The coronavirus has taken away a lot of social and outdoor activities that people enjoy during the holidays this year, but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hopes to keep one thing intact: the Christmas concerts at Temple Square.
A few months ago, the Church cancelled all Christmas performances, but some of the music coordinators came up with a solution to make the concerts coronavirus-safe. Instead of having in-person performances, the Church will broadcast them on ChurchofJesusChrist.org throughout the Christmas season.
In past years, 200-400 people in a week performed at Temple Square during the holiday Christmas season. Groups would start making requests in February, and those accepted would stay a day or two to perform at the square. With this new virtual concert, performers email their videos to by November 15.
“We’ve been asked by our leaders to think about Christmas and how we can still approach it and create some events, even if they weren’t in person,” said Adele Parker, the product manager for events.
The Church leaders want to give musical groups a chance to share their voices and give visitors the chance to enjoy their talent and hard work. They believe the power of creativity and technology creates endless possibilities of where these performances go during this Christmas season.
Stephen Breinholt, the events coordinator at Temple Square said, “Hopefully that’s an easy way to do that and people feel encouraged to participate.”
The concert planners said they hope people will share their voices and musical talents with others, even outside the virtual Christmas campaign, to further spread the light and love of Jesus Christ during the holidays.
