Mack Wilberg | |
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![]() Mack Wilberg conducting on June 22, 2007 | |
Born | Price, Utah, U.S. | February 20, 1955
Education | Brigham Young University (BM) University of Southern California (MM, DMus) |
Occupation(s) | Composer, arranger, conductor, music director |
Mack J. Wilberg (born February 20, 1955) is an American composer, arranger, conductor, and choral clinician who has been the music director of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (Choir) since 2008. [1]
Wilberg was born in Price and raised in Castle Dale, Utah. Wilberg learned how to play the piano at the age of four. [2] He served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in South Korea where he was part of New Horizons, a vocal group made up of LDS missionaries. [3]
Wilberg attended Brigham Young University (BYU) after finishing his missionary service, and earned a bachelor of music in piano performance and composition in 1979. He then completed graduate study in choral music at the USC Thornton School of Music, earning both master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees, with a doctoral dissertation researching works written for chorus and piano. [4]
Wilberg began his career at BYU as a professor of music. Wilberg was a professor of music at BYU from 1984 to 1999, where he directed the Men's Chorus and Concert Choir. [5] At BYU, he was a member of the American Piano Quartet, which toured internationally and commissioned many original works, with Wilberg creating many of its arrangements himself.
He was the associate director of the Tabernacle Choir and music director of the Chorale at Temple Square from May 1999 until his appointment as the Choir's director on March 28, 2008. Wilberg is a noted composer and arranger, and his works are published by Oxford University Press, including his major work, Requiem. His arrangements have been performed at the funerals for United States presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. [6]
Wilberg's numerous choral compositions and arrangements are performed and recorded by choral organizations throughout the world. For many of the works he has written/arranged for the Choir, public performances have involved guests artists invited by the Choir, including Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, the King’s Singers, Audra McDonald, David Archuleta, Natalie Cole, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kristin Chenoweth, Madeleine Albright, Walter Cronkite, and Claire Bloom. In 2006, he was awarded the Brock Commission from the American Choral Directors Association. [7]
Wilberg plans and conducts a weekly performance of Music & the Spoken Word . [8]
Wilberg's father was part owner of the family's coal mine but was killed in a 1964 mining accident, well before the 1984 fire. Wilberg and his wife, Rebecca, are the parents of four children. [9] Rebecca also works with Wilberg as a vocal coach and is a member of the choir school faculty of the Tabernacle Choir. [10]
TheTabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for over 100 years. The Tabernacle houses an organ, consisting of 11,623 pipes, which usually accompanies the choir.
Jeffrey Roy Holland is an American educator and religious leader. He served as the ninth President of Brigham Young University (BYU) and is the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Holland is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. Currently, he is the third most senior apostle in the church.
Music has had a long history in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from the days in Kirtland, Nauvoo, and the settlement of the West, to the present day. In the early days of the Church, stripped-down Latter-Day Saint folk music, which could be sung without accompaniment due to the lack of instruments in Utah, was popular. In the 19th century, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was created and began touring, while musicians began writing devotional and praise music with a Latter-Day Saint influence, paralleling the success of Christian Contemporary Music. Several organizations have existed and do exist to promote these artists, such as Deseret Book and the now-defunct Faith-centered Music Association. Starting in the late 20th century and to the present day, Latter-Day Saints have been increasingly involved in modern popular music in America and elsewhere in the World.
The Chorale at Temple Square (Chorale), formerly known as the Temple Square Chorale, is one of the musical organizations on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. The main purpose is to train its members musically for the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (Choir), which is a more rigorous musical institution.
Craig D. Jessop is an American academic, musician and singer best known for his tenure as the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Choir) from 1999 to 2008.
Evan Stephens was a Latter-day Saint composer and hymn writer. He was also the director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for 26 years (1890–1916).
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The Bells at Temple Square is a handbell choir that is an official music organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was formed in 2005 under the direction of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Choir). The group is a double handbell choir, performing with 27 to 35 ringers on two sets of Malmark handbells and two sets of Malmark handchimes. The octave two bells are Malmark aluminums. Each part is usually doubled, except octave two.
A. Laurence Lyon (1934–2006) was a composer of music, usually sacred music with a Latter-day Saint theme. He also served for 30 years as a professor at Western Oregon University.
BYU Men's Chorus is the largest collegiate men's choir in the United States. With 180 auditioned members, the choir began more than 100 years ago as a small male glee club.
Crawford Marion Gates was an American musician, composer, and conductor known for his contributions to the body of music for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Lyndon Whitney Clayton III has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 2001. He became a member of the church's Presidency of the Seventy in 2008 and was its senior president from 2015 until 2020.
Rosalind Hall is a former director of the Men's Chorus and Concert Choir at Brigham Young University (BYU). In 2020, Hall retired after over 20 years in that role.
Consider the Lilies is a religious album released by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The album was originally released in 2003. It was remastered in 2023 along with a release on vinyl. The music in this first album on the choir's new label represents a broad range of musical feeling—from the joyful "Rejoice, the Lord is King!" and "Morning Has Broken" to the contemplative "O Holy Jesus" and "Pilgrims' Hymn" to the fervent affirmations in "I Believe in Christ" and "This Is the Christ."
Ryan T. Murphy has been the associate music director of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square since 2009, working with music director Mack Wilberg. Murphy's previous positions have included directing choirs at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. He has also been music director at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre and Center for the Arts and the Sundance Institute in Provo.
Brigham Cecil Gates was an American music conductor and composer.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was first brought to the Netherlands in 1841, with the first congregation officially established in 1862 in Amsterdam. A mission to the Netherlands was organized in 1864, and the Dutch translation of the Book of Mormon was published in 1890. Membership grew in the 20th century despite challenges posed by World War I, the Great Depression, and the German invasion of the Netherlands during World War II; approximately 14,000 people were baptized into the Church during its first 100 years in the Netherlands. The Dutch government officially recognized the Church in 1955. The Netherlands Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established in 1961, becoming the first stake established on the European continent. The Hague Netherlands Temple was completed in 2002.
The O.C. Tanner Gift of Music is a series of free concerts presented in Salt Lake City by the Utah Symphony and the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, with soloists, conductors and other choirs as guests. The concerts have been hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square since 1983. The thirtieth anniversary gala concerts were held September 6 and 7, 2013.
Mack Wilberg's Requiem is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, a soprano and a baritone soloist. Wilberg began composition in 2006 and it was premiered in 2007 in Salt Lake City, Utah. It comprises seven movements, which together last thirty-four minutes. It was published in 2008 by Oxford University Press.