Tabernacle Choir arrives in California for ‘Songs of Hope’ concerts – Church News

LOS ANGELES, California — When the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square first performed in the Hollywood Bowl in July 1926, the news reports at the time noted that “three special trains” transported the singers to Los Angeles, California.

Nearly century later, three airplanes transported the members and staff of the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square on Monday, June 22, from Utah to California. Buses met the planes on the airport tarmac.

As the sun set on Monday, the 330 singers and 85 orchestra members were rehearsing on the Hollywood Bowl’s John Williams Stage known for its unique nested arches as they prepared for the “Songs of Hope” benefit concerts on Wednesday, June 24, and Thursday, June 25.

“It’s an iconic choir in an iconic place or venue,” said President Lloyd Newell, who is serving with his wife, Sister Karmel Newell, as leaders of the California Los Angeles Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Hollywood Bowl, geographically, is in their mission.

President Newell was the voice of the Tabernacle Choir’s weekly “Music & the Spoken Word” for 35 years prior to the call to serve in 2024. He also went on the choir’s tours during that time as the master of ceremonies for the concerts, among other responsibilities, including stops in California.

They’ve seen excitement from people in the area about the concert.

“We fully anticipate — and we are confident — that this will be a great boost to the area and the missions and all the people here will experience, because we’ve seen it firsthand, we know what the choir does when it comes to an area,” President Newell said in an interview with the Church News prior to the tour.

He added: “Everyone that comes to this concert will be strengthened and blessed. We have seen it countless times all across the world.”

Sister Newell, who was the choir’s director of member support for two years before their mission call, has had experiences sitting in the audience and seeing people who “aren’t sure what they’re in for.”

“They feel the Spirit and their hearts are softened,” she said, adding, “It’s just such a powerful moment for heaven and earth to connect.”

About the upcoming Hollywood Bowl concerts

The benefit concerts will feature several musical artists, including Donny Osmond, David Foster, Katharine McPhee, Stephanie J. Block, Sebastian Arcelus and the Bonner family. (Read more about them here.)

With each of the multiyear, multicity “Songs of Hope” concerts, the area choir officials have invited to host watch parties has grown.

With the first stop in 2023 in Mexico, it was countrywide, said Tabernacle Choir President Michael O. Leavitt in an interview in advance of traveling to California. When the choir and orchestra performed in Lima, Peru, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2025, Spanish-speaking countries across South America and in other parts of the world were invited.

For this tour stop, the Tabernacle Choir has extended an invitation to stakes throughout the United States — excluding those in Utah — to participate by hosting a watch party. Many are on Friday, June 26, or Saturday, June 27.

“This one is unique in that it includes the entire United States,” President Leavitt said, adding that “it will likely be the largest event of the world tour.”

Those interested in watching can reach out to their stake leadership about locations and times. The watch parties are free to attend, and many are asking for attendees to make reservations. While the past “Songs of Hope” tour concerts have been streamed on YouTube for the watch parties or on-demand viewing, this event will not be livestreamed, according to information from the choir.

The concerts are in collaboration with the O.C. Tanner Gift of Music Trust. The choir has sung in O.C. Tanner Gift of Music concerts since 1983, and initially began with the Tabernacle Choir and Utah Symphony.

The concert series was the idea of neighbors Obert C. Tanner, businessman and philanthropist, and President Gordon B. Hinckley, then an Apostle and later President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to help encourage unity among the community. The concerts have been funded by an endowment from Tanner and his wife, Grace Tanner.

O.C. Tanner Gift of Music “was designed for the purpose of being able to bring people together to celebrate music, and we thought we should use it to do good in the community,” President Leavitt said. “We are asking those who come to this concert to pay us a small admission and that being devoted to charity for women and children around the world.”

The tickets for the concerts are available for purchase through the Hollywood Bowl website at hollywoodbowl.com. All of the ticket sale revenue from the concert will be donated to trusted charities, including CARE, Helen Keller Intl and The Hunger Project. These charities work with Caring for Women and Children, an initiative led by the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints focused on improving the health, education and well-being of women and children through local and global efforts.

The Church will match the revenue from concert ticket sales, doubling the charitable contributions from the event, reported the announcement.

“This is an opportunity for us to celebrate in song and to portray in music the value of acts of goodness,” President Leavitt said.

Jennifer Dotson, a choir member who sings alto, works at the Church’s new Humanitarian Center as a development counselor and has had other roles, too, including as a job coach.

