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by Robb Cundick
Pictures by Debra Gehris
Editor’s
Note: In this delightful
report of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s 75th anniversary
trip, you’ll travel with the choir to the Sacred Grove and a
performance with the Boston Pops. This article stands alone,
but if you want to double your fun, click
here for part one.
In part one, I described the tender experience of singing in the Kirtland
Temple, which stirred sweet memories of the temple dedication
last year at Nauvoo. Sunday,
June 29, we had yet a third opportunity to visit a place where
extraordinary events in Church history took place. And
in Church history there is no more revered site than the Sacred
Grove and Hill Cumorah at Palmyra, New York.
Having lived in New York for several years, I had visited Palmyra a number
of times but I was in for a surprise as there have been many
changes. I had found
it best to visit the Sacred Grove at a time less crowded than
summer in order to enjoy the kind of stillness that invites the
Spirit. Traveling with
10 busloads of people, my expectations for a reverent walk in
this special place were not high. How
gratifying, then, to discover that the trails in the grove have
been greatly expanded. I
walked with Choir General Manager Scott Barrick and it didn’t
take us long to be immersed in the reverence of tall trees and
vivid greenery. The trail
even took us through a meadow of wildflowers. It isn’t often you can think of a day’s events
and say, “I walked through the Sacred Grove and to the top of
the Hill Cumorah this morning.” And
to share such experiences with fellow choir members strengthened
the bonds between us. Moreover,
there was added meaning because the Choir’s very object is to
carry forth the spirit of the work begun in these sacred locales.
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The
stillness of the Sacred Grove.
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Elder Spencer J. Condie of the First Quorum of Seventy (who was on special
assignment to travel with the Choir) spoke at our sacrament meeting
that afternoon. We held
the service in Fayette, New York where the Church was organized. There, surrounded by miles of farmland, stands an elegant 18th century
New England-style chapel. Located
alongside is a replica of the small Peter Whitmer home where
that first meeting took place. Elder
Condie’s subject was “authentic experiences.” He
discussed the principles that help people to recognize that the
spirit radiating from the Choir is authentic. Quoting
Alma 5:14, which asks “Have you received [the Lord’s] image in
your countenance?” he told of a woman who found she was as moved
by Choir members’ faces as by their music. Elder
Condie counseled that in order to emanate the Spirit, we in the
choir – like John the Baptist – must “decrease that he [the Savior]
might increase.” So it is that those with solo voices must
learn to blend and not stick out – decreasing their own prominence
in order to increase the Choir’s ability to carry forth the Savior’s
work.
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Debra
Gehris, photographer for these article, poses with a missionary
atthe Whitmer farm (I guess she didn't snap this one, though!).
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On to Newark
We were fortunate to have such a poignant Sabbath morning because the remainder
of the day proved to be grueling. The
bus ride to the Newark, New Jersey Airport Marriott was scheduled
for a 9 p.m. arrival. However,
Newark is just across the Hudson River from New York City, and
travel towards the metropolitan area on a Sunday evening is unpredictable
at best. Construction and a rollover accident made
for delays that held us up until well after midnight.
We were able to laugh about it the next day, but the final test of our
patience came when we sighted the hotel but were frustrated in
our attempts to reach it. Signs
took us to a bridge with clearance too low for the buses. We
drove around loops, made U turns, and tried to follow cell phone-relayed
instructions from a hotel employee who turned out to be as confused
as we were. Our bus had
been first in this late-night circus parade, but – true to scripture – we
ended up last.
It is hard to imagine the hotel had ever experienced such pandemonium at
1:30 in the morning. Forget
the elevator – there was a line just to get to the stairs. But
as always, people were patient with one another and we made it
to our rooms in a reasonably orderly fashion, grateful that this
was one of the few mornings breakfast wasn’t until 9 a.m. A
couple of days later, I overheard two new Choir members talking
about what an eye opener their first tour has been. It
does take a tour or two to adjust to such episodes, which are
probably best described as “ordered chaos.”
Monday, June 30th, we had some free time. For me it was good to catch up on my writing
and enjoy a quiet day before entering the most intense period
of the tour. Some used the break for a quick trip to New
York City to see “Ground Zero” or other landmarks. The concert that evening was at the New Jersey Center for the Performing
Arts. We traveled during
rush hour but arrived quickly thanks to an aggressive, road-blocking,
red-light-running police escort. The
bus drivers had a great time setting traffic rules aside. It
was good to see them enjoy the experience because the demands
of our schedule are hard on them, too.
