Spent a couple of days in Salt Lake City seeing some of the sites, but generally recharging from the 100 degrees days at Antelope Island. The KOA here is huge, and just a couple of miles from the center of the city. Lots of permanent and semi-permanent trailers, but the not so nice section is on the east end of the camp while the campers are basically kept on the western edge near all of the amenities. This place is so big it has two laundry rooms and a car wash in addition to the usual pool, picnic area and game room.
The highlight of the trip came on Sunday, when a local religious organization provided free shuttle service to their temple downtown. Despite being up all night sick, I dressed at the last second and caught my scheduled ride downtown and boy was it worth the trip.
These people have one heckuva choir . . . . and possibly the biggest organ I have ever seen.
The Mormon Tabernacle has been in existence since 1847 shortly after the arrival of Brigham Young with 146 other Mormons and broadcasting since 1929, which accordingly is the longest running regular broadcast. They added an orchestra in 1998 (I think) and in all consists of 470 vocalists (360) and musicians (110). All conducted by a single director. Being a musician I was dually impressed. I do not believe that I have ever seen that much talent all on one stage all at one time. And when the conductor made his movements, they all responded. It was amazing thing to see.
For those of you who have played or sung in an organized ensemble, it was a funny thing to see the conductor during rehearsal to focus on getting full support for notes that need to be sustained so they won’t tail off. ‘Keep the air flowing, don’t cut it short and don’t let it fall off pitch!’ I remember we were all getting beat up for that in high school.
I mentioned the free shuttle. That’s not all. The performance is free, the choir is all volunteer, the orchestra is all volunteer, the ushers in the auditorium is all volunteer, and they have free campus tours of the grounds. Did I mention it was free?!?
Regardless of the cost, this was an amazing thing to see. I would recommend making the extra effort to see a performance of this remarkable organization. If I wander back this way again, I will definitely make it a point to stay through Sunday morning.
Mormon Tabernacle, Temple & Assembly Hall