Mormon Tabernacle organist to play at Utah Arts Festival

An organist from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has never performed in the Utah Arts Festival. Now, as the festival enters its 34th year, that's about to change.

For the first time, the principal organist for the choir, Richard Elliott, will play Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and other music at this year's arts festival, which runs June 24 to 27 at Library Square in Salt Lake City.

Setting up Elliott's performance hasn't been simple. The sound of a pipe organ had to be re-created — a tough feat at a festival that's primarily outdoors — a setting that dilutes and warps the purity of an organ, so other options had to be explored. Pulling off the vibrant sound requires a wall of 30 speakers and an acoustically dynamic venue inside. The digital organ Elliott will use is almost identical to the one he plays while touring with the choir, except that it rolled off an assembly line just weeks before the festival. It is being carefully maneuvered into an elevator piece-by-piece to be set up in the Main Library, where Elliott will perform in the Urban Room.

"Visually and sonically, the room is a very impressive space," he said. "The sounds of the organ will be ricocheting off all of the glass surfaces."

Although Elliott's performance required a lot of forethought, the story behind his invitation to perform comes from a chance meeting.

Last December, Elliott walked in to see his auto mechanic, with a score of Handel's "Messiah" tucked under his arm. Lisa Sewell, director of the Utah Arts Festival, happened to come in behind him. She noticed the score and asked him what instrument he played. He casually told her the organ, but didn't mention that it happened to be the organ for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. That fact surfaced later in their conversation. After exchanging business cards, Elliott doubted that anything would come of it.

A few months later, he was surprised when Sewell contacted him, inviting him to perform.

"I thought he would tell me 'no way' and that it would cost a million dollars for him to perform and have a pipe organ installed," Sewell said.

She was amazed when he told her he could make it happen.

"I was thrilled with the invite because I enjoy taking the organ out to perform in a more casual place for people who don't normally get to see an organ performance," Elliott said. "It was strange the way everything worked out, and I couldn't be more happy about it."