Mormon Tabernacle Choir: 'An unforgettable experience'
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TORONTO, ONTARIO
Professing there is no finer choir in all the world than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, President Thomas S. Monson welcomed invited guests to the final concert on its summer tour.
Speaking at a reception prior to a concert Monday evening in Roy Thomson Hall, President Monson said that when he became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2008, he appointed himself as adviser to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which includes the Orchestra at Temple Square and the Bells on Temple Square. It is, he said, one of his favorite assignments.
“The Choir goes on tour every two years, and I’ve been privileged to attend the final concert of the 2009 tour and now the 2011 tour,” he said.
He said that he and his wife, Frances, often attend the choir’s weekly presentation of Music and the Spoken Word. At Christmas time, he noted, some 80,000 people attend four performances by the choir and orchestra.
“I do not hesitate to profess that there is no finer choir in the entire world, and in combination with the Orchestra at Temple Square, their music is magnificent,” he said.
President Monson surmised that most of the guests have probably listened to recordings by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or have seen performances on television.
“Until you’ve experienced a live concert, however, you cannot appreciate all that they have to offer,” he declared. “As your fellow Canadian Hana Gartner (one of Canada’s top journalists) said of the Choir when they performed in Roy Thomson Hall in 2007, ‘The sound these men and women create is not just music to the ears. You also hear it with your heart.’ If you have not before experienced one of their live concerts, prepare for an unforgettable experience.”
To the guests, including national, provincial, religious, civic, education, business, industry and community leaders and representatives of the arts, President Monson said that coming to Canada, and particularly to Ontario, was much like coming home.
He explained that his family lived for three years in Toronto, headquarters of the Canadian Mission over which he presided from 1959-1962. “Although we came as a family of four, by the time we left three years later we had become a family of five, for our youngest son was born here in Toronto,” he said. He mentioned that their daughter, Ann M. Dibb, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, was with him on his current visit to Toronto.
President Monson observed that in the 52 years since he first came to Ontario, the area has grown almost beyond recognition.
“Our Church has also grown by leaps and bounds during the same time,” he said. “Worldwide we have over 14 million members, with 30,000 congregations. Five hundred of those congregations are in Canada. I understand that the United Nations, five times in a row, has designated Toronto as the world’s most ethnically diverse city. The Toronto Ontario Stake, which I was privileged to help organize in August of 1960, reflects the diversity of the city, with services held in English, French, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Farsi, Korean and other languages.”
He said there are more than 52,000 Latter-day Saint missionaries serving worldwide. Additionally, there are more than 8,600 humanitarian and welfare missionaries.
“Along with the missionaries, our members are service-oriented. On June 11, just about two weeks ago, over 550 members of our Church from Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces donned bright yellow Mormon Helping Hands vests and joined other volunteers in the cleanup on the Richelieu River in Quebec.
“One of those volunteers was a young man who had been planning to attend his high school prom at his Brampton Ontario high school on June 11 — until he went to Church on Sunday, June 5, and heard his leaders announce the need for help in the cleanup. “It made more sense for me to go and help,” he said. He changed his plans so that he could join others from his congregation who also volunteered. They drove five hours each way and worked in the rain and mud, but he later said, “We had a fun time.” He’s typical of our members, who are ready and willing to be of help wherever and whenever they are needed.
President Monson invited the guests to enjoy the concert.
He lingered after the reception to greet dozens of people. He shook hands and posed for photos with many of those who attended the reception. Some of those he visited with are long-time friends and members of the Church.
The Tabernacle Choir’s eight-day tour concluded with two concerts in Toronto, one at 2 p.m. and the other at 8 p.m.
The concert tour began June 20 and included performances in Norfolk, Va.; Wolf Trap at Vienna, Va.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Chautauqua, N.Y.
The schedule called for members of the choir and orchestra to go to an airport in Toronto after the last performance. Three planes were chartered to fly them to Salt Lake City, with the last group scheduled to arrive around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.
