Guest Artists Announced for 2018 Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Concert
Broadway stars Laura Michelle Kelly and Matthew Morrison will join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square for the annual “Music for a Summer Evening” concert held in conjunction with Pioneer Day.
Article Highlights
- Reserve tickets on ChurchofJesusChrist.org/events or by phone at 801-570-0080.
- Watch the live stream or on demand.
Broadway stars Laura Michelle Kelly and Matthew Morrison will join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square for the annual “Music for a Summer Evening” concert held in conjunction with Pioneer Day.
The concert will be held on Friday and Saturday, July 20 and 21, at 8:00 p.m. in the Conference Center. The evening's theme—Broadway.
Kelly and Morrison starred opposite each other in the Broadway musical Finding Neverland, where Morrison played the role of J. M. Barrie opposite Kelly, who appeared as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies.
“Matthew Morrison and Laura Michelle Kelly are extraordinary performers who have a dynamic chemistry onstage that will delight our audiences,” said Ron Jarrett, Mormon Tabernacle Choir president. “We know they will bring down the house when they perform with the choir and Orchestra at Temple Square!”
Watch online
On July 21, the concert will be streamed live on mormontabernaclechoir.org, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir YouTube page, ChurchofJesusChrist.org, mormonchannel.org, and BYUtv in English. It will also be live streamed on the Mormon Channel’s YouTube language channels in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Satellite broadcast
The concert will also be broadcast over the Church satellite system in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German. Multiple satellite air times will be available to accommodate local needs. Closed-captioning will be available in English only.
On demand
The concert will be archived for on-demand viewing in English immediately following the live-stream concert. On-demand videos in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German will be available by July 30 on motab.org/pioneerday.
Tickets
Tickets for the concert are free and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis beginning Tuesday, June 5, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. mountain daylight time, through ChurchofJesusChrist.org/events, or by phone at 801-570-0080. Each patron may request four tickets, and admission is open to those ages eight and older. Patrons without tickets are encouraged to join the standby line by the flagpole on Temple Square for last-minute seating, which is often available.
Matthew Morrison
Matthew Morrison. Photo by Brian Bowen Smith.
Matthew Morrison is an actor, singer, and dancer who has been recognized for his work on stage and screen with Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe Award nominations. He is most well known to television audiences as Mr. Schuester in the musical comedy series Glee. In 2012, Morrison hosted and narrated the PBS special titled Oscar Hammerstein II—Out of My Dreams, which focused on the Broadway producer’s life and career.
Laura Michelle Kelly
Laura Michelle Kelly. Photo by Paul Smith.
Laura Michelle Kelly is a Laurence Olivier Award-winning actress and singer for her star-making performance as Mary Poppins in the London stage production. Kelly has performed in numerous London musical productions as well as on radio and TV and in concert appearances at Royal Albert Hall, Hampton Court Palace, the Royal Opera House, and Buckingham Palace.
Oscar “Andy” Hammerstein III
Oscar “Andy” Hammerstein III. Photo by Ron Rinaldi.
The choir will also welcome back Oscar “Andy” Hammerstein III, grandson of the famed lyricist and music theater producer Oscar Hammerstein II. He will join the choir and orchestra as the narrator of this special concert focusing on the Broadway contributions of his family. In 2017, Hammerstein narrated the “Music: It Runs in the Family” RootsTech concert. In addition to serving as the Hammerstein family historian, Hammerstein is also a painter, writer, and lecturer.
Morrison and Kelly will also appear on the Sunday, July 22, Music and the Spoken Word broadcast. No tickets will be required for that event, which will be held in the Conference Center at 9:30 a.m. Patrons should be in their seats by 9:15 a.m.
The performances will be conducted by Mack Wilberg, music director of the choir, and Ryan Murphy, associate music director.
These summer concerts featuring music by the choir and orchestra have been a long-standing tradition. Recent guest artists for the Pioneer Day concert have included Alex Boyé (2017), the King’s Singers (2016), Laura Osnes (2015), Santino Fontana (2014), Nathan Pacheco and Lindsey Stirling (2013), Katherine Jenkins (2012), and Linda Eder and Brian Stokes Mitchell (2011). Prior concerts have been filmed and later rebroadcast on BYU Television.
The summer concert of 2012 with Katherine Jenkins won the choir’s third Emmy Award.
