Organ Virtuoso Series concert features Tabernacle organist

Temple Square organist Linda Margetts will perform at the primary concert of the 2024 Organ Virtuoso Series on Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m., within the Tabernacle on Temple Square. 

How to observe in person or online

The hourlong concert is free, open to the general public and no tickets are required, based on The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s announcement.

It may even be streamed at 7:30 p.m. on the Tabernacle Choir’s YouTube channel, broadcasts.churchofjesuschrist.org and the Gospel Stream app. After the performance ends, the video shall be available on demand.

The Tabernacle Organ Virtuoso Performance Series

The Tabernacle Organ Virtuoso Performance Series began in 2022 and was created to showcase the Tabernacle organ and world-renowned organists and has been presented quarterly.

The series began with concert events by James Higdon, an organist from the University of Kansas; Gabriele Terrone, the Cathedral of the Madeline’s organist and assistant director of music; and Andrew Unsworth, who has been a Tabernacle organist since 2007. 

In 2023, performers included Viktor Billa, Ukrainian organist and soloist who’s an organist at Trinity United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, Florida; James O’Donnell, professor within the practice of organ at Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in New Haven, Connecticut, and has had tenures on the Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral, each in London, England; Daniel Kerr, the chair of the Music Department at Brigham Young University–Idaho; and Brian Mathias, who has been a Tabernacle organist since 2018. 

The concert events with Mathias, Kerr, O’Donnell, Billa, Terrone and Unsworth can be found for on-demand viewing on the choir’s YouTube channel. (See videos below.)

About the Tabernacle organ

The Tabernacle pipe organ has five manuals, or keyboards, and 206 ranks of organ pipes and is among the many world’s largest instruments. Its golden pipes are comprised of wood staves fashioned from Utah timber and still add to the sound of the famous instrument today. 

There are also free every day organ concert events at noon within the Tabernacle. Previously, the Tabernacle organists performed a weekly “Piping Up! Organ Concerts at Temple Square” series that was streamed online. The series led to November 2023, and past performances can be found on the Tabernacle Choir’s YouTube channel by searching #pipingup. 

Playlists of organ music, including “Organ Solos” and “Tabernacle Choir Organ Performances” can be found on the Tabernacle Choir’s YouTube channel. 

About Linda Margetts

Margetts has been a Temple Square organist since 1984. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance from Brigham Young University and her doctorate in music composition from the University of Utah. She has presented recitals across the United States and Canada and likewise in Vienna, Austria, and Jerusalem, based on the announcement.

As a Tabernacle organist, she performs with the Tabernacle Choir, Temple Square Chorale and Bells on Temple Square and, along together with her fellow organists, presents every day 30-minute organ recitals within the Tabernacle and Conference Center. She also teaches music theory within the 16-week choir training school.

Margetts has been a member of the music faculty at Utah State University and is an organ instructor on the University of Utah. She has lectured on the Church Music Workshop at Brigham Young University and has held numerous key committee assignments as a fellow of the American Guild of Organists.

Past concert events within the Tabernacle Organ Virtuoso Performance Series

The concert events with Mathias, Kerr, O’Donnell, Billa, Terrone and Unsworth can be found for on-demand viewing on the choir’s YouTube channel.