When The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square travel this fall for the North America Southeast leg of their “Hope” tour, they will be joined by some familiar singers: Adassa, of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” fame, and Alex Melecio, a Mexican vocalist, will join them at the Florida concert, and the glee clubs of Morehouse and Spelman colleges in Georgia.
The Tabernacle Choir released more details about the concerts on Wednesday, June 12, at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The North America Southeast leg of their Sept. 7-11 tour in Florida and Georgia will include two public concerts and one private performance. The free arena performances will also be livestreamed to watch parties in homes, meetinghouses of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and community centers in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, southern Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Florida
On Sept. 7, the concert in the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, will feature Adassa, who has won Golden Globe, Oscar and Grammy awards, and Melecio, who is also one of the Spanish language hosts for “Music & the Spoken Word.” Both performed with the choir and orchestra during the “Hope” tour stop in Mexico in June 2023 and during the summer concert in July 2023.
The bilingual concert will feature music and dialogue in Spanish and English that reflects the Latin traditions in Florida and the southeastern United States.
The arena concerts are free to the public, but tickets are required and will be available starting July 1. Ticketing information is at www.choirworldtour.com.
Georgia
On Sept. 9, the choir and orchestra will perform with the Morehouse College Glee Club and Spelman College Glee Club in the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel on the Morehouse campus. This private concert is not open to the public.
On Sept. 11, the college glee clubs will also perform as the choir’s guests in the State Farm Arena concert in Atlanta.
The arena concerts are free to the public, but tickets are required and will be available starting July 1. Ticketing information is at www.choirworldtour.com.
In October 2023, the Tabernacle Choir hosted the glee clubs from Morehouse and Spelman colleges in Salt Lake City, where the two groups performed on the choir’s weekly “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast. The combined choir showcased more than 400 voices, including some 60 singers from the historically Black colleges, accompanied by The Orchestra at Temple Square in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
Choir President Michael O. Leavitt said: “The choir will join their voices once again with those from Morehouse College and Spelman College glee clubs. When these famed groups perform together, the music is magnificent, and the message is of peace, harmony and shared values.”
Kevin Johnson, director of the Spelman College Glee Club, said: “I am thrilled to be a part of this collaboration. The world needs music, and we will deliver it in a powerful way together. I have good friends in Utah now because of this ongoing collaboration. It’s all about love.”
David Morrow, director of the Morehouse College Glee Club, concurred: “The music we sing and the experiences we share continue to be beautiful highlights we will remember through the years. We look forward to sharing the majesty of our music and message with our friends in Atlanta.”
In April 2023, Morehouse College officials presented President Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the school’s inaugural laureate of the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize.
Under the direction of choir music director Mack Wilberg and assistant music director Ryan Murphy, the musical repertoire will encompass a wide range of musical genres and styles, including classical masterpieces to contemporary music.
About the ‘Hope’ tour
These performances are part of the choir and orchestra’s multiyear “Hope” tour that started in Mexico in June 2023 and continued in the Philippines in February 2024.
In June 2023, the choir and orchestra’s first stop was in Mexico, where the choir and orchestra performed at the Toluca Cathedral and two “Esperanza” concerts in Mexico City’s National Auditorium, which seats about 10,000 people. The two concerts in the National Auditorium featured guest artist singers Adassa and Melecio and radio host Mariano Osorio and shared messages and songs of hope.
The Philippines was the second stop on the “Hope” tour, in February 2024, with a sacred music concert and two concerts in the SM Mall of Asia Arena. It featured singers Lea Salonga and Ysabella Cuevas and hosts Suzi Entrata-Abrera and Paolo Abrera.
The choir traveled to Alabama and Georgia in 2001 as part of the Southern States Tour to Houston and Fort Worth, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; and Tampa, Orlando and Miami, Florida.
Previously, the choir and orchestra’s tours or travel assignments have been every few years with stops in many countries in a single trip and appearing mostly at small concert halls. Now, the choir and orchestra are traveling twice a year for shorter times and performing in larger venues.
The North America Southeast ‘Hope’ tour stop concerts
- Sept. 7, 2024: Amerant Bank Arena, in Sunrise, Florida; featuring Adassa and Alex Melecio; see www.choirworldtour.com for ticket information.
- Sept. 9, 2024: Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel, Morehouse College, in Atlanta, Georgia; featuring Morehouse College and Spelman College glee clubs; private concert, closed to the public.
- Sept. 11, 2024: State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia; featuring Morehouse and Spelman College glee clubs; see www.choirworldtour.com for ticket information.
