Choir president sings praises of Jessop

A day after the unexpected announcement that Mormon Tabernacle Choir director Craig Jessop is resigning, the choir's president had unreserved praise for his departing colleague.

An emotional but enthusiastic Mac Christensen spoke Wednesday with reporters about his admiration for Jessop, though he declined to take questions about the choir director's reasons for stepping down, which Jessop himself has not publicly detailed.

"The man has so much ability," Christensen said. "When he picks up a mic, the words just flow, and they mean something. When he talks to the audience when we might be doing a concert, they just absolutely love it."

Speaking of the choir's signature radio and television program, "Music and the Spoken Word," Christensen said, "Craig had the ability to lay out a program like no one that I've ever been around." He said Jessop has the ability to get what he wants from performers and program staff, yet do it in such a way "that people just love him."

In 2003, the choir launched its own recording label, having recorded for many years with companies such as Sony, TelArc and CBS. The venture was Jessop's idea, Christensen said, supported by associate director Mack Wilberg. Though considerations of time, money and distribution seemed daunting, Jessop made it happen, he said.

"He goes out and he gets the two best engineers that he can find in the nation, and he brings those people in from California. Deseret Book is our partner, and they distribute. He and Wilberg — one is conducting and one is back in the booth listening."

While the choir over the years achieved success with the other labels, they lacked autonomy regarding their recordings, Christensen said. "Now, we own and control them, and Craig and Mack make sure it sounds like a million dollars. They've just taken off. That's under the direction of Craig. He gets everyone else involved, and everyone works together, and all of a sudden, we've got 12 great CDs."

Choir tours improved under Jessop's leadership, the choir president said, with as many as 12,000 to 14,000 audience members in venues such as the NBA arena in Portland, Ore., or Ravinia in Chicago, where a choir appearance broke attendance records.

Jessop's leadership has added younger people to the ranks of Tabernacle Choir admirers, said Christensen, adding, "They call us the 'MoTabs.' It's wholesome; it's wonderful."

He extolled Jessop's ability to connect with an audience, sometimes in novel and spontaneous ways. "On tour in Boston," he said, "we were with the Boston Pops. We sang to over a million people; they fell in love with us, and we fell in love with them. We were on the 'Today' show in New York City. It was raining cats and dogs. We were outside. All of a sudden, he had them 'Singing in the Rain'."

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