Singer-songwriter Ysabelle Cuevas and TV personalities Suzi Entrata-Abrera and Paolo Abrera will join singer and actress Lea Salonga during The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square’s concerts in Manila, Philippines.
The concerts Feb. 27-28 are in the SM Mall of Asia Arena, which can seat nearly 9,000 people. Registration in January for free tickets for both concerts lasted only a few hours as organizers received the maximum number of registrations. The concert Feb. 28 will be livestreamed on the choir’s YouTube channel, and local Church leaders are encouraging people to gather to watch it.
The concerts will have a format similar to the choir and orchestra’s Christmas concerts, which feature a guest artist and narrator.
The concerts are part of the choir’s multiyear, multicity “Hope” tour. In 2023, the choir and orchestra performed their “Esperaza” concerts in the National Auditorium in Mexico City, Mexico.
In the Philippines, it’s the “Himig ng Pag-asa” or “melody of hope” tour Feb. 20-29. This is the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra’s first visit to the Philippines.
Cuevas, who is from the Philippines, has gained worldwide acclaim for her covers, winning music contests and earning features in major publications and translates Korean songs into Filipino and English. Her original song “Daunted,” released through Warner Music Philippines in 2018, resonated with fans across East Asia and North America. Cuevas currently releases original music with Universal Music Group Philippines, according to the Tabernacle Choir.
Cuevas, who has recently relocated to Utah, is also a writer and singer for the Church’s youth music project, Strive To Be.
“I remember watching general conference growing up, paying extra attention when the Tabernacle Choir started singing. Never had I imagined I’d one day share a stage with them. What an incredible honor and blessing. The Lord truly is in every movement, even in the whisper of a prayer,” Cuevas shared on Facebook.
Narrators for the concerts will be husband-and-wife duo Suzi Entrata-Abrera and Paolo Abrera, who are Filipino TV personalities and news anchors.
Paolo Abrera posted on Instagram: “What an honour to be part of a very special choir concert experience and be mentioned in the same breath as the world renown Tabernacle Choir and our very own world class performer and star of Broadway and West End, Lea Salonga along with the talented Ysabelle Cuevas.”
Salonga is a Broadway singer and actress and is from the Philippines. Salonga previously performed with the choir and orchestra during the 2022 Christmas concert, “Season of Light: Christmas With The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square,” including “Payapang Daigdig” — a Filipino song that translates to “Peaceful World” and can be considered a counterpart to “Silent Night.”
The choir announced in December 2023 that Salonga will perform during the tour.
Tabernacle Choir’s sacred music concert
A third concert in the Philippines, a sacred music concert, at the Quadricentennial Pavilion of The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas on Sunday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. was announced on The Tabernacle Choir Philippine Tour Facebook page.
Information about ticket distribution to the sacred music concert will be available at a later date.
