times, were in tears, as the choir, orchestra and guest artist singers Adassa and Alex Melecio and radio host Mariano Osorio shared messages and songs of hope.
This concert marked a couple of firsts for the choir and orchestra — the first tour concert to be livestreamed and the first where tickets were free. Many around Mexico were planning watch parties for the concert stream on YouTube.
The choir and orchestra’s concerts in Mexico are the first of a multiyear global tour to share hope. They performed in the Toluca Cathedral on Thursday, June 15, as part of the tour.
Bishop Gérald Caussé, presiding bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said he felt a lot of joy at the concert.
“There was an outpouring of joy in this concert, and there was such a connection between the Tabernacle Choir and 10,000 people from Mexico,” he said after the concert. “We all wanted to sing together. We all wanted to testify together; do things that make us joyful.”
Bishop Caussé added: “Music is really the best language. It is the only universal language that joins with the Spirit. When you have music and this Spirit, there are no barriers anymore, no cultural barriers. At the same time, we felt like Mexicans today.”
Elder Hugo Montoya said two words describe how he felt during the concert: joy and hope.
“The message is hope. Some of them are experiencing adversity and troubles and problems and opposition in their lives,” the General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s Mexico Area said after the concert. “The message is hope in Christ and hope in God.”
At the beginning of the concert, officials announced that President Gary L. Porter, second counselor in the choir presidency, with Elder Montoya on Friday, June 16, presented a gift of 15 tons of food to Movilidad Humana for the migrant centers the group supports.
Also in attendance Saturday were the two counselors in the Mexico Area presidency, Elder Adrián Ochoa and Elder Sean Douglas, both General Authority Seventies.
Stories of hope
Singer Adassa, who voiced Dolores in Disney’s “Encanto,” danced out on the stage as she sang “La Vida Es un Carnaval” (“Life is a Party”).
Adassa told the audience in Spanish the Latin song reminds her of her childhood in Miami, Florida, and how her husband was born in Monterrey, Mexico. When she mentioned singing “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” and singing the title of the song, the audience, as if on cue, sang the same line back to her.
“The song that really melted hearts was about two little caterpillars,” she said in Spanish. Because of the couples’ hope and love for each other, they helped each other grow to become beautiful butterflies, she said before singing “Dos Oruguitas” from “Encanto.”
Osorio brought many to tears as he shared personal stories from his life, of his father’s death and his wife’s battle with cancer. It was interspersed with Melecio singing the poignant “Color Esperanza” (“Painting the Colors of Hope”).
“It’s a story for when life is tough, when there’s nothing more we can do, when all the doors have slammed shut and all we can do is hope,” he said.
The story began with a 5-year-old boy standing next to a box — as they mourned the death of the boy’s father. The family also left smaller boxes behind that helped the boy find the gifts God had given him and to find his vocation.
“That little boy was me,” Osorio said. He grew up with a dream of a family — mother, father, children and pets.
One day his wife felt something was wrong and they went to a doctor, who told them everything was OK. Eventually, one of the doctors told them it was stage 4 cancer and she only had a couple of years to live, he said.
They decided to “paint our faces with the color of hope” as they loved each other, lived out dreams and discovered reasons to be happy and thankful. “A great life doesn’t mean a perfect life,” he added.
They celebrated their 10-year anniversary with a small cake. The next day was the 22nd anniversary of his radio program. “The very next day, she left us,” he said.
In the changes in his life, he and his family “learned how to hold onto hope,” he said. He concluded with his signature “peina positivo” or “think positively.”
He invited all in the audience to hold up their phones with the lights on to show they choose faith, hope, love and life. The auditorium lit up with thousands of people standing, holding up the lights on their phones as Melecio sang the last verse of the song.
Songs of hope
Ringing bells opened the concert as the choir and orchestra began with a hallelujah fanfare and “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” in English and Spanish, followed by “Come, Ye Children of the Lord” in Spanish and “Alabaré a mi Señor” (“I Will Praise My Lord”) in Spanish.
