Tabernacle Choir wows audience at final Georgia concert with surprise guest
Sep 11, 2024, 10:25 PM | Updated: 11:23 pm
ATLANTA — The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square brought down the house at the final stop on their tour of the southeastern United States.
The performance at State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta Wednesday evening included a special surprise guest. Broadway star and actress Kristin Chenoweth took the stage to a boisterous standing ovation from the thousands who attended.
“Hello, Atlanta!” Chenoweth said, beaming.
The singer – who has previously appeared with the Tabernacle Choir, including at its Christmas concert in 2018 – went on to perform “Angels Among Us” as a tribute on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Members of the Spelman College Glee Club perform during a concert as part of The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square’s “Songs of Hope” tour held at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Isaac Hale, Deseret News)
Chenoweth also sang a powerful rendition of “How Great Thou Art,” which brought the audience to their feet.
The concert was the final performance of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s “Hope” tour through Florida and Georgia. In the Peach State, the choir continued their collaboration with glee club singers from Morehouse College and Spelman College, two historically Black colleges in Atlanta.
The groups first sang together last year in Salt Lake City on the broadcast “Music and the Spoken Word.” This year, the Utah-based choir traveled to Georgia to join the glee club singers in their home state.
The audience at State Farm Arena gave multiple standing ovations to the African American choirs, which performed energetic and heartfelt numbers like “I Ain’t Got Weary Yet” and “Children Go Where I Send Thee.”
It was the second time in three days the Tabernacle Choir performed with Morehouse and Spelman in Atlanta. They put on a concert Monday evening at the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel on the Morehouse campus.
Additionally, the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square performed Wednesday morning at the Georgia State Capitol at a ceremony commemorating 9/11.
Choir leaders have said this tour was about bringing unity and hope. Judging by the crowd Wednesday night – who loudly and repeatedly roared their approval throughout the two-hour jam-packed concert – they succeeded.
The Tabernacle Choir heads back to Salt Lake City on Thursday.
