Guest Artists for the 2024 Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert – Church News

Broadway star Ruthie Ann Miles will be the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra's guest artist at Temple Square's annual Christmas concert, choir directors announced Friday, Oct. 11, on TheTabernacleChoir.com, ChurchofJesusChrist.org and live on KSL-TV. A narrator will be announced later.

“Ruthie Ann is not only a wonderful singer and actress, but also a very warm and generous person, and I think our audience loves her,” said choir director Mack Wilberg.

The Christmas concerts, led by Wilberg and Ryan Murphy, associate music director, will take place on December 19, 20 and 21 at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. The free tickets will be distributed randomly. (See details below.)

Also for the first time since 2019, attendance at the conference center will reach the 21,000-seat capacity following restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent construction work in and around Temple Square. An on-call line will also be available in the Tabernacle on Temple Square 90 minutes before the 8 p.m. concerts.

“An audience always inspires the artist,” Wilberg said. “And I think holding the conference and having it at full capacity this year will just be the icing on the cake for what we do.”

About the Christmas guest artist

Miles stars in “McNeal” on Broadway at the Lincoln Center Theater. She won a Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Musical in 2015 for her performance in The King and I and was also nominated for a Grammy and an Olivier Award. She received a Tony Award nomination in the same category for her role in the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd. Miles is also known for her role as Margaret Johnson in The Light in the Piazza. She has played many stage and television roles, including a recurring role on “The Americans” and “All Rise.”

Miles, a Korean-American, grew up in Hawaii in a musical household. She lives in New York with her husband Jonathan and their daughter Hope.

Tickets for the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

The concert – featuring the 360-member choir, 150 instrumentalists in the Orchestra at Temple Square and 32 bell ringers from the Bells at Temple Square, all volunteers – celebrating the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ will take place at the Conference Center at Temple Square.

Tickets are free but required for the concerts, which take place Thursday, December 19th through Saturday, December 21st. No tickets are required for the 30-minute broadcast of “Music & the Spoken Word” on Sunday, December 22 at 9 p.m. :30 p.m.: Miles is scheduled to appear on the show.

The tickets for the Christmas concert will also be randomly distributed to up to four tickets per household. Registration begins Tuesday, October 15th at 12:00 p.m. and runs through Friday, November 1st at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. According to the choir, the cards will be distributed the following week until Friday, November 10th. For detailed information, visit TheTabernacleChoir.org/christmas-concert-2024

Tickets for the Christmas concert are available to those who attend the orchestra's sold-out fall concert on Friday, October 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Salt Lake Tabernacle and will be randomly selected.

For the Orchestra's Fall Concert, attendees at the Tabernacle can exchange their ticket for a general admission ticket to the Christmas Concert with The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra in Temple Square. The exchange for Christmas concert tickets will take place at the Tabernacle after the Orchestra at Temple Square fall concert, according to the fall concert announcement. Tickets for the orchestra's fall concert are sold out.

Access to both events is open to people ages 8 and up. As with the recent general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the conference center will be at full capacity, according to the announcement.

The Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concerts

The Tabernacle Choir's first Christmas concert took place in 2000 with soul singer Gladys Knight and “Touched By An Angel” actress Roma Downey. In 2001, Angela Lansbury, who starred in “Murder, She Wrote,” joined the choir and orchestra.

PBS began broadcasting a 60-minute recording of the previous year's concert in 2004. Since 2017, BYUtv has been producing the 90-minute special programs together with the choir.

In 2020, the live concert was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Choral and orchestra leaders collaborated with BYUtv to produce the special “20 Years of Christmas With the Tabernacle Choir,” featuring Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, which aired in 2021.

In 2021, the concert had a limited audience. Broadway star Megan Hilty and actor Neal McDonough joined the choir, orchestra and Bells at Temple Square and the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble in a performance that was recorded and broadcast in 2022.

In 2022, “Disney Legend” and Broadway singer Lea Salonga, who is the singing voice of Princess Jasmine from “Aladdin” and Fa Mulan for “Mulan” and “Mulan II”, was a guest artist and Sir David Suchet, British stage singer, film and television actor, was the narrator. The 2022 Christmas Concert opened to the public after two years of pandemic-related precautions. “Season of Light” will be available to stream again on BYUtv starting Friday, November 1st.

Salonga was also a guest artist during the choir and orchestra's “Songs of Hope” tour in her native Philippines.

In 2023, Michael Maliakel, an Indian-American actor and singer who played the title role in Disney's “Aladdin” on Broadway, and British actress Lesley Nicol, known for her portrayal of Mrs. Patmore in “Downton Abbey.” , the choir and orchestra for the musical celebration of the birth of the Savior.

The 2023 holiday concert – “Joy: Christmas with The Tabernacle Choir” – will air on PBS and BYUtv for the 2024 holiday season. Scheduled to begin streaming on PBS on Wednesday, November 27th, the television premiere will take place on December 17th at 8:00 pm EST/7:00 pm CST and will also air on December 24th at 9:30 pm. See pbs. org/show/christmas-tabernacle-choir for information about the show. “Joy” will also air on BYUtv from December 21st to 25th.

The choir will also release the CD and DVD versions of the concert.

Check out the Tabernacle Choir's Christmas playlist on its YouTube channel, featuring about two dozen songs from past Christmas concerts.

For more information, visit TheTabernacleChoir.org.