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Last December, Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebo wowed Conference Center audiences in her Christmas concert appearances with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; this year, on Dec. 4, she joined choir members and musical director Craig Jessop in saying good morning to television viewers around the United States.
The artist, who performs and records under her first name, Sissel, was in Salt Lake City for a "satellite press tour" in which broadcast feeds were transmitted individually from the Conference Center to stations in 15 locations, where interviewers on morning news programs conversed with her and Brother Jessop via satellite. Programs receiving the transmissions had nationwide audiences as well as local ones in North Carolina, Maryland, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota and Colorado.
In nearly every interview, Brother Jessop said, "Members of the choir are here; they're behind us, and they're ready to sing for you!" Then, each time, choir members sang one verse of "Joy to the World."
The satellite appearances were to promote a CD and a DVD, both recorded at last year's Christmas concerts. The CD in November went to the top of Billboard magazine's Classical Chart. And a recording of the program is scheduled to be shown on PBS stations this month (please see Dec. 1 Church News, p. 10).
"It is very, very special to be with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, because they have heavenly voices," Sissel told one interviewer. "I've heard about this American choir my whole life. To sing with them is a true joy. It's an honor. I feel like I have a little glimpse of heaven when I'm singing with them."
To another interviewer, she said that when Brother Jessop first asked her to perform with the choir, she thought to herself, "'Oh, I am going to sing with THE choir!' Because that is actually THE choir, the choir above every choir. That's how I look at it."
In another interview, Brother Jessop said of the choir and the audiences in Salt Lake City, "We've adopted her as our daughter. She has endeared herself to our hearts. She speaks of the heavenly voices of the choir, but I have to say Sissel sings like an angel. There is something so hypnotic and restful about her voice, it goes right to the core of your soul, and she is the perfect artist to sing with the Tabernacle Choir. And through this CD, 'The Spirit of the Season,' and the DVD, and the PBS program, we can share this now with the whole nation."
The family-like rapport enjoyed by Sissel, Brother Jessop and the choir was in evidence during breaks between the individual satellite feeds. At one point, Brother Jessop seemed anxious about how he had fielded a question about the Church that was political in nature. Sissel, touched his arm solicitously and assured him, "It was the perfect answer, really well done."
Moments later, she turned to the choir members in the seats behind and above her and called out, "You sound great up there!"
E-mail to:rscott@desnews.com
