Glen Nelson is an American poet, librettist, publisher, writer, and a ghostwriter of several New York Times nonfiction bestsellers. He wrote the libretto for The Book of Gold, an opera about Joseph Smith publishing the Book of Mormon. He is the founder of New York City's Mormon Artists Group and co-founder of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts. He has written several nonfiction books that focus on Mormon artists.
Nelson is a graduate of New York University, where he studied James Joyce. [1] Nelson has collaborated with Murray Boren on the following operas, cantatas, and song cycles. He wrote the libretto for an Easter cantata in 1991. [2] He wrote the libretto for a one-act opera adaptation of Joyce's Dubliners entitled The Dead which was staged in 1993. [3] He wrote the poetry for the song cycles Coney Island Songs and Pop Art Songs in 1995. [4] That same year he wrote the poetry for the cantata Jesus, Lay Your Sleeping Head: A Cantata for the Christmas Season. [5] He was the librettist for The Singer's Romance (1998 [6] ), an opera based on the stories of Willa Cather. Nelson has also worked with other artists. He collaborated with composer David Fletcher on the song cycle Joseph Smith's Letters from Prison, which was performed in 2001. [7] He has collaborated with Royce Twitchell on children's songs. [8] [9]
In 2005, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) commissioned Nelson to write the libretto for an opera about Joseph Smith. He researched nineteenth-century literature in order to make the play's dialogue more authentic, and used events from historical records for the opera's plot. The play focuses on Smith's attempts to publish the Book of Mormon, and includes Smith translating the plates with a seer stone in a hat. [1] Murray Boren composed the music for the opera, which was directed by Kory Katseanes. [8] In 2001, Nelson's daughter had been hospitalized with a brain tumor, [10] which Nelson said helped him identify with Joseph Smith's experience of worrying about his children's health and trying to publish a book; this inspired him to set the opera in the time Smith was trying to publish the Book of Mormon. [1] Also in 2005, Nelson collaborated with David Fletcher on the song cycle Articles of Faith. [11] In 2019, he wrote the libretto to an oratorio by Ethan Wickman called "To a Village Called Emmaus" for the annual American Festival Chorus and Orchestra. [12] Nelson also wrote the libretto for the chamber opera "The Captivity of Hannah Duston" with Lansing McLoskey composing; excerpts were aired in 2019. [13] [14]
Nelson edited a collection of personal essays by fellow Mormons in New York in 2002. [15] He wrote the production script for Fictionist's rock opera The Bridge, which he based on Ambrose Bierce's short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". [16] The Bridge premiered in 2016. [16] Nelson has also ghostwritten several New York Times nonfiction bestsellers. [17]
Nelson founded the Mormon Arts Group in 1999. [18] The group has published books and limited edition artworks, with some commercial publications. In 2010 they did 18 projects with 86 different artists. [1]
Nelson and his wife Marcia started collecting artworks from friends after they married in 1986. Gradually, they made more purchases of Mormon artwork. In 2013, they published a book of their collection of more than 150 works through the Mormon Artists Group, including short biographies of the artists. They published a second edition in 2016. [19]
In 2015, Nelson was a juror in the 10th annual International Art Competition for the LDS church. [20]
Nelson and Richard Bushman co-founded the Mormon Arts Center and Mormon Arts Center Festival. [21] The organization's name changed to The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts in 2019. [22] The first festival was held in 2017 and included, among other events, a keynote address from Terryl Givens [23] and a sing-along with Craig Jessop. [21] Laura Hurtado curated an art show of 23 artworks from the LDS Church's permanent collection, including works by Jorge Cocco Santángelo, Annie Poon, and Brian Kershisnik. Givens said the festival was "a seminal event in Mormonism's coming of age artistically". [24] Dieter F. Uchtdorf attended with his wife Harriet and their daughter Antje, who are on the advisory board for the center. [25] Nelson is developing a database of Mormon composers and their works. [26] In 2018, he curated a collection of Hildebrando de Melo's art for an exhibition at the Mormon Arts Center Festival. [27] [28] As of 2022, he manages the Center's gallery and contributes to many of their other projects. [29] He hosts the center's podcast, where he interviews LDS artists and scholars. [30]
Nelson wrote the lyrics for the following works:
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several groups following different leaders; the majority followed Brigham Young, while smaller groups followed Joseph Smith III, Sidney Rigdon, and James Strang. Most of these smaller groups eventually merged into the Community of Christ, and the term Mormon typically refers to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as today, this branch is far larger than all the others combined. People who identify as Mormons may also be independently religious, secular, and non-practicing or belong to other denominations. Since 2018, the LDS Church has emphasized a desire for its members be referred to as "members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", or more simply as "Latter-day Saints".
