PRESS RELEASE

Press Contacts: Mary Dickson
(801) 581-3263
www.kued.org
Thursday, December 1st, 2011

Christmas With the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Featuring David Archuleta and Michael York

Award-winning pop sensation David Archuleta and Grammy Award nominee Michael York join the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir in an energetic Christmas celebration of magnificent proportion. This annual holiday special, which airs nationwide on PBS this month, airs on KUED Thursday, December 1 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 13 at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, December . 23 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 25 at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Recorded live in the spectacular 21,000-seat Conference Center in Salt Lake City, this remarkable event combines elegant dancing, masterful musical performances and storytelling. Complete with Yuletide favorites like "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World," the memorable performance also includes unique music like "Los pastores a belén," sung by David Archuleta completely in Spanish, Michael York's touching tale about the humble beginnings of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, together with moving organ, choir and orchestra performances.

Platinum recording artist Archuleta came to the attention of American audiences as the Season 7 American Idol runner-up. 30 million television viewers fell in love with the angelic voice whose masterful performance of John Lennon's Imagine captivated audiences worldwide. Archuleta has toured extensively across the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia to perform for fans.

Michael York's impressive body of work spans the past 46 years on screen, stage, television, and audio recording. York has 60 film credits, 80 television credits and has narrated more than 90 audio books. York, who grew up in England and was a member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company, lectures internationally on Shakespeare and the history and art of acting.

The 360-voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir was organized in 1847 shortly after the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. The Choir is well known for its recordings, which include two platinum and five gold albums, and the Grammy Award-winning rendition of "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The Choir has performed with some of the world's great orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and it now performs regularly with the Orchestra at Temple Square, a 110-member all volunteer symphony, formed in 1999. The Choir has performed in the great concert halls of Europe, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Australia, Israel, Russia and the United States.

This year's Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir special is the eighth in the annual series produced by KUED-Salt Lake City for national broadcast on PBS. This year's production was recorded from a series of concerts performed during December 2010 with a combined audience for the live concerts numbered at 80,000.

Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle featuring David Archuleta and Michael York is funded in part by Ronald C. and Kaye Gunnell, George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, Keith Elliott Garner, The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation and yourLDSmusicstore.com.

Song List

PROCESSIONAL: A CHRISTMAS ROUNDELAY

Text by David Warner

Music by Mack Wilberg

JOY TO THE WORLD

Text by Isaac Watts

Music by Lowell Mason (based on George Frederich Handel)

Arrangement by Sam Cardon

RING OUT YE CRYSTAL SPHERES

From Hodie

Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams

© Oxford University Press 1954.

Licensed by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

GESÚ BAMBINO

Text by Fredrick H. Martens

Music by Pietro Yon

Arrangement by Arthur Harris

THREE DANCING CAROLS

Arrangement by Ryan Murphy based on

Flemish, German and Danish Carols

LOS PASTORES A BELÉN

Arrangement by Sam Cardon on a Spanish Carol

AWAY IN A MANGER

Music by James R. Murray on an Anonymous Text

Arrangement by Mack Wilberg

ANGELS, FROM THE REALMS OF GLORY

Text by James Montgomery

Arrangement by Mack Wilberg on a French Carol

###

Release Images:


Download

Download

This program was underwritten in part by:


George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation

Please visit our website at www.kued.org/jobs for information about job opportunities at KUED.