LDS choir tour abroad canceled

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir's planned tour abroad next summer has been canceled because of security concerns, and instead the choir will tour northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

The 360-voice choir initially was to have traveled on a ship throughout Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

However, President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decided that would make the musicians too easy a target for anyone with a grudge against the United States.

The tour was then changed to England, Scotland and Wales, with a two-day stopover in Paris.

That, too, was deemed too dangerous, choir members were told, so now they will be on tour in northern California and the Pacific Northwest with stops in Boise, Idaho; Spokane and Seattle, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento, Calif.; and Reno, Nev.

If choir members were disappointed with the change, they didn't mention it.

"No matter where you go," said tenor Douglas Smith of Salt Lake City, "traveling with the choir is still a treat and a blessing."

LDS Church spokesman Dale Bills declined comment.