Mormon Tabernacle Choir gains new fame, repertoire

Craig Jessop, the director and conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, doesn't have a clue about self-promotion. Won't sit down to do interviews for stories about himself. Won't take credit. Insists on sharing the baton and the stage. Has a humble streak about as big as the "Hallelujah Chorus." Even now, he is cringing as he reads this, so let's move on to ...

... Mack Wilberg, the choir's associate director. Same story. He is loathe even to come out and take a bow on stage and has to be coaxed into it. After performances he disappears to who knows where. He'd rather be composing music in a basement fruit room, which is what he used to do when he lived in Draper.

Wilberg and Jessop are doing a pretty good job of going through life almost anonymously, which isn't easy when you consider the attention the choir is getting these days. The MoTabs' Christmas CD, a recording of last year's Christmas concert with the great Norwegian soprano Sissel, is No. 1 on the traditional Christmas charts. It was nominated for two Grammys last week.

The MoTabs' annual Christmas concert has become so big that they will fill the 21,000-seat Conference Center four times this week. It has become a national event, with people flying in from around the country to attend. Because of the high demand, tickets were given away in a lottery this year. There were more than 1 million requests for tickets. Most must watch the performance a year later on TV — it is PBS's top-rated show in December.

You know things are going well when the MoTabs are packing the old Tabernacle for rehearsals, which forced them to move to the Conference Center to accommodate them all.

So, Mr. Jessop, how about an interview? "As long as it's not about me," he says politely.

So this is not about him, or Wilberg, because, in their view, they are merely caretakers and the choir is not about one person, which makes sense since a choir is a choir. But let's note this: Under the leadership of Jessop and Wilberg since 1999, the choir has discovered new possibilities for what the MoTabs can be.

As anyone who has attended their annual Christmas concerts in recent years can attest, this is not your father's MoTabs.

For one thing, they have embraced musical diversity. They sing songs from the Caribbean, Catalonia, England, Wales, Norway, France and Africa, etc., as well as traditional African-American gospel songs. There have been acts with drums, bagpipes, World War I soldiers and dancers in the aisles.