The hall was beautiful: new and
very large – seating almost 2,800 people. With
four tiers above me, I had to crane my neck just to see those
at the top. Among them
was a sight that always cheers us – a group of missionaries in
their white shirts and ties. Despite the hall’s size, acoustics were excellent
with no amplification required. The
audience was once again enthusiastic. As NJ.com later put it, “A nearly sold out crowd at NJPAC in normally
sleepy June and an aura of devotional fervor among the fans attested
to the extra-musical appeal the Mormon singers have.” (Hmm... “extra-musical appeal” ...It is good to see a recognition
that there is something beyond our music that appeals to people,
even if the writer couldn’t quite put her finger on it.) Unfortunately,
there was no time to stop and visit afterwards. We were hustled back to the hotels, caught
a short night’s sleep, and then were off to Albany.
Hopping Around
Given the resources required to take nearly four hundred singers and instrumentalists
on such a journey, it is important to take advantage of every
opportunity that presents itself. The
population centers of the Northeast offer so many possibilities
for performances, but when you’re trying to schedule halls and
fit into the performance calendars of summer music festivals,
you have to take the dates that are available. If
you didn’t know the method behind the madness, you might think
someone planned this trip by putting a grasshopper on a map and
marking an “X” wherever he hopped!
As I said, Newark (our June 30 concert) was just across the Hudson from
New York City where we would sing on Wednesday night, July 2. But Tuesday, July 1, we needed to be in upstate
New York at Saratoga. Then
after returning south to New York City on the 2nd,
we went north again for a July 3rd dress rehearsal
and the concert with the Boston Pops on the 4th ...then
south to Washington, D.C. (Wolf Trap) for the 5th,
north again to Philadelphia for the 7th and north
yet once more to Tanglewood in western Massachusetts on the 11th.
The MTC Live at Saratoga
Saratoga was another beautiful outdoor venue with a large, two-tiered amphitheater. A
lawn area at the rear accommodated families who came early to
picnic. Here was another place we would sing to thousands (somewhere around
7,500 turned out). The Choir performed here in 1967on the same
tour as Chautauqua. Again
as was the case in Chautauqua, some members of the audience had
also been present 36 years ago.
The heat on stage wasn’t too bad but there seemed to be more bugs than
ever. It’s a dangerous
combination – singers with wide-open mouths and bugs on random
flight paths ...Yuck! Enough said! But despite such small annoyances, Saratoga was another rousing
success. The Schenectady Daily Gazette described it this way: “The
Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s well attended performance at Saratoga
Performing Arts Center on Tuesday night was stirring from first
note to last. ...The sound of the huge chorus was thrilling,
robust and wonderfully balanced throughout, with phrasing smooth
as that of a fine string quartet.” Albany’s Times
Union added, “The thick, rich sound was simply stunning. If
perhaps you have seen the MTC on television, the truth is, you
really haven’t heard anything until you’ve actually sat within
a hundred feet of these angelic voices.”
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The
schedule said wear the silver bow tie ...but we don't have
one! So
Randy Honecker and Darren Major (seated) did their best.
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Avery Fisher Hall
Early next morning we headed to New York City. Traffic wasn’t a problem until we reached town, but here, even
though a police escort met us, roads were so clogged that they
weren’t much help. We
were late for lunch, had time for a short rest, and then it was
already time for dinner. It seemed like we’d just stepped off at the
hotel when it was time to reload for Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher
Hall, one of the nation’s most prestigious concert halls.
The Center is across the street from the Manhattan Ward/Visitors Center
building, which is being remodeled to house the Manhattan Temple. With the open house and dedication coming
up, the Church decided to use this concert to foster goodwill
among community and religious leaders as well as diplomats from
throughout the world. The complimentary tickets were by invitation
only. After the short
pre-concert rehearsal and sound check, we were introduced to
actress Cicely Tyson. She smiled, said what an honor it was to meet
us and posed for a picture. New
York Governor George Pataki came to a pre-concert reception. Though he had only planned to stay for the
opening number on the concert, he was so captivated that he stayed
for the entire first half (much to the chagrin of his staff,
who were trying to hurry him to his next engagement).
