Tabernacle Choir unveils sleek logo with a new set of pipes

The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has a new sleek, modern, semiabstract logo — just seven gold vertical lines of varying lengths with a break in each.

The symbol is meant to suggest simplified pipe organs, choir President Ron Jarrett said Thursday in a virtual news conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ famed singing troupe.

“The new logo honors the visual heritage of the choir and orchestra using contemporary organ pipes,” Jarrett said. “The curve of the organ pipes recalls the domed roof of the Tabernacle, and the strong vertical thrust of the pipes points us toward God.”

The “rising and falling of the pipes” in the new logo “alludes to the rhythm of music,” music director Mack Wilberg added, and the number seven is “spiritually significant… referring to a whole or complete unification of sounds.”

This is the sixth logo for the choir, which began in 1867 but dropped “Mormon” from its name in 2018. This was part of an overall push by church President Russell M. Nelson to use the faith’s full name and eschew the longstanding nickname.

It is part of an overall strategy for the choir, church spokesman Daniel Woodruff said Thursday, which is looking to expand its reach digitally “as well as increase the choir’s relevance and ability to evolve in a changing media environment.”

As to when the choir will be back rehearsing and performing again, Wilberg said that remains to be seen.

Indeed, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the choir did not perform live earlier this month at the faith’s General Conference, which was seen virtually rather than in person. The musical numbers by the choir had been prerecorded.

The status of the choir’s scheduled summer tour of Scandinavia and the British Isles, originally scheduled to begin in late June, is also “being discussed,” Wilberg said, though no decision has been made.

The director did say, however, that auditions for the choir will take place from July through November and “a new class” of singers will join the choir in January 2021.

The choir’s new logo also comes after Nelson unveiled a new symbol for the Utah-based faith. It incorporates an image of the Christus statue found in many church visitor centers.