Owen Sound, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!

It has been a very interesting couple of days here in Canada! It all started Saturday, when we took a day trip up to Owen Sound, ON, which turned into driving up the entire Bruce Peninsula, all the way up to Tobermory, ON.  It was a great trip, and great to see the beauty of Ontario, including Lake Huron, and some of the former Basilian Missions.  It was also great to hear some of the history from Fr. George, who was our guide for the day.    It was a long day, but very nice.  The weather wasn't the greatest, but I want to go back on a nice day, and maybe enjoy Sauble Beach!

Today, however was the most interesting day of all, because I got to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in concert! When I was asked earlier today if I would like to go, I honestly think I was more shocked than anything else. Here is the one group that I have wanted to see perform live for a good majority of my life, and I’m being given the opportunity to hear them mere minutes before the concert is scheduled to start.

Allow me to explain how this transpired. Salt and Light CEO, Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB, had been asked to conduct the choir’s encore at the afternoon concert, and it just so happened that when he got there, he had an
extra ticket. So he called back to the S+L studios, and asked if anyone else wanted to come hear the
choir. Being that my background is in music, and since I have conducted choirs for the past two years,
I naturally jumped at the opportunity. Knowing that I had mere minutes to get to Roy Thomson Hall
made the journey seem like an eternity, but thankfully, I arrived just as the choir was beginning their
first number.

I think there is only one word that can describe the Mormon Tabernacle Choir: Perfection. Absolute
Perfection. Here you have a 360 voice choir, and yet they sing so flawlessly that not one voice sticks out
over another. The mixture of repertoire that they sing is incredible, ranging from Sacred, to spirituals, to
folk hymns- even some Broadway tunes thrown in for good measure!

Of course the reason that we were all there was to see Fr. Rosica conduct the choir in their encore
piece: This Land is Your Land (with the Canadian words, of course.) I have to say that he did quite well,

and I am sure that it is an experience that he will not soon forget. Nor will I forget it, for that matter!

Top: Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB, Conducts the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Bottom: The Choir performs in Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, ON.