Performing with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in the Marcus Amphitheater here July 25 - to a loudly cheering audience of 13,087 - the Tabernacle Choir continued its fast-paced tour in commemoration of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas 500 years ago.

The Milwaukee performance, staged outdoors on the shore of Lake Michigan, was the seventh concert on the sixth consecutive day of the tour, which began July 19 with departure from Salt Lake City. The first concert of the eight-state, one Canadian-province tour was in Richmond, Va., on July 20. (See Church News July 25.) After performing in Richmond before an audience that openly expressed appreciation for not only the musical presentations but also for the spirit the singers brought to the concert, the choir headed northward July 21 to Toronto, Ontario. During its one-evening stay in Canada, the choir presented two concerts in the Roy Thomson Hall.President Gordon B. Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency, was on hand to applaud the evening's first performance, having traveled to Toronto to attend the concert with a long-time friend, Kenneth R. Thomson, son of the hall's namesake.

Lt. Gov. Henry N.R. Jackman brought an official presence as he was among 2,400 attending the evening's first performance. About 2,500 attended the second performance that evening.

While the choir traveled by chartered plane from Salt Lake City to Richmond and on to Toronto, the trip from Canada to Rochester, Mich., and on to Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio, was by bus July 22-24.

Except for a brief visit to Williamsburg, Va., and a short stopover in Kirtland, Ohio, choir members have had little time for leisure activities. Their days have been filled with long bus rides and airplane flights between cities.

For example, they placed their luggage outside their hotel rooms at 6 a.m. on July 24 in Columbus, Ohio, and it was after midnight before they arrived at their next hotel in another city, in another state.

After breakfast in Columbus, they boarded eight buses for Kirtland, Ohio, a ride that took about three hours. (See related article on this page.)

While Kirtland was a pleasant diversion, it also added to the physical exhaustion already setting in from a practically non-stop tour.

Several choir members were so rushed they did not finish eating dinner before they had to change into concert dress. Immediately after the concert that evening, they changed back into street clothes at the concert hall, boarded buses and headed for the airport to travel by plane to Milwaukee, Wis.

They arrived in Milwaukee about midnight. Some 95 people in the group had to stay up until about 1:30 or 2 a.m., waiting for their bags to arrive. One bellhop said he had never seen a group as large as the Tabernacle Choir check into a hotel at one time. Throughout the tour, hotel guests are sometimes caught off guard when elevator doors open to reveal about 300 people jammed into a lobby waiting for lifts.

Despite the exhaustion and the high demands placed upon them, choir members have managed to remain upbeat throughout the tour, always ready to greet concert-goers with smiles and handshakes, and to spend a few extra minutes visiting with those who are not members of the Church.

From Milwaukee, the choir continued its tour with concerts scheduled in Minneapolis, Minn., July 27; Ames, Iowa, July 28; Springfield, Ill., July 30; and Independence, Mo., July 31. The choir is scheduled to return to Salt Lake City on Aug. 1.