News Release

The Tabernacle Choir to Stream 9/11 Special

20th anniversary broadcast features award-winning journalist Jane Clayson Johnson

The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square will stream a special 20th anniversary broadcast commemorating 9/11. The broadcast will feature award-winning journalist Jane Clayson Johnson, who will narrate the 30-minute special.

Tabernacle-Choir-9/11-BroadcastDownload Photo

The special, “9/11, Coming Together,” will be streamed on Saturday, September 11, 2021, at 8:46 a.m. MDT, the same time the first plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001. An encore airing of the special will take place on Sunday, September 12, at the usual broadcast time of the choir’s weekly “Music and the Spoken Word” broadcast.

“Having had a front-row seat as a news commentator,” said Johnson, “it is an honor for me to be part of this ‘Coming Together’ special commemorating human kindness during the tragedy of 9/11. In a way, this concert parallels the challenges in today’s world and reminds us that embracing each other with love and respect can help heal the human heart."

Johnson is known for her work at CBS News, ABC News, and the NPR program “On Point.” As the events of 9/11 unfolded, Johnson and her co-anchor Bryant Gumbel were at the assignment desk in New York City for CBS's "The Early Show."

Her commentary introduces music by the choir and orchestra from previous “Music and the Spoken Word” broadcasts, including “You Raise Me Up,” “Peace Like a River,” “Wayfaring Stranger,” “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep,” “One Person,” and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” 

Interwoven with the music and narration will be interviews with people throughout the United States and the world, speaking in their own languages about how people united during this difficult time with aid, compassion, understanding and tolerance for each other.

Mack Wilberg, music director for the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square said, "Music is an integral part of this commemoration because it can touch the human heart in a unique and personal way. We hope listeners of this special feel, peace, gratitude, love and closer to the divine."

History

Like many people, members of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square are forever linked to the catastrophic events of 9/11. On that day, the choir was scheduled to present a private concert to a business convention in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Instead, the concert became a public memorial service, as then-Church President Gordon B. Hinckley responded to the occasion, speaking as part of a program filled with several patriotic selections by the choir and orchestra.

Three days later, the choir performed at two memorial services conducted by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in observance of a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

Since then, the choir and orchestra have commemorated the events of 9/11 each year as a reminder of how the world united across cultural boundaries in aid, compassion and understanding.

Viewing Information

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Time: 8:46 a.m. MDT: To be streamed at the time of the first plane crash in to the north tower of the New York City World Trade Center on the choir’s YouTube Channel and Facebook page, TheTabernacleChoir.org website, Broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org and the BYUtv mobile app.

Additional Times: 9:00 a.m. MDT on KSL-TV, the BYUtv cable channel and BYUtv.org and 3:30 p.m. on the BYUtv cable channel and BYUtv.org.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Encore stream and special broadcast of “Music and the Spoken Word”

Time: 9:30 a.m. MDT on the choir’s YouTube Channel and Facebook page, TheTabernacleChoir.org website, Broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, KSL-TV (Channel 5); KSLTV.com, the KSL-TV mobile app, the BYUtv cable channel, BYUtv.org and the BYUtv mobile app.

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