Choir in Houston: an uplift to a flooded city
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HOUSTON, TEXAS — Severe flooding the previous week in the Houston area did not halt a performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir June 15, which offered needed inspiration to many in the devastated community.
The famed choir, on its first-ever tour through the southern United States, was supposed to have appeared in Jones Hall for the Performing Arts until flooding caused by tropical storm Allison inundated the concert hall. After several days of frantic searching, Houston City officials and the Society for the Performing Arts helped the choir secure the Reliant Arena at Reliant Park (formerly known as the Astro Arena).
Houston was the first stop on a eight-city tour for the Tabernacle Choir, which hasn't visited Houston since 1964. After performing in Houston, the Choir performed in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 16, New Orleans, La., on June 18, Birmingham, Ala., on June 20, and Atlanta, Ga., on June 21. The Choir will conclude its tour in Florida, performing in Tampa, June 23; Orlando, June 25; and Miami on June 27.
Complete coverage of the tour will be included in the Church News June 30.
Mac Christensen, president of the Tabernacle Choir, told the Church News of the scramble to find a new venue for the concert after the original hall was flooded. Plans were not firmed up until Thursday afternoon, June 14.
"When we went home Wednesday night, there was no hope for a venue," he said. "When we started Thursday morning, it seemed that we didn't have a chance. It was announced in the media in Houston that the concert had been canceled, but we kept working to find a venue. We thought about dividing the choir into three sections and letting them go to stake centers to perform. Then the Reliant Arena was made available."
With little more than 24 hours before the concert, technicians and others worked to transform the facility from a rodeo grounds and horse show arena into a concert hall. "There was no seating, no sound system," Brother Christensen said. "Everything was put together Thursday afternoon and Friday."
As it all turned out, he said, the choir was where it was supposed to be. More than 2,100 people attended the concert.
"How thrilled the people were that we came and did the performance," Brother Christensen said. "You could see the tears. That's where we needed to be. Everyone involved, from Houston's Society for the Performing Arts to community and city officials, it just didn't stop. They kept working to make this concert happen; they wouldn't say no. It was meant to be."
Brent L. Peterson, the choir's business manager, called the crowd enthusiastic, noting that it gave the choir three standing ovations.
"Some of the people who had been through the flood said that the concert was just what they needed to start the healing the process," he said.
Reflecting on the difficulties the choir encountered in trying to find a performance hall after the original venue was flooded, Brother Peterson said of the performance at the arena: "We were put right where we were supposed to be. My wife and I sat in the audience and noticed several people in the audience who were affected by the flood. They said that in a week of losing everything, it was so nice to sit down and receive some inspiration and help."
Before the concert began, Elder Richard J. Maynes of the Seventy and first counselor in the North America Southwest Area presidency, presented Larry Bartrem, a disaster fund-raising officer of the American Red Cross, with a $20,000 check from the Church to aid disaster victims.
Elder Maynes said his thoughts and prayers were with the Houston community, calling the Tabernacle Choir performance "fresh air in troubled times."
More than 150 member families fled their homes June 8-9 as a result of the flooding in the Houston area. An additional 150 members remained in their homes, but still received some flood damage. The storm caused 17 deaths, flooded 10,000 businesses and homes, forced thousands of people to evacuate and did an estimated $2 billion damage in the community.
No members or missionaries were injured.
Hundreds of Church members, however, offered service in the storm's wake, cleaning member homes and then working in the community, volunteering at local shelters and cooking food for relief workers.
