Homecoming Spectacular: BYU event a treat for choir — most members are alumni

PROVO — Mack Wilberg sits several rows back and listens intently as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practices one of his compositions. The associate director of the choir reads the musical score intently and occasionally adds a notation. As the music ebbs he heads toward the stage to consult with director Craig Jessop. He offers some directions and returns to his seat.

"I really respect Craig's talent, and there is no one else I would prefer directing my music, including me. When I'm on the podium, I don't really hear it correctly because I don't get the full balance," said Wilberg.

Jessop and Wilberg lead one of the world's best-known choirs with an autonomy that allows creativity to flow between best friends with a passion for music and the choir.

Both are alums of Brigham Young University and will be in Provo during Homecoming Week to receive the university's Distinguished Service Award.

They will bring more than 340 others with them because the choir will be the featured entertainment during the Homecoming Spectacular. For more than two-thirds of the singers, it will be a homecoming for them — in some respects, a reunion concert — because they, too, are alumni of BYU. Ninety-two live in Utah County.

The Orchestra at Temple Square — with a host of musicians who graduated from BYU — will also play. Conductor Igor Gruppman taught at BYU for more than five years.

The Spectacular will include the Young Ambassadors' premiere of a "Tarzan" section complete with a jungle, water effects and monkeys on bungee cords.

A gigantic 120-foot screen upon which images can be projected makes it possible to be on the rooftops of London one moment and swinging from vines in the jungle the next. Production numbers include an energetic "Pirates of the Caribbean" selection. "Living Legends" will open the evening with "Go, My Son."

The choir will perform several selections arranged by Wilberg, such as "Alleluia Fanfare," "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty," "Morning Has Broken," "Cindy," "Danny Boy" and "Lead Kindly Light."

Additionally, the choir will sing Wilberg's "Hymn of Praise." The Ballroom Dance Company will dance as the choir sings "If You Could Hie to Kolob," and the choir will perform selections from its new "Showtime!" CD. They include "Over the Rainbow," "Bring Him Home" and "Fill the World With Love."

Lloyd Newell, also an alumnus and the voice of the "Music and the Spoken Word" broadcasts, will narrate and offer a tribute to Karl G. Maeser.