Adassa has performed at Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl among other notable stages. She sang with The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and Orchestra at Temple Square in the National Auditorium in Mexico City, Mexico, in June.
“To be there with the choir, it was a gift for me, not just for the audience. It was a gift for me, as well,” said Adassa, a singer and songwriter who is known for role as the voice of Dolores in “Encanto.”
Now, she can add the Church’s 21,000-seat Conference Center to that list. Adassa and Alex Melecio are the guest artists at the choir and orchestra’s Summer Concert on Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Conference Center as they celebrate a variety of music from around the world. Both Adassa and Melecio performed with the choir and orchestra during the recent tour in Mexico City, including two concerts in the nearly 10,000-seat National Auditorium.
“It’s not just celebrating Pioneer Day but also celebrating the culture of Latinos and being able to share those gifts,” Adassa said on Thursday, July 13, in advance of a rehearsal with the choir and orchestra. “And to hear the choir singing in Spanish is an experience just in itself. … It’s just wonderful.”
Melecio, who was born and raised in Mexico, said he hopes that those who come to the concert leave with hope.
“The theme of the concert is hope. And that really might sound simple, but I want people to walk away feeling hope — more hopeful in themselves and their families and in their beliefs,” he said in the pre-rehearsal media interviews. “And I hope that they just have a great experience listening to the choir, that they walk away inspired and really finding new hope.”
How to watch
Tickets are available for in-person viewing on a first-come, first served basis at mpv.tickets.com and are still available for both nights. Tickets are free, and required.
The concert will be streamed live on the choir’s English and Spanish YouTube channels on Saturday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. Mountain Time and available for a limited time after the concert. It will also be broadcast on BYUtv Sunday, July 23, at 5 p.m. Mountain Time (check local listings).
The concert will be presented in a combination of English and Spanish with translations available.
English
Spanish
Adassa: ‘Music that gives hope’
Adassa first heard the Tabernacle Choir sing after she joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was watching general conference.
“It was like listening to angels singing,” Adassa said. “They do music from all over the world.”
It’s not always religious music, but it’s “music that gives hope, that brings love, that for a moment that everyone can just lose themselves and have a good time.”
She was first introduced to the church through her now-husband Gabriel Candiani, when they were producing an album together. He suggested she meet with the missionaries, which she did and in and around her touring schedule.
Since performing at RootsTech earlier this year and finding out more of her family history, she’s found others in her extended family who are Church members.
“I hope that they [people at the concert] take away that there are so many people striving to do good in the world … and look at these people who left a mark so great that we celebrate them, so that others will remember their names, remember their sacrifices,” Adassa said. And with these celebrations, regardless of religions, can help people to build their own courage to do good in the world.”
“Have that faith within you that you can do it and you will change the lives of generations to come,” she said.
Alex Melecio: ‘Music is a universal language’
In Melecio’s family, his father was 21 when he was baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After serving a mission, he met Melecio’s mother and shared the gospel with her and her family.
“I grew up with cousins who were members of the Church in great part because my dad was and is still to this day, just an amazing missionary. That’s what he loves to do,” he said. Since the concerts in Mexico the missionaries who taught his dad reached out after the choir’s tour in Mexico.
In Mexico, Melecio was the host for the choir’s concert at the Toluca Cathedral and the two in the National Auditorium. He also sang during the two National Auditorium concerts.
“I really feel like I came back a different person from the first show in Toluca,” he said. “It was such a powerful thing and the conversations that I was able to have with people that were working in the crews, the local teams that were there, the questions they were asking, the things they were seeing and feeling. …
“It just brought so much perspective about the growth of the Church, the purpose of what we do and why we do things,” he added.
He grew up hearing the Tabernacle Choir perform at general conference. He’s also been part of “Luz de Las Naciones,” or “Light of the Nations,” an annual celebration of Latin American culture performed in the fall, which is in the Conference Center.
“I could have never charted a path to get to participate in this event,” Melecio said. “I’m just glad to be able to add value that way that I’m able to bring something to the table.”
Melecio will be one of the four narrators for the pilot of the “Music & the Spoken Word” in Spanish that will premiere on July 30. The other narrators are Ana Yslas, Pepe Valle and Garna Mejia.
“Music is a universal language. The Spirit is a universal language,” he said.
Correction: An earlier version stated the concerts were on June 14 and June 15. They are actually on July 14 and July 15.
