Pioneer spirit: Mormon Tabernacle Choir celebrates Days of '47 and its own long history

From its beginning, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has celebrated the efforts of pioneers, of those who carved out homes in the wilderness, made the desert blossom as a rose, built cities and established institutions.

This year's Pioneer Day Commemoration Concert on Friday will focus on the choir's own pioneering efforts, particularly in the field of recorded music.

One hundred years ago, under the auspices of the Columbia Phonograph Co., the choir was the first large musical organization in this country to make a recording. Nothing has slowed it down in the century since, as it has recorded in every medium, every new technology as it came along. In all, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has 175 recordings and releases to its credit.

It has often collaborated with some of the world's leading musicians, including the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, the Royal Philharmonic, the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Brass Ensemble, Canadian Brass and the Utah Symphony. In 1958 it began a partnership with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, which lasted more than a decade and resulted in some legendary releases. In 1999 it added its own orchestra to its family; in 2003, it created its own record label.

Famed soloists appearing on the choir's recordings include operatic superstars Eileen Farrell, Robert Merrill, Marilyn Horne, Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Renee Fleming, Bryn Terfel; Broadway stars Angela Lansbury and Brian Stokes Mitchell; international greats The King's Singers and Sissel; narrators such as Walter Cronkite and Edward Hermann, and others.

The choir has also been a witness to a century of memorable events and moments, performing at presidential inaugurations, the American Bicentennial in 1976, the funerals of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. Its weekly "Music and the Spoken Word" is the world's longest-running continuous network broadcast, with more than 4,000 shows, which air on more than 2,000 TV, radio and cable stations across the country.

To mark those achievements, in June the choir released a three-disc CD, "100: Celebrating a Century of Recording Excellence," featuring four new recordings, 28 "most-requested" favorites, six vintage audio offerings and six historic video segments.

This year's Pioneer Day Concert will draw material from that set and focus on those accomplishments. The concert takes place at the LDS Conference Center. All tickets have been distributed, but standby seating is generally available.

"It's a special, special time," says choir president Mac Christensen. "The choir has been on the cutting edge for 100 years. It just builds and builds and builds."