Is Being Mormon a Requirement to Join the Tabernacle Choir?
Published Dec. 12 2023, 3:15 p.m. ET
The Gist:
- To join the Tabernacle Choir — and be a part of the group’s famous Christmas concerts — singers must be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in good standing.
- Applicants also must be between 25 and 55 years of age and live within 100 miles of the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
- Attendance at the choir’s four-month training is mandatory.
The Tabernacle Choir, formerly the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is gearing up for its annual Christmas concert, which will be held at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday, Dec. 14, Friday, Dec. 15, and Saturday, Dec. 16.
This year, Downton Abbey actor Lesley Nicol and Broadway star Michael Maliakel will join the festivities. “Under the direction of Mack Wilberg, music director of the Choir, and Ryan Murphy, associate music director, Maliakel and Nicol will ring in the Christmas spirit with live audiences,” the Tabernacle Choir website adds.
If you want to join the choir on stage for future Christmas concerts, the choir will hold auditions again in 2024, but there are some prerequisites to know about.
Singers have to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be in the Tabernacle Choir.
One common question about the Tabernacle Choir is whether one has to be Mormon or a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to join the singing ensemble. (All followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are Mormons, CNN notes, but the church’s website specifies that calling someone “a Latter-day Saint,” or “a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” is generally more respectful than calling them “Mormon.”)
To apply for the choir, you must be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in good standing, be between 25 and 55 years of age on April 30 of the year that your choir service would begin, and live within 100 miles of the Salt Lake Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah, according to an explainer on its website.
From the online application to “choir school,” the Tabernacle Choir audition process has four phases.
That same Tabernacle Choir explainer lays out the four phases of auditions for the group. In the first phase, would-be choir members fill out an online application — due by August 15 — that includes a photo, a voice recording, and an ecclesiastical endorsement.
The second phase is a two-and-a-half-hour musical skills assessment that tests applicants' musical ability and aptitude. This phase typically occurs on a Saturday in mid-September, and usually, the applicants who get test scores of at least 80 percent move forward.
The third phase, which usually takes place in early to mid-October, involves an interview with the choir president and an in-person audition with the choir’s music director and associated music director. That audition includes assessments of solo singing, vocal ranges, and sight-reading.
The fourth and final phase is the Choir School and the Chorale at Temple Square, which requires 100 percent attendance across 16 weeks of training every Tuesday and Thursday night.
The Tabernacle Choir explainer encourages interested singers not to let their fears hold them back. “My fears almost kept me from five and a half years of the most glorious musical experience on this earth,” said composer Janice Kapp Perry.