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(l.
to r.) Mack Wilberg, Craig Jessop, Charles Osgood and Lloyd
Newell at Avery Fisher Hall.
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Brother Jessop came out brimming with energy. His conducting motions and facial expressions seemed to say, “Look
around you – you’re singing in Avery Fisher Hall! Let’s make a joyful sound that will be remembered
here for years to come! ” We
responded, but oh, did it take extra effort on this third straight
night of singing. And
this audience seemed harder to please, for some reason. But
they did warm to us, especially after “Betelehemu,” our rousing
Nigerian carol which includes 4 conga drums, a huge percussion
section, hand clapping and rhythmic swaying by the Choir. I
later told Craig I was glad he had programmed, “Come, Come, Ye
Saints” towards the end. Though
our situation was far different from the pioneers crossing the
plains, singing the words “No toil or labor fear,” “Why should
we think to earn a great reward if we now shun the fight?” and “Gird
up your loins, fresh courage take!” helped us bear up just as
our energy began to sag.
This concert also had a couple of additions to the program. Radio personality Charles Osgood has been
a good friend of the Choir since appearing on our Christmas concert
a few years ago. For
our most recent album, Spirit of America, we
recorded a musical setting of the Pledge of Allegiance he composed
the day after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Joining
us as our special guest for this concert, Mr. Osgood prepared
one of his trademark poems, which he read as we hummed in the
background. He then turned to listen and watch as we performed
his song. As we concluded,
he was visibly moved with his face becoming flushed with emotion.
The second event was a great honor for the choir. Joyce Tudryn, President of the International
Radio and Television Society, presented us with their Gold Medal
award to honor the 75th year of “Music and the Spoken
Word.” This accolade compares in significance to
an Emmy. Past recipients
have included Bob Hope, Walter Cronkite, Oprah Winfrey, and Leslie
Moonves, president of CBS Television. Elder
Condie read an acceptance letter from President Hinckley. In
typical fashion, Elder Condie disarmed the crowd by starting
with a quip often quoted by President Hinckley: “When you’re
ninety-three, you avoid buying green bananas!”
Singin’ in the Rain
The Choir was invited to appear the next morning on “The Today Show,” but
100 singers were needed in Boston at the same time to rehearse
with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra (more on the reason
for that later). The only solution was to divide us into two
groups. 100 singers under
the leadership of Mack Wilberg left immediately on what turned
out to be an all-night bus ride to Boston. The
rest of us arose early the next day, sang briefly for hotel staff
and guests in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis (our elegant
but brief quarters on Times Square) and walked a few blocks to
Rockefeller Plaza, the location of NBC Studios.
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Getting
ready for the Today Show (before it started to rain).
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Sometimes it is the most trying experiences that turn out to be the most
memorable. The Bush Inaugural
Parade (where we froze for hours on a float); El Escorial in
Spain (where we were squeezed so tightly on narrow steps that
there was no room to bring down our music, so we held it up the
entire concert); the Musikverein in Vienna (where the temperature
continued to climb as we roasted under hot television lights)
are all experiences that are still talked about years later. And now we can add singing in drizzling rain
at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.
The rain wasn’t much at first, but it grew insistent and before long we
were holding paper plates or anything else we could find to cover
our heads. While waiting
to go on the air, we playfully vocalized, “I’m Singin’ in the
Rain.” We should learn never to joke in front of TV cameras, because the
producers picked up on that and decided to replace, “God Bless
America” with the lighter tune. There
was just a slight problem with that: after
one phrase most of us hadn’t a clue as to the rest of the words. Soprano Lou Ann Crisler came to our rescue. She
knew the words and is a master at thinking up pantomimes for
words. She stood behind
Craig and put on an animated show, pointing to the sky, making
smiley faces, clasping hands, rocking back and forth – whatever
it took to spoon feed us the words. A
couple of times through and we started to sound like we knew
it. I wish we had video of her. It was a performance of which Primary Choristers
everywhere would be proud!
We did sing “America the Beautiful” at the close of the show, so the entire
performance wasn’t “off the cuff.” Back
at the hotel they scrounged up plastic bags in which to place
our wet clothes before the next long bus ride.
