ATLANTA, Georgia — During The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square’s rehearsal on Sept. 9, directors were making use of the time to review the music with reminders of pronunciation and to make adjustments for the space and venue, as the staff worked out the logistics of moving singers on and off the stage — and then how to get everyone back on for the final songs.
That rehearsal — in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, in Atlanta, Georgia — and one earlier in the day were the first times the choir and orchestra practiced with the Morehouse College Glee Club and Spelman College Glee Club for the concert that evening. And the glee club members — students at the neighboring historically Black liberal arts colleges — were juggling their own responsibilities with classes.
It was also President Russell M. Nelson’s birthday and hours before his 100th birthday celebration was to begin more than 1,800 miles away in Salt Lake City.
The rehearsal was paused as the choir and orchestra, along with many of the behind-the-scenes staff, sang happy birthday to President Nelson for a video to be shared with him.
After my attempts to record a video of the birthday wishes, I thought again of all of the pieces that had to come together for this concert — many of them involving President Nelson.
They were singing in the same chapel where a portrait of President Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hangs in the chapel’s hall of honor.
He was honored in April 2023 as the inaugural laureate of the historically Black men’s liberal arts college’s Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize. The Tabernacle Choir had recorded music to be sung at the ceremony, and leaders from both organizations, including the Rev. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., founding dean of the King International Chapel, talked about a possible collaboration.
In October 2023, 30 members of each glee club went to Salt Lake City to sing with the choir and orchestra during a “Music & the Spoken Word” weekly broadcast in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
Both in Salt Lake City and in Atlanta, the choirs sang individually, sharing their own sounds and talents. Then the musicians came together as they sang about peace, unity and testimonies of Jesus Christ. The performance in Atlanta, with 310 choir members, 150 glee club members and 69 orchestra members, plus other musicians, was one of the performances during the choir’s multicity, multiyear “Songs of Hope” tour stop in the southeastern U.S.
During the award ceremony in April 2023, the Rev. Carter noted the Church’s relationships with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the United Negro College Fund, Morehouse College and Spelman College.
In his acceptance of the award, President Nelson said: “Together we proclaim the nobility of each precious son and daughter of God. I have stated before, and repeat today, that racism, sexism and a host of other ‘isms’ are universally and tragically limiting in the way we regard and treat each other.”
He also echoed his message from the Church’s April 2023 general conference on being peacemakers and what he said at the NAACP convention in 2019. There, President Nelson said people do not need to act alike or look alike to love one another, and it is possible to disagree without being disagreeable.
“If we have any hope of creating the goodwill and sense of humanity for which we all yearn, it must begin with each of us, one person and one interaction at a time,” President Nelson declared.
These are teachings President Nelson has long held and emulated throughout his ministry as he’s reached out and built relationships. And for his birthday, President Nelson asked for people to reach out to “the one.”
During the choir’s press event the day after the Sept. 9 concert, a question was asked about President Nelson’s teachings about rooting out racism and prejudice.
Elder Ahmad S. Corbitt, General Authority Seventy and counselor in the Church’s North America Southeast Area, answered with, “He has long done that.”
Elder Corbitt noted that President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, along with other leaders, have also taught and practiced that.
“I feel a power of unity and sisterhood and brotherhood that maybe the country hasn’t seen for a long time growing out of this collaboration,” Elder Corbitt said.
Choir President Michael O. Leavitt referenced the Rev. Carter’s vision for that concert, “healing the body of Christ.”
President Leavitt said: “What he meant by that is that there has been some historical skepticism. And it existed in the beginning of our conversation and relationship. It has melted away.”
Of the concert, President Leavitt said, “There was a spirit of not just reconciliation but of love — and everyone felt it. And that will continue, and it needs to be nurtured.”
After the Sept. 9 concert, the Rev. Carter said the groups singing together helps share “a picture of what is possible — the continuation on a larger scale of shattering stereotypes.”
— Christine Rappleye is a Church News reporter and traveled with the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra to Atlanta.
Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra’s ‘Songs of Hope’ southeastern U.S. tour stops in Florida and Georgia
- Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra in Florida for first concert of southeastern U.S. ‘Songs of Hope’ tour stop
- Singer Adassa returns to southern Florida roots for Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra ‘Songs of Hope’ bilingual concert
- ‘Spectacular’: Tabernacle Choir and the Morehouse and Spelman colleges’ glee clubs combine together as they sing, testify of Savior through music
- What the Morehouse and Spelman college glee clubs are saying about performing with the Tabernacle Choir in Georgia
- Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra perform at the Georgia State Capitol
- Kristin Chenoweth surprise guest artist at Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra’s final tour concert in Georgia
- How to watch the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra’s concerts in Florida and Georgia
- See photos of watch parties across southeastern U.S. for Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra’s ‘Songs of Hope’ concerts
