Mormon Tabernacle Choir President Mac Christensen sat at a table after breakfast in a hotel in Springfield, Mass., July 10. He held in his hand a list of highlights of the choir's tour that began at Interlochen in Michigan June 24 and would conclude at Tanglewood the next evening, July 11. The fact that the choir would even have been invited to perform at Tanglewood — the premier venue of North America's music festivals and other prestigious venues — was noteworthy, he indicated.

Photo by Gerry Avant

Mac Christensen

Photo by Gerry Avant

After performing to its largest tour audiences ever, including this gathering of 700,000 in Boston, Mass., on July 4, the Tabernacle Choir and its supporting crew, returned to Salt Lake City on July 12.

Photo by Gerry Avant

Performing at premier music festival at Tanglewood, Mass., the choir's music was praised as "Glorious."

Expressing gratitude for the success of "this great choir" thus far on its tour, President Christensen spoke with obviously eager anticipation of the concluding concert, declaring confidence that the choir was a match for the esteemed venue. As it turned out, the concert at Tanglewood was the perfect finale to the tour. Extensive applause, shouts of "Bravo!" and cheers expressed audience response as had happened at the previous 10 concerts.

"I don't know when the choir has had an opportunity to touch so many people in a relatively short period of time," he said of the tour. "Those that sponsored us at the venues (which he earlier described as among the nation's most prestigious) want us back immediately. The doors will be opened. We performed to sell-out crowds, or near-sell-out crowds, throughout the east."

Something needs to be said about those sold-out and near sold-out houses: Audiences made significant investments of time and money to attend the concerts. At each venue were found numbers of people — most of whom are not Latter-day Saints — who had traveled 200 miles or more to attend concerts for which they paid $35-$85 per ticket. The only concert that was free was the one for special guests in Avery Fisher Hall in New York's Lincoln Center. (See Church News, July 5, 2003, p. 3.)

President Christensen said that "nearly 1 million people" saw and heard the Tabernacle Choir in live performances during the tour, including the some 700,000 at the Fourth of July concert with the Boston Pops. (Event officials adjusted the attendance figure from a lower number published earlier.) In addition to the live audiences, untold numbers saw the choir on two network programs, NBC's "Today" show in New York and the CBS coverage of the Fourth of July concert, and local stations in eastern cities that aired segments on the choir. Newspapers and radio stations also reported on the concerts.

"I'm deeply grateful for President Gordon B. Hinckley giving us the opportunity to come back here and represent the Church," President Christensen said.

He expressed gratitude also for the fact that two members of the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Spencer J. Condie and Elder Glenn L. Pace, traveled with the choir at alternate times with their wives, Sister Dorthea Condie and Sister Jolene Pace. Also, several Area Authority Seventies joined with the tour group at various venues.

"To have 550-plus people [including choir staff and guests] as true missionaries, pleasant to one another, desirous to serve, obedient to the rules, can make us all thrilled, happy and proud," he said.

The choir had its own missionary committee, the goal of which was to generate as many quality referrals as possible during the tour, according to Ron Jarrett, chairman of the committee.

"We wrote to each mission president for the areas included in our tour," Brother Jarrett said. "We gave everyone referral cards." Those cards were turned over to the choir's missionary committee which, in turn, sent them to the Missionary Department for direct placement with appropriate full-time missionaries.

"We had over 3,000 Pass Along cards and hundreds of choir CDs handed out along the way. We had several people return 'missionary memories' cards, wherein they shared some of their experiences with our non-member friends," Brother Jarrett said.

During the tour, the choir made a brief stop at the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors Center. President Christensen asked choir members to fill out referral cards. The center's director, Elder M. David Knight, said that choir members turned in 85 referrals.

E-mail: gerry@desnews.com