Many of the people she works with are refugees, and through their stories and experiences, she’s seen the need for aid throughout the world, including those who still have family in their home countries.

Dotson said it’s a blessing to have “an entity like [the choir and orchestra] that can bring awareness as well as funds and goods to these people that have high needs.”

Chathum Nielson, who sings tenor, said, “It’s always such a special experience to be able to do any service, and the choir is all about serving and trying to share a message of hope.”

By collaborating with these charities, he added, that it’s “such a cool way to show our desire to reach as many people as possible.”

Throughout its performing history, the choir has performed in about dozen concerts to raise money for a specific cause, including several to help children, according to information from the choir’s archives. In the 1940s, there were two concerts to raise money to combat polio and another to benefit the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

When choir members performed in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1981, the concert was part of the “Week of Music of the America” charity music festival and proceeds went to fund a research program to help underprivileged children, reported the Church News at the time.

In 2005, the choir and orchestra members traveled to Denver, Colorado, to sing in a benefit concert for the National Sports Center for the Disabled, according to the choir’s archives.

Singing in the Hollywood Bowl

The Tabernacle Choir first performed in the Hollywood Bowl a century ago on July 28, 1926, to an estimated 17,000 to 18,000 people. The choir returned to the Hollywood Bowl stage on Aug. 20, 1941, and again on May 23, 1963.

When the Newells arrived at the mission offices in Los Angeles, there were two historical photos on the walls — both of the Tabernacle Choir’s 1963 concert, Sister Newell said.

“It’s just really exciting to be on the other side and be able to confidently say to people and invite them and assure them that ‘You are going to have a very inspirational experience,’” Sister Newell said, adding, “It’s been just exciting for us to prepare for their [the choir and orchestra] coming.”

She’s seen on other tour stops how hearing the choir and orchestra perform live is a “special moment where you feel God’s blessing on that area. And the people here in Los Angeles will feel it.”

President Newell said the missionaries have been encouraged to invite the friends they are teaching, recent members and others to attend in-person or attend a local watch party.

“Associating with these good, wonderful young men and women from all over the world is just an honor, a blessing and a privilege and also very humbling, because there’s a lot to do every moment,” President Newell said, of the 190 missionaries they are working with.

Since the Newells have been serving, they’ve had missionaries from 34 countries assigned to the mission. There are 10 languages in the mission — “and honestly, we could use 10 more,” Sister Newell said.

President Newell said, “No one will applaud and cheer louder than we will here in the California Los Angeles Mission.”

He noted how for many in the area, both the residents and the missionaries, see the choir perform live is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And choir members Nielson and Dotson have similar feelings about singing in the Hollywood Bowl.

Nielson has attended concerts in the Hollywood Bowl previously, and being on the stage he’s seen others perform is humbling.

“The Hollywood Bowl is so iconic, and it’s a humbling experience to be able to perform in such a renowned venue,” Nielsen said.

Dotson, who lives in West Jordan, said that it’s been great to sing in venues around the world as the choir tours, but singing in the Hollywood Bowl — “that is definitely a bucket list item for a choir member.”

The choir and orchestra last performed in Los Angeles during the 2018 Classic Coast Tour, when they performed in five Golden State cities and also traveled north to sing in Vancouver, Canada, and Seattle, Washington.

‘Songs of Hope’ tour

The Hollywood Bowl concerts are part of the 360-voice choir and 200-member orchestra’s recent “Songs of Hope” world tour, which has included performances in Mexico in 2023; the Philippines and the southeastern United States’ Florida and Georgia in 2024; Peru and Argentina in 2025; and Brazil in February 2026. Each has included guest artists. The concerts in Argentina and Brazil are available on the Tabernacle Choir’s YouTube channel.

As both Nielsen and Dotson have performed during the “Songs of Hope” tour stops, they’ve seen how the music has helped people feel the Spirit, even when they don’t speak the same languages.

Nielsen said a highlight for him from the tour stops is meeting people after the concerts and feeling the “connection that we make.”

After this stop on the “Songs of Hope” tour, the choir and orchestra will take a short break from touring and participate in events for the Salt Lake Temple celebration and open house in 2027, President Leavitt said. Then, they are working on plans now to continue the choir and orchestra travels in 2028.

The mission statement is: “The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performs music that inspires people throughout the world to draw closer to the divine and feel God’s love for His children.”

President Leavitt said, “We will likely have a different emphasis, but our mission is still the same.”