Reporters Sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Twenty-three
religion reporters had a rare opportunity to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir Thursday night.
The reporters arrived in Salt Lake City this week to attend the Religion Newswriters
Association national convention.
The choir traditionally rehearses on Thursday evenings
for their Sunday broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. Toward the
end of the rehearsal, the journalists, who had been invited beforehand, were
brought onstage with the choir to sing their Grammy Award-winning version
of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
Newspaper reporters sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in an unprecedented media event. (image © 2006 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.)
“It was extraordinary,” said
Frank Lockwood, the faith and values reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
“The choir is so good. I just kept hoping the other 360 voices would drown
out my own!”
Reporters represented a variety of outlets such as
the Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News and Publisher’s Weekly.
The song was also sung as a tribute to Korean War
veterans who served on the military ship the USS Tingey. Former crew members
were in the audience.