Framing the choir on the stage was a scalloped mission dormer-style backdrop with a large screen with images or videos to go along with the music.
Two different songs titled “Hallelujah” followed — one chantlike and calming, the other soared, with seemingly disjointed individual parts building before coming together to fill the space with music.
Next were the celebratory “¡Ah, El Novio!” a Sephardic wedding song, and the Nigerian carol “Betelehemu,” both sung in those native languages. The choir and orchestra then performed a trio of songs in English about being in love: the upbeat “Music Everywhere,” the softer “We Shall Gather at the River” and the upbeat “Cindy.”
Organist Richard Elliott then played Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor on the largest organ in Latin America. The organ in the National Auditorium, with pipes visible on both sides of the stage, has 15,633 pipes. (The organ in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City has 7,708 pipes, and the Salt Lake Tabernacle organ has 11,623 pipes.)
“It’s a privilege, truly, both to play this magnificent instrument and to play for so many people who love to hear inspiring music,” Elliott said in Spanish after the solo.
After Adassa’s performance, the choir and orchestra performed “Meditation,” including “Ave Maria,” and the music video filmed in Toluca, Mexico, earlier in the week played behind them.
After Osorio’s story and Melecio’s song, Melecio, who also was the master of ceremonies, noted the choir has singers from many countries, including Mexico. He introduced Hirepan Zarco, Dámaris Zarco and Alberto Treviño Flores as they waved to the cheering audience.
Sisters-in-law Denisse Elorza Avalos, of Tijuana, Mexico, and Georgina Montemayor Wong, of Monterrey, Mexico, were two of the 10 international singers who sang with the Tabernacle Choir during the April 2023 general conference.
They were invited to sing with the choir and orchestra during the concerts in Mexico and invited to the stage for the last two hymns on the program. The choir sang “Let Us All Press On” and “The Spirit of God,” alternating verses in English and Spanish, building to the final “amen” that filled the auditorium. Many in the audience joined in singing the hymns.
As the audience applauded and called for an encore, director Mack Wilberg held up one finger before directing the choir and orchestra in “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in English.
As Adassa, Osorio and Melecio joined the stage for their final bows, the guest artists, choir and orchestra sang the popular Mexican song “Cielito Lindo” — and the audience sang along, many standing and holding up the lights on their phones.
For a final encore, the choir and orchestra performed the first verse of “God Be With You Till We Meet Again” in Spanish.
The audience of nearly 10,000 continued to applaud, calling for more encores as the choir members waved and made heart shapes with their hands.
Feeling hope
It was 51 years ago, in 1972, when the Tabernacle Choir last performed in Mexico — in the National Auditorium for an area general conference.
And Yolanda Juarez performed in an opening dance number and also sang with a member choir. She remembers then-Church President Harold B. Lee speaking.
“It’s wonderful to be here and to listen to the Tabernacle Choir,” she said in English. She and her younger sister Florinda Juarez came to Saturday’s concert together.
“It’s great for them to come back to Mexico,” Yolanda Juarez said.
People lined up hours before the concert’s 7:30 p.m. start time. A crowd had gathered outside the National Auditorium and streamed in with the doors opened at 5:30 p.m.
Antonio Huerta Martinez, of Mexico City, sat next to his granddaughter, Daniela Reina Huerta, who is her ward’s pianist, and had eight other family members in the National Auditorium.
He felt music was important and was grateful to see the choir. She added it was motivational for her to see other musicians.
Veronica Vuenrostro, of Ecatepec, came with her four children and aunt to the concert. They had seen the choir sing during the general conference broadcasts, and she wanted her family to experience the live concert.
Before the concert, she expected it to be a “wonderful experience.”
Adrianna Lopez, also from Mexico City, got tickets for the concert at the last minute from a sister in their ward.
“It’s a unique experience” and “very wonderful” to be able to listen to the choir.
