Thursday, December 6, 2012

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

I've spent the last week watching TV. I know it's not good for you and bad for health, etc. etc. but I'm totally hooked to Eureka. I can't stop watching it. It's worse than how it was when I was watching Prison Break or Lost. I've put off writing and doing dishes to watch episodes of Eureka. Well, this obsession will end soon because Eureka only has four seasons and I'm almost done watching the third. 

Anyway, since I realized I got super lazy and didn't write about my weekend trip to Salt Lake City, I decided to turn Eureka off for a change and write. Last Sunday, we went to SLC to watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform at the LDS Conference Center. It was by far the largest auditorium I've ever been to and the show was wonderful.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir happens to be one of the oldest and largest choirs in the world. I read somewhere that they've performed in front of five US presidents, won lots of awards and sold millions of records. There are 360 volunteer singers, ranging between the age of 25-60 and they are all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This choir is based in Salt Lake City. 



The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square opened the Christmas season performing at the annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional last Sunday, on December 2, 2012, in the LDS Conference Center. This traditional Christmas devotional featured President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf with music by the Choir and Orchestra. Music for the evening included traditional and classics which was centered on Christ and His birth.


This was a ticketed event (free of charge) but on a first-come-first-serve basis. Our friend stayed up till 2:00 AM to get the seats for this event and we are very grateful to him for doing this for us. It was truly an amazing experience and the choir was fantastic. The show was broadcast live in sixteen different languages. Various broadcast, cable, satellite, internet, television stations and radio stations throughout the world will also carry the devotional. Within a short time, the program will be posted for viewing on www.youtube.com/MormonTabChoir.

Ankit and I at the Devotional


It was a four day event and it was estimated that over 10,000 people visited. I'll definitely be doing this again next year. It was a lovely experience.

President Monson said “Christmas is what we make of it. Despite all the distractions, we can see to it that Christ is at the center of our celebration,” “The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things.”

Beautiful words.

Merry Christmas.
x

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