Mack Wilberg

Mack J. Wilberg (born February 20, 1955) is an American composer, arranger, conductor, and choral clinician who has served as music director of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (Choir) since 2008.[1]

Mack Wilberg
Mack Wilberg conducting on June 22, 2007
Born (1955-02-20) February 20, 1955
Price, Utah
EducationBrigham Young University (B.M.)
University of Southern California (M.M., D.M.A.)
OccupationComposer, arranger, conductor, music director

Wilberg studied music at Brigham Young University (BYU) and the University of Southern California (USC) before returning to BYU as a professor of music. He was the Choir's associate director and music director of the Chorale at Temple Square of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from May 1999 until his appointment as the Choir's director on March 28, 2008. Wilberg is a noted composer and arranger, and his works are published by Oxford University Press. His arrangements have been performed at the funerals for United States presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush.[2]

Biography

Wilberg was raised in Castle Dale, Utah, and served as a missionary in South Korea where he was part of New Horizons, a vocal group made up of LDS Church missionaries.[3] Wilberg learned how to play the piano at age 4.[4]

Wilberg attended BYU after finishing his missionary service, and earned a bachelor's degree in piano performance and composition in 1979. He then did graduate study in choral music at the Thornton School of Music at USC, earning both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees, with a doctoral dissertation researching works written for chorus and piano.[5]

Wilberg was a professor of music at BYU from 1984 to 1999, where he directed the Men's Chorus and Concert Choir.[6] At BYU, he was a member of the American Piano Quartet, which toured internationally and commissioned many original works, with Wilberg creating many of its arrangements himself.

Wilberg's numerous choral compositions and arrangements are performed and recorded by choral organizations throughout the world. For many of the works he has written/arranged for the Choir, public performances have involved guests artists invited by the Choir, including Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, the King’s Singers, Audra McDonald, David Archuleta, Natalie Cole, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kristin Chenoweth, Madeleine Albright, Walter Cronkite and Claire Bloom. In 2006, he was awarded the Brock Commission from the American Choral Directors Association.[7]

Wilberg's father was part owner of the family's coal mine but was killed in a 1964 mining accident, well before the 1984 fire.

Wilberg and his wife, Rebecca, are the parents of four children.[8]

References
  1. Fletcher Stack, Peggy (March 29, 2008). "Tabernacle Choir gets new director". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
  2. "Elder Gong Shares 8 Lessons He Learned from Mack Wilberg's Life at Devotional - Church News and Events". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  3. Church News, November 29, 2008, p. 6.
  4. "Elder Gong Shares 8 Lessons He Learned from Mack Wilberg's Life at Devotional - Church News and Events". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  5. Wilberg, Mack J. (1985). Choral Music for Mixed Voices with Original Piano Accompaniment (D.M.A.). University of Southern California. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  6. Winters, Charlene (1999). "Wilberg Transposed to Tabernacle Choir". BYU Magazine. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2016-03-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), Retrieved March 2016
  8. "Mack Wilberg". mormontabernaclechoir.org. Retrieved 1 August 2015.


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