Broadway’s Michael Maliakel and actor Lesley Nicol join The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square as the featured guest artists at this year’s Christmas concerts on December 14, 15 and 16, 2023, at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Under the direction of Mack Wilberg, music director of the Choir, and Ryan Murphy, associate music director, Maliakel and Nicol will ring in the Christmas spirit with live audiences.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
“We are delighted to have the talents of Michael Maliakel and Lesley Nicol at this year’s Christmas concerts,” said Wilberg. “Together they will bring the holiday spirit into the hearts of our audiences through music and word celebrating the joy that is found in family and the celebration of the Savior’s birth.”
Michael Maliakel (pronounced “Molly-uh-kell”) is currently starring as the title role in Disney’s “Aladdin” on Broadway. An award-winning Indian American actor and singer, Michael was recently featured in two PBS concert specials: “Broadway’s Brightest Lights,” alongside Broadway luminary Megan Hilty, and “An Evening with Lerner and Loewe.” He recently made his Kennedy Center debut in the critically acclaimed production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard,” starring Tony Award winner Stephanie J. Block. Before the pandemic, Michael toured North America with the 25th anniversary production of “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Lesley Nicol has enjoyed a hugely diverse career including Broadway, the West End, movies and television. Her television career in the U.K. has encompassed both drama and comedy: “Blackadder,” “Shameless,” “Inspector George Gently,” “Hancock and Joan,” and “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” to name a few. She played Mrs. Patmore in ITV’s hugely successful “Downton Abbey” for six years and in both feature films. Her film work includes the multi-award-winning “East Is East” and the sequel, “West Is West.” She has just completed filming “Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office,” a new ITV series to be released in 2024.
Ticket Distribution
Tickets to this year’s Christmas concert on December 14, 15 and 16, are complimentary but required. Tickets will be distributed through a random selection process and be increased to four tickets per household. Those wishing to request tickets are invited to sign up during the registration period, which runs from Tuesday, October 24, at noon to Friday, November 3, at 11:59 p.m. MDT. Admission will be open to those eight years and older. The number of tickets will be limited due to the construction in and around Temple Square.
Tickets will not be required for the 30-minute weekly “Music and the Spoken Word” broadcast on Sunday morning, December 17, at 9:30 a.m. following the concerts. The guest artists are scheduled to perform on the broadcast.
A Grammy Award-winning, multiple Emmy Award-winning, all-volunteer choral ensemble, The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square is made up of 360 men and women who join their talents to create their trademark, instantly recognizable sound. They are accompanied by the Orchestra at Temple Square, a 150-member symphony orchestra, and the Bells at Temple Square, a 32-member handbell choir, that are also both all-volunteer. Together, they provide inspiring music that has the power to help people feel closer to the divine and celebrate God’s love for all His children.