Each year, the Washington D.C. Temple Choir hosts a free, one-hour, Easter program to inspire individuals to focus on the meaning of Easter.
On Saturday, March 21, the choir performed at the Washington, D.C. Visitor’s Center, followed by a second performance on Sunday, March 22 at a local Latter-day Saint meetinghouse.
“One person told me it was an hour of complete peace,” said Kate Thurgood, president of the choir.
The regional choir, which was founded in 1980, is composed of roughly 100 musicians selected by audition from approximately 50 congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The choir members practice year round to prepare for seasonal performances.
Once music is chosen for the program by directors and conductors, the narrator will “weave the story of Easter between the songs,” Thurgood said.
“If there is something interesting about the composers or if there is something really interesting about why the song was written, they’ll add that piece of interest,” she said.
This year, the choir performed 11 songs, each of which Thurgood said she found poignant and touching.
A choir member for 27 years, Thurgood said it has become a part of her family that she “wouldn’t trade for anything.”
When she joined the choir after moving to the area, Thurgood had two children and later had two more during her time in the choir.
“It really was part of their lives,” Thurgood said, “They would come to our concerts, even from when they were just tiny.”
Thurgood said that inviting individuals to choir performances is an important way to engage in the outreach encouraged by the Church.
“It brings our friends into our Church buildings or into the visitor’s center right next to the temple,” she said, “I think it serves a wonderful purpose.”
She added that the choir’s performances are dedicated to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
“I really hope that people who come are touched by the spirit and can feel something different while they’re there with us,” she said.
