Three years after completion of the Conference Center, its visual centerpiece, the mammoth pipe organ in the auditorium, was showcased at an "Inaugural Concert" June 19, which turned out to be something of a send-off celebration for the Tabernacle Choir, due to depart the following Tuesday on its eastern-states tour.

Photo by Scott G. Winterton

Tabernacle Choir performs selection with accompaniment from Orchestra at Temple Square and new Conference Center organ at inaugural concert for the instrument. John Longurst is at the organ.

The concert was part of a regional convention for the American Guild of Organists.

It was during the first half of the program that the spotlight was on the organ. Noted concert organist Todd Wilson, director of music and organist at the Church of the Covenant (Presbyterian) in Cleveland, Ohio, demonstrated the instrument's capacity on Joseph Jongen's "Symphonie concertante, Op. 81." The organ blended seamlessly with the orchestra at times; at others, the room resonated with sound from its 130 ranks of pipes, culminating with a frenzied toccata on the fourth movement which drew a fervent standing ovation from the audience.

At the outset of the program's second half, Jack M. Bethards, tonal director of Schoenstein & Co., which constructed the organ, addressed the audience, acknowledging Temple Square's reputation as "a symbol of the choral and organ arts."

"When we worked on the renovation of the Tabernacle Organ several years ago, we thought that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it was. But now we've been blessed a second time with another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

He said the San Francisco-based company was aided "by many, many wonderful artisans from literally all over the world." He noted that many of them had traveled from various locales to attend the concert and asked them to stand and be recognized. About 50 responded. He said artisans had followed a time-honored tradition of signing their names inside the organ casing "so that 100 years from now, or maybe 200 years from now, they'll be remembered."

Tabernacle Choir conductor Craig Jessop, who directed the choir and orchestra, expressed gratitude to the First Presidency, two members of which were in attendance — President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust — for making the organ possible. "History is most grateful to you brethren," he said.

Later, he spoke of Joseph Ridges, who directed the building of the original organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. "We wonder what it would have been like for its inaugural concert," he said. "And we think of those people who were there who labored with all of their heart and soul in building an instrument of praise to the Lord. Tonight we participate in just such an event, and people 150 years from now will think of us, and I have no doubt that this great organ will be singing stronger than ever 150 years from now in praise to God."

The choir presented selections from its tour, accompanied by the orchestra and the organ, with the three Tabernacle organists — John Longhurst, Clay Christiansen and Richard Elliott — sharing duties at the console. The selections included the Leonard Bernstein composition "Chichester Psalms," commissioned in 1965 for the Three Choirs Festival at Chichester Cathedral in England.

"It is based on three movements, all sung in Hebrew, all based on psalms from the Old Testament," Brother Jessop said in his commentary. The second movement featured a solo from 12-year-old Blake Sharette, a boy soprano from the choral school of the Catholic Cathedral of the Madeline in Salt Lake City. It evoked the image of the boy David meeting Goliath.

Arrangements by associate conductor Mack Wilberg were featured, including the hymn "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing."

With prolonged standing ovations, the audience demanded three encores. Among them was a Nigerian folk song with some unusual visual features, including swaying and clapping by choir members.

E-mail: rscott@desnews.com