Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square Tour

The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square is the world-famous choir based at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. It was formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which is why many travelers still search for “Mormon Tabernacle Choir tickets,” “Mormon Tabernacle Choir tour,” or “Mormon Tabernacle Choir Sunday broadcast.”

The Choir is closely associated with the Salt Lake Tabernacle, its historic home, and with the Conference Center, the modern auditorium used for larger events, special broadcasts, general conference sessions, and major concerts.

For visitors, the Choir experience combines music, architecture, broadcasting history, Temple Square, pioneer-era engineering, and Salt Lake City cultural identity. This is why it deserves its own focused tour page rather than being treated as a generic city sightseeing stop.

The Choir’s former public name was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The official name is now The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

The old name is still useful for travelers because millions of people learned about the Choir under that name through broadcasts, recordings, concerts, national television appearances, holiday specials, and family travel recommendations.

On this page, the former name is included for clarity. The experience visitors are looking for is the same famous Salt Lake City Choir tradition at Temple Square.

Music & the Spoken Word is the Choir’s weekly 30-minute broadcast of choral music and spoken messages. It first aired in 1929 and is described by the Choir as the world’s longest continuing network broadcast.

The program has become one of the most recognizable traditions connected with Temple Square. For visitors, attending the broadcast in person is different from watching a clip online. You are in the room, hearing the Choir, organ, announcer, and audience setting together.

Sunday departures on this tour are built around the live Music & the Spoken Word broadcast, with reserved tickets included with your City Sights tour reservation.

Sunday Music & the Spoken Word is now a ticketed experience. Official Choir information says tickets are required beginning May 17, 2026, with reservations opening six weeks before each broadcast recording and limits on the number of tickets a person may reserve.

That matters because most visitors are only in Salt Lake City for a short window. If you are planning around one specific Sunday, ticket timing, arrival instructions, seating deadlines, venue rules, parking, and transportation all matter.

City Sights simplifies the process by including Sunday broadcast tickets with the Sunday Choir tour reservation, then pairing the broadcast with a guided Salt Lake City bus tour.

Thursday is not the same as Sunday. Thursday departures attend the Choir’s open rehearsal experience rather than the live Music & the Spoken Word broadcast.

Official Choir information says Thursday evening rehearsals are generally open to visitors from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Rehearsals are regularly held in the Tabernacle, except when the Choir is on tour, involved with a special event, or performing across the street in the Conference Center.

Thursday can be a strong choice for travelers who want to hear the Choir, see part of the rehearsal process, and experience Temple Square when Sunday does not fit their trip.

The Choir is connected to two major Temple Square venues. The Salt Lake Tabernacle is the historic home of the Choir and the classic venue people often imagine when they think of the former Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

The Conference Center is the modern auditorium north of Temple Square. It is used for large gatherings, special broadcasts, concerts, general conference sessions, and events that need far more space than the historic Tabernacle can provide.

Venue assignments can change. A visitor should not assume every Choir experience will be in the same room. City Sights builds the tour around the available Choir experience for the selected date.

The Salt Lake Tabernacle is one of Temple Square’s most important historic buildings. Temple Square describes it as designed in the 1860s with a roof spanning 150 feet without supporting pillars. That design helped create the building’s famous acoustics.

Church Newsroom material states that construction on the Tabernacle began in 1863 and was completed in 1867. It was designed for large gatherings at a time when there were no microphones, speakers, or electronic amplification.

That is the core of the Tabernacle story: it was engineered so a large crowd could hear a human voice. The famous pin-drop demonstration became shorthand for the building’s acoustic power.

For over a century, the Tabernacle has been home to the Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. It is not just an old room. It is a functioning musical landmark.

• No supporting pillars: the Tabernacle roof spans 150 feet without interior support columns, which keeps sightlines open and helps create the building’s unusual sound.
• The pin-drop story: Temple Square sources describe acoustics so sensitive that a pin drop can be heard across the hall.
• Built before microphones: the Tabernacle was designed so speakers and music could be heard naturally across a large gathering space.
• Historic organ backdrop: the famous organ became the visual and musical symbol behind the Choir.
• Historic broadcast home: Music & the Spoken Word is strongly tied to the Tabernacle and Temple Square broadcast tradition.
• Engineering personality: the rounded exterior has drawn comparisons over time to a turtle shell, but the building’s acoustic design is the real point.

The Tabernacle organ is one of the most recognizable instruments in American religious and choral music. Official Choir information gives the current size as 11,623 pipes.

Church History information describes the organ as having 11,623 pipes, 147 stops, and 206 ranks. It also notes that the most visual change happened in 1915, when the casing was expanded 15 feet on each side to accommodate more pipes.

The organ is more than a backdrop. Its tone, placement, and blend with the Tabernacle’s acoustics are central to the Choir sound many visitors recognize from broadcasts and recordings.

The early Tabernacle organ story is one of the best visitor-friendly details. Church Newsroom material says organ builder Joseph Ridges created the initial installation with 700 pipes, and that Brigham Young wanted “a big organ” matching the beauty and vastness of the building.

Other Church background information says the first organ was shipped by boat from Australia to California, then pulled by twelve mules across difficult terrain from San Bernardino to Salt Lake City.

That gives the organ story a frontier scale: imported skill, desert travel, local materials, expanding technology, and a musical instrument that eventually became one of the visual icons of Temple Square.

