Both of The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square’s multiyear, multicity “Songs of Hope” tour stops in 2025 will be in South America. They will be going to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in August 2025, according to an announcement on ChurchofJesusChrist.org on Oct. 13.
The performance will be available at Latter-day Saint meetinghouses and watch parties across Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The choir and orchestra will be going to Lima, Peru, in February 2025, according to an earlier announcement on Sept. 30. Peru is the fourth stop on the world tour, and Argentina will be the fifth — and both coincide with the 100th anniversary of the formal organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South America.
Information on venues, free tickets and guest artists for both tour stops will be announced at a later date.
Choir President Michael O. Leavitt said, “The formula for a happy life requires hope. The mission of this tour is to inspire all of God’s children — worldwide.”
The Tabernacle Choir first went to South America in 1981, when they performed in Brazil.
‘Songs of Hope’ tour
In November 2022, choir leaders announced that the choir’s tours would be shorter and more frequent. Previously, the choir and orchestra’s tours or travel assignments have been every few years with stops in many countries or states in a single trip. They appeared mostly at smaller concert halls.
Now, the choir and orchestra are traveling twice a year for shorter times, performing in larger venues for free and streaming at least one of the performances, as they “anchor and radiate.”
In June 2023, the choir and orchestra’s first stop was in Mexico, where they performed “Esperanza” concerts at the Toluca Cathedral and at Mexico City’s National Auditorium, the latter of which seats about 10,000 people. Sharing messages and songs of hope, the two concerts in the National Auditorium featured guest artist singers Adassa and Alex Melecio, one of the narrators for the Spanish “Music & the Spoken Word,” and radio host Mariano Osorio.
The Philippines was the second stop on the “Himig ng Pag-asa” or “Melody of Hope” tour, in February 2024, with a sacred music concert at the University of Santo Tomas and two concerts in the SM Mall of Asia Arena. It featured singer and actress Lea Salonga, singer-songwriter Ysabella Cuevas and TV personalities Suzi Entrata-Abrera and Paolo Abrera.
The third stop was in the southeastern U.S. in September 2024. The first concert of the southeastern U.S. tour stop was a bilingual Spanish/English concert in south Florida on Saturday, Sept. 7, with singers Adassa and Melecio.
The choir and orchestra traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, and joined with the Morehouse College and Spelman College glee clubs on Monday, Sept. 9, for a concert at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on the Morehouse College campus. On Wednesday, Sept. 11, the choir and orchestra performed during a 9/11 tribute in the Georgia State Capitol in the morning. In the evening, the choir, orchestra and both college glee clubs performed in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena with surprise guest artist Kristen Chenoweth.
On all of the stops, select concerts have been available on YouTube, with area members and congregations encouraged to hold watch parties.
The tour includes most of the members of the 360-voice volunteer choir and 85 members of the orchestra, along with choir leaders and staff. These “musical missionaries” are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and choir members have a monthslong audition process. The choir’s origins date back to 1847, when pioneer members of the Church formed a choir to sing at a conference of the Church weeks after arriving in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley. The orchestra was organized in 1999, and up to 85 musicians from a roster of 200 volunteers perform with the choir during the weekly “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast and other special events.
The Church in Argentina
The history of the Church in Argentina goes back about a century to 1923 when two German immigrants named Wilhelm Friedrichs and Emil Hoppe began preaching the gospel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In December 1925, Elder Melvin J. Ballard, an early 20th-century Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dedicated South America for the preaching of the gospel and established the South American Mission.
Today, there are more than 481,500 members comprising 729 congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who live in Argentina where missionaries serve in 14 missions, according to the Church’s statistics.
Four dedicated houses of the Lord are in the country, including two dedicated this year: the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple (dedicated in 1986) the Córdoba Argentina Temple (2015), the Salta Argentina Temple (June 16, 2024) and the Mendoza Argentina Temple (Sept. 22, 2024). Another is under construction in Bahía Blanca and two more — the Buenos Aires City Center and Rosario — are announced and in planning.
Tabernacle Choir tours (since 2000)
- 2025 Hope tour — Lima, Peru (February 2025), and Buenos Aires, Argentina (August 2025)
- 2024 Hope tour — Manila, Philippines; and Florida and Georgia.
- 2023 Hope tour — Mexico City, Mexico, and Toluca, Mexico.
- 2020 Heritage Tour — 6 European countries: Stockholm, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland; Copenhagen, Denmark; Oslo, Norway; Cardiff and Newport, Wales; and Edinburgh, Scotland — postponed and ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 2018 Classic Coast Tour — Costa Mesa, Rohnert Park and Mountain View, California; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; and Seattle, Washington.
- 2016 European Tour — Berlin and Nuremberg, Germany; Vienna, Austria; Zurich, Switzerland; Frankfurt, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; and Rotterdam, Netherlands.
- 2015 Atlantic Coast Tour — Bethesda, Maryland; Bethel Woods, Saratoga Springs, West Point, and New York, New York; and Boston, Massachusetts.
- 2013 Upper Midwest Tour — Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- 2011 Eastern States Tour — Norfolk, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chautauqua, New York; and Toronto, Canada.
- 2009 Central States Tour — Cincinnati, Ohio; St. Louis, Missouri; Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri; Norman, Oklahoma; and Denver, Colorado.
- 2007 Canada and Midwest Tour — Toronto, Canada; Chautauqua, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee.
- 2005 Northwest States Tour — Pocatello and Boise, Idaho; Spokane and Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Oakland, San Jose, and Sacramento, California; and Reno, Nevada.
- 2003 Northeast States Tour — Traverse City and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Chautauqua, Saratoga, and New York, New York; Newark, New Jersey; Boston and Lenox, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 2001 Southern States Tour — Houston and Fort Worth, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; and Tampa, Orlando, and Miami, Florida.
Church News’ coverage of ‘Songs of Hope’ 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
