Osmonds, Mormon Tabernacle Choir excited for 'milestone' marking Pioneer Day concerts

When all nine members of the Osmond family — Virl, Tom, Wayne, Alan, Jay, Merrill, Donny, Marie and Jimmy — take the stage with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for Pioneer Day concerts tonight and Saturday night, it will mark several milestones.

It will be the end of the Osmonds' 50th Anniversary Tour.

It will be the last time the whole family will appear on stage.

It will be a return home to where it all started.

It promises be a fun, entertaining concert, said Donny at a press conference this afternoon. "There will be some surprises. We'll sing with the choir in a way they've never sung before."

But it will also "be a tender evening," Marie said. Even though she and Donny will keep performing — a long-term Las Vegas engagement starts Sept. 9 — and some of the other brothers will continue to work and entertain, "it will be our last show as a family."

Both of them talked about the importance of their family. As the only girl, "I've done a good job with them, don't you think?" Marie joked.

But on a more serious note, she continued, "They are wonderful men. The best. They love God. They love their wives. They love each other. They love their faith. They say good men are hard to find, but I've got eight of them right here."

"We had to like each other growing up," Donny added with a laugh. "Of course, we got on each other's nerves now and then. Families do that. And then you throw show business into the mix. But family means everything. That stems from our parents' teachings. They taught us how important family is."

They have worked together and taken pride in each other's accomplishments. One special moment comes to mind from the recent worldwide tour, he said. "We were at Wembley Arena in England, and it was packed. I watched my brothers perform a group of songs from their album, 'The Plan.' They were doing the rock and roll show they've always wanted to do, and the place went wild. That was so great."

But he expects these concerts in the Conference Center to be equally moving. "This is really the culmination of everything we've done. It will be the end for some. Could there be a better place for that to happen?"

A special moment for him will come when he sings "a song I wrote for my son on a mission. To get to sing that with the choir and orchestra is very special."

The choir and orchestra are also excited about the concert, choir president Mac Christensen said. "To share this moment with the Osmonds is unbelievable. To think of the example they have set for the church and for the world — and yet they've always been ours, our favorites. We are really blessed."

"We're delighted," added Mack Wilberg, director of the choir. "The Osmonds belong to the world, but they've always had a special connection to those in this area. Tonight we will all be doing the things that we do well."

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