The Conference Center is the modern auditorium just north of Temple Square. Church Newsroom describes it as a 1.4-million-square-foot building completed in 2000, with multilevel floors, terrace views of the Salt Lake Temple, and a rooftop garden.

It is the large-scale venue used for general conference, major concerts, large Choir events, and special programs that need far more seating and production capacity than the Tabernacle.

For Choir visitors, the Conference Center matters because some performances, broadcasts, holiday events, and large gatherings happen there instead of in the historic Tabernacle.

• Huge auditorium: Church Newsroom describes the main auditorium as one of the largest of its kind in the world and large enough to fit a Boeing 747 airplane.
• 21,000 seats: Church Newsroom and Temple Square sources describe the Conference Center as a 21,000-seat auditorium.
• No central support columns: the unique balcony design helps preserve clear sightlines to the pulpit.
• Rooftop gardens: the building includes rooftop gardens with views of downtown Salt Lake City and the Salt Lake Temple.
• Modern broadcast facility: it was built for large gatherings and worldwide broadcasts.
• Major Choir venue: it hosts events including Music & the Spoken Word and Christmas with The Tabernacle Choir.

The Conference Center has its own major pipe organ. Official Choir organ information says it was built from 2000 to 2003 by Schoenstein & Co. of San Francisco.

The same official source lists the Conference Center organ at 7,708 pipes and 130 ranks, controlled by a five-manual console.

The Conference Center organ has a different visual and acoustic personality than the Tabernacle organ. The Tabernacle organ is historic and iconic. The Conference Center organ is modern, large-scale, and designed for the vast auditorium.

Official Choir information refers to the 360 choristers who make up The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

That scale is part of the experience. A full Choir sound in a historic acoustic venue or large modern auditorium is different from a small ensemble performance. The size, discipline, organ accompaniment, and venue acoustics all shape what visitors hear.

Choir members are volunteers. Official Choir materials describe singers as coming from many walks of life while maintaining demanding rehearsal, broadcast, performance, and travel commitments.

This is one of the most surprising details for many visitors. The Choir has an international profile, major recordings, major broadcasts, large concerts, and a rigorous sound, but its singers serve as volunteers.

Joining the Choir is highly selective. Official audition materials describe requirements that include being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in good standing, meeting age requirements, and living within 100 miles of the Salt Lake Tabernacle.

The audition process is not casual. Official Choir information describes a multi-phase process that evaluates vocal skill, musical ability, preparation, and fit for the demands of Choir service.

For visitors, this matters because it explains the precision. The Choir’s public sound is built on years of screening, rehearsal, service, and musical discipline.

The Choir has received national and international recognition through recordings, tours, broadcasts, holiday concerts, presidential events, media profiles, and collaborations with well-known guest artists.

It has long been associated with American choral music, sacred music, broadcast history, and Christmas programming. Many visitors first encountered the Choir through television specials, albums, YouTube videos, radio broadcasts, or family memories of Music & the Spoken Word.

This visitor guide does not need to list every award to explain the travel value. The practical point is simpler: this is one of the most famous choir experiences in the world, and it happens in downtown Salt Lake City.

No. The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has broad appeal far beyond religious visitors. Virtually all of our guests who take this tour are not church members, and the experience is designed with general visitors in mind.

Many guests attend because they are interested in music, architecture, history, acoustics, broadcasting, Utah culture, Temple Square, or famous Salt Lake City landmarks.

Utah’s founding story is deeply connected to Latter-day Saint pioneers who came west after religious persecution, so that history is important to understanding Salt Lake City. But the tour itself is not a religious tour. It is a music, history, culture, architecture, and sightseeing experience centered on one of Salt Lake City’s most famous institutions.

• Sunday and Thursday are different: Sunday is the live Music & the Spoken Word broadcast. Thursday is the open rehearsal experience.
• Arrive on time: Choir experiences are time-sensitive, especially Sunday broadcasts.
• Be respectful: this is a live music setting, not a loud tourist attraction.
• Dress comfortably: there is no required dress code for either the broadcast or rehearsal. Street clothes are fine, including shorts and a T-shirt.
• Plan for summer heat: Salt Lake City can reach over 100 degrees in summer. The tour bus is air conditioned, outdoor time is limited, and tour stops include indoor air-conditioned buildings.
• Know the Tabernacle can feel warm: the pioneer-era historic Tabernacle has only minimal air conditioning because of its sensitive acoustics, so it can get warm in summer, especially during Thursday evening rehearsals.
• Expect venue changes: Temple Square construction, holidays, events, conferences, and Choir programming can affect venue assignments.
• Wear comfortable shoes: walking is generally easy, but guests should be able to walk short distances and board the tour bus.
• Let City Sights handle the flow: the value of the tour is the combination of Choir experience, timing, transportation, and guided city context.

The Choir is one of Salt Lake City’s most famous cultural attractions, but it makes more sense when visitors also understand the city around it: Temple Square, Capitol Hill, pioneer history, historic neighborhoods, local architecture, and the role of downtown Salt Lake City.

Combining the Choir with a guided Salt Lake City bus tour gives first-time visitors a stronger half-day experience. Instead of attending one event and then wondering what to do next, you get music, Temple Square context, and the city highlights together.

For the full city route and landmark list, see the Salt Lake City Guided Bus Tour.