The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
When Tubo-Oreriba Joseph Elisha of Accra, Ghana, first received an email last October inviting him to audition for The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, he dismissed the message, assuming it was too good to be true.
“I thought it was a scam,” said Elisha. “I know [that] to sing with the Choir you have to live within Salt Lake a certain distance … I’m not in Salt Lake so who would send me an email?”
“I said to myself, ‘Oh this guy has failed, he won’t get me.’”
However, a friend helped Elisha confirm that the email and its invitation were authentic. He soon found himself advancing through the virtual selection process to the final auditions with Choir music director Mack Wilberg and associate music director Ryan Murphy.
“Growing up as a young man in the Church, it has always been my dream to sing with them. I never imagined how that was going to be possible. I thought maybe someday … but not something that could happen in 2023,” Elisha said this weekend after his participation in the 193rd Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It wasn’t until the opening of the general conference’s Saturday morning session that reality sunk in for Elisha and nine others as President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency made note of their presence.
“Throughout this conference, the Tabernacle Choir will be joined by global participants who have traveled to Salt Lake City from Brazil, Ghana, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines and Taiwan,” President Oaks announced to a 13,000-member audience at the Church’s Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
“It has been a great joy to be here,” Elisha said. “This is a proof to me that God called me to this assignment, and he will be with me all through the way [through].”
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