Independence Day in Boston
New York traffic took full advantage of its last opportunity to frustrate
our plans. We were due
at Boston’s Copley Place Marriott by mid-afternoon. But
the scheduled free time to find dinner on our own wasn’t to be. We arrived at 6:30 p.m., tore up to our rooms
to change, returned to the buses and headed for the Charles River
Esplanade, arriving over an hour late for the July 3rd dress
rehearsal. Fortunately the crucial camera dry run before
a live audience wasn’t until 8:30; and it went well enough that
we hope Boston Pops officials weren’t too annoyed
with us.
Now it’s time to tell about the singers who came the day before, and who
have come to be known as the “Boston 100.” The
July 4th Esplanade concert has used choirs before
but there isn’t enough room for singers in the sound shell where
the orchestra plays. And
so it has been determined that the best way to optimize the sound
is to mike the choir from within a tent, where they follow the
conductor via television monitors. But you don’t take the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
all the way to Boston just to hide them in a tent; and so 250
of us stood in front of the orchestra and sang softly enough
that we could hear and be in sync with the 100 singers in the
tent who actually provided the sound. Craig and Mack took turns conducting. They would watch the baton of Keith Lockhart
(who was leading the orchestra behind us) and relay the beat
to us. Is that complicated enough? But it seemed to work just fine.
The next day, July 4th, was a great day to have free time in
Boston. Dave Jackman
and I used it to walk part of the Freedom Trail and see places
of significance to the founding of our country. We
ran into Choir members everywhere and compared notes. One
group happened to be on a tour boat in Boston Harbor just as
the USS Constitution came out to fire its annual cannon salute. No matter what you do, there always seems
to be someone who found something even better!
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Sopranos
Rebecca Nelson and Peggy Cann look patriotic as they tour
Boston
on Independence Day.
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But no Choir member got the short end of the stick on this day, for we
were all invited to a party of 700,000 at the Charles River Esplanade;
and we were among the guests of honor! Boston
Police put on the most impressive escort ever. Several
motorcycles leapfrogged one another in blocking every side road. Though
the hotel was only a few blocks away, one bridge with low clearance
made it necessary to take a circuitous route. We
waved to onlookers and tried our best to look like celebrities,
but ...you know ...it felt a bit ridiculous – because we’re pretty
ordinary folks. Only as a body of does the Choir carry great significance.
I was concerned that the 100 singers in the tent might feel left out and
so I ventured inside to see how they were faring. I found them sitting in air-conditioned comfort while we endured
the heat and humidity outside. My
sister-in-law, Betsy Cundick, who along with my brother Tom was
among them, said they were having a great time and didn’t feel
cheated at all. Even so, we outside felt very grateful to
them because it did seem a sacrifice.
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Here's
what you saw if you tuned into the July 4th Boston Pops
broadcast
on CBS.
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...and here's what you
heard!
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The crowd was in a raucous mood, having one mammoth party. They cheered when we came on and several nearby
joked with us. Some said, “Hey,
cheer up! You don’t look
like you’re having fun!” In
our suits and long dresses I’m sure we did seem rather stiff,
especially surrounded by throngs dressed in bare summer fare. We
needed to let these folks know Mormons are people they can relate
to. Craig Jessop had just the idea, “Let’s do
the wave!” So, during
a commercial break we launched the wave; first left to right
and then back right to left. The Boston Globe later named it one of the best things not seen on camera. The
crowd let out a big cheer! Afterwards,
someone (perhaps a Church member?) yelled, “Who says Mormons
don’t have any fun?!”
The Boston Globe story the next
day was headlined, “Solid lineup made for the best Pops Fourth
in years.” Only the last hour of the 2 ˝ hour program
was televised nationally and half of that was fireworks, but
we were pleased with this rare opportunity to appear on network
television. And the entire show played to a huge audience
in the New England area. We
also got a chance to wave and say hello to fellow Church member
Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts, who was at the dress
rehearsal.
I’ll bet you thought I’d mention how much we liked the fireworks ...sorry – we
saw only one or two as we hurried off to the buses. This busy week was not yet finished. The next
night was our concert at Wolf Trap and since the buses wouldn’t
be able to make it there fast enough, we headed off to catch
a midnight train for Washington, D.C.
But I’ll leave that for part 3!
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