Performers reflect on Tabernacle Choir’s collaboration with glee clubs ahead of final concert

ATLANTA, GA — The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square is preparing for its final concert on tour in the southeastern United States.

The Utah-based choir will perform Wednesday evening at State Farm Arena in Atlanta – the final stop of its nearly weeklong swing through Florida and Georgia.

Leaders and singers alike said collaborating with several glee clubs from Morehouse College and Spelman College has added to the experience, creating a sense of unity and hope.

The groups performed together Monday night at the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Center.

“In that auditorium, there was a spirit of not just reconciliation, but of love,” said Michael Leavitt, Tabernacle Choir president, during a news conference Tuesday morning. “Everyone felt it.”

The choir will reunite with Morehouse and Spelman singers for one more concert before heading back to Salt Lake City.

Final preparations for big event

It was a busy hive of activity Tuesday morning at State Farm Arena, as workers moved quickly to transform the home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks into a venue fit for the Tabernacle Choir.

“It’s amazing that we could fill up a center like this,” Sheila Sconiers, a Tabernacle Choir singer, said.

Standing next to Sconiers was someone she had just met on this trip – Nathaniel Cangé, a student at Morehouse College and member of the school’s glee club.

“I feel like this collaboration is definitely giving us more hope for a world of unity,” Cangé said.

That was on display the night before, as the groups performed together at Morehouse, bringing the audience to their feet multiple times.

Choir members on tour in Georgia note President Nelson’s role in Morehouse, Spelman collaboration

“There’s nothing like music…to unify and bring people together if it’s used in the right way,” said Mack Wilberg, Tabernacle Choir music director.

This collaboration with Morehouse and Spelman aims to do that. It’s part of a push from President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to do more outreach and bridge-building with the African American community.

Elder Ahmad Corbitt, a member of the faith’s Quorum of the Seventy, said it’s working. Beyond the concerts themselves, he said people are gathering at watch parties to listen to the music and be together.

“We’re seeing throughout the south this coming together of the family of God who are seeing each other more deeply as brothers and sisters,” Corbitt said.

A ‘bouquet of goodness’

Kevin Johnson’s personality is infectious.

The director of the Spelman Glee Club said it “never crossed my mind” to collaborate with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. It started last year when Morehouse and Spelman students visited Utah and performed with the Tabernacle Choir on the broadcast ‘Music and the Spoken Word,’ and it has continued with their joint rehearsals and performances in Georgia.

Johnson said he doesn’t want it to end.

“It’s like a bouquet of goodness,” he said, laughing.

Johnson said while the choirs may be different, this unlikely partnership is creating unity that will last.

“When I’m around you guys and singing ‘What a Wonderful World,’” Johnson said, “I get emotional because I know I’m around good people.”

Before Wednesday evening’s concert, the Tabernacle Choir will also stop by the Georgia State Capitol to perform at a ceremony commemorating 9/11.