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SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon Tabernacle Choir dedicated Sunday's "Music and the Spoken Word" to the 26 children and adults who lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Associate Music Conducter Ryan Murphy spent his early years at the school and wanted to offer comfort to their families.
Singing a Swedish melody — "Children of the Heavenly Father" — members of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir added their voices to those of millions throughout the world who mourn the deaths of 20 students and 5 faculty and staff of Sandy Hook Elementary.
The program was an opportunity for Murphy, to personally pay tribute. He is a native of Newtown, Connecticut and attended Sandy Hook Elementary from Kindergarten through second grade.
Murphy arranged two songs for the program: "Give, Said the Little Stream" and "I Am a Child of God."
"One of the great roles of the choir is to bring peace and hope through music, especially for those who are healing," he told the Deseret News.
"The human family unites in a demonstration and goodness," said Narrator Lloyd Newell. "We want those who suffered to know that even though they don't know us, we care about them. We want to somehow ease their suffering."
Through the words of this message and their voices united in song, they offered words of consolation, letting the people of Sandy Hook know they are not alone.
