SALT LAKE CITY—The holiday season isn't complete without the beautiful lights on Temple Square and the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. This year’s concert features special guests Ruthie Ann Miles and Dennis Haysbert. Miles is a Tony Award-winning actress and singer and Haysbert is an actor known for his commanding present and distinctive voice. 

The concert, “Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square and Bells at Temple Square” is filled with the wonder of music through song, instrumentals and storytelling.

It begins with a procession of choir members holding candles as they walk down the aisles and up onto the stage. Behind them are the famous organ pipes with the illusion of stained glass on a screen surrounding them. Throughout the concert, the screen changes colors and backgrounds. 

Miles had an infectious smile as she sang and it was evident that she was enjoying the experience of singing with the choir. She spoke of her mother who cultivated her love of music. 

“My mom is a musician herself and choir director and also the church organist and church pianist and music pastor,” said Miles. “So music really was the way that my mom and I communicated. In the beginning she would have me listen to recordings and the Tabernacle Choir was a lot of that recording. I have admired the musicianship of everybody I heard on the recordings and I could never have imagined that one day I might be on the stage and performing with them with the additional gift of having my mom in the audience.”

Haysbert told the story of Dr. Charles Mulli who was born into a poverty-stricken family of 10 children in Kenya. He was abandoned by his parents when he was six and forced to live on the streets for the next 12 years. His life changed when he was invited to church. There he found God and purpose. Through the years he became a successful businessman but one day he began to hear the call to care for abandoned children on the streets of Kenya.

“It was hard for me to get through the first paragraph,” said Haysbert. “So I had to work on diffusing that because right there, that first paragraph killed me. To find out that somebody was left alone at six. I can’t imagine a child walking to the end of the block in any city in America at six, much less walking three days to Nairobi through a jungle with predators both human and animal. I can’t fathom it.”

Apparently it happens a lot, he said. “So I said, ‘you know, I have to tell the story.’ It’s hard to get through the story but I love the feeling that comes over me when I do tell it because I think everyone on the planet should hear stories like this. I believe it would bring everyone closer together, because we are all we have.”

It’s a delicious feeling to be able to utter these words along with the music and along with the choir, said Haysbert. “Them being in such close proximity it just leaves me full and I just hope that it’s translating out to the audience.”

The concert came to a close with Haysbert’s telling of the Christmas story: Luke 2 followed by a powerful rendition of “Angels from the Realms of Glory.” 

“Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square and Bells at Temple Square” is tonight, Dec. 20 and Saturday night, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. in the Conference Center.

If you were unable to get tickets to this year’s concert here are a few ways you can still participate: Standby tickets: A standby line will form in the Tabernacle 90 minutes prior to showtime each night. 

Special Music & the Spoken Word: A special Music & the Spoken Word will feature a shortened version of the Christmas program, including special guests Ruthie Ann Miles and Dennis Haysbert. It will be held Sunday, Dec. 22 at 9:30 a.m. at the Conference Center.

No tickets are required for this Sunday event, 8 years and older. Doors open to the public at 8:15 a.m. guests should be seated by 9:15 a.m. when the doors are closed.