The Angel Moroni is an angel whom Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, reported as having visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823. According to Smith, the angel Moroni was the guardian of the golden plates buried near his home in western New York, which Latter Day Saints believe were the source of the Book of Mormon. An important figure in the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, Moroni is featured prominently in its architecture and art. Besides Smith, the Three Witnesses and several other witnesses also reported that they saw Moroni in visions in 1829.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are apostles, with the calling to be prophets, seers, and revelators, evangelical ambassadors, and special witnesses of Jesus Christ.
Russell Marion Nelson Sr. is an American religious leader and retired surgeon who is the 17th and current president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nelson was a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for nearly 34 years, and was the quorum president from 2015 to 2018. As church president, Nelson is recognized by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.
This is a timeline of major events in Mormonism in the 20th century.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Texas refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Texas. Official church membership as a percentage of general population was 1.13% in 2007 and 1.21% in 2014. According to the 2014 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey in both years, roughly 1% of Texans self-identify themselves most closely with the LDS Church.
The Story of the Latter-day Saints is a single-volume history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, first published in 1976.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a presence in Mexico since 1874. Mexico has the largest body of LDS Church members outside of the United States. Membership grew nearly 15% between 2011 and 2021. In the 2010 Mexican census, 314,932 individuals self-identified most closely to the LDS Church.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Utah. Utah has more church members than any other U.S. state or country. The LDS Church is also the largest denomination in Utah.
Eric Roy Samuelsen was an American playwright and emeritus professor of theatre at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He is considered one of the most important Mormon playwrights. He won the Association for Mormon Letters (AML) drama award in 1994, 1997, and 1999, and was AML president from 2007 to 2009. In 2012 he received the Smith–Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters.
Murray Boren is a composer of opera, symphonic, chamber, and vocal works. He has written nine operas and over 100 songs and chamber compositions. He also contributed to the Joseph Sonnets. Among his operas are Book of Gold and Emma; both are based on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints history. In 2007, he retired from his position as composer-in-residence at the College of Music of the College of Fine Arts and Communications of Brigham Young University (BYU).
The Provo City Center Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the same site as the former Provo Tabernacle in Provo, Utah. Completed in 2016, the temple utilizes much of the external shell of the tabernacle, all that remained of the original building after a fire in December 2010.
Mormon art comprises all visual art created to depict the principles and teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as art deriving from the inspiration of an artist's LDS religious views. Mormon art includes painting, sculpture, quilt work, photography, graphic art, and other mediums, and shares common attributes reflecting Latter-day Saint teachings and values.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines refers to the organization and its members in the Philippines.
Joseph Paul Vorst was a German-American visual artist.
The name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is derived from an 1838 revelation church founder Joseph Smith said he received. Church leaders have long emphasized the church's full name, and have resisted the application of informal or shortened names, especially those which omit "Jesus Christ". These informal and shortened names include the "Mormon Church", the "LDS Church", and the "Church of the Latter-day Saints".
This is a bibliography of works on the Latter Day Saint movement.
Hildebrando de Melo is an Angolan visual artist. De Melo grew up in Portugal where he lived with his grandmother, converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and where he began art. He returned to Angola and pursued his art career. Throughout his career, he has displayed his artwork in multiple exhibits around the world. He has won awards for his art. He is largely self-taught and some of his artwork is politically motivated and includes paintings, drawings, sculptures and multi-media. His art is also personal to his life, with his experiences being the subject matter of many of his art pieces.
Rowan S. Taylor (1927–2005) was an American composer and conductor. Taylor composed over 250 symphonies in addition to his concertos, songs, chamber works, operas, choral works, and ballets. His works have been performed all over the world. Taylor received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Brigham Young University. He studied at UCLA for three years before teaching at Pierce College where he taught for 39 years. He has been honored for his teaching and his works. In his personal life, Taylor was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He married Priscilla Pulliam in 1957 and had nine children.