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SALT LAKE CITY — The familiar organ pipes are still there — they've just been modernized.
On Thursday, The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square released a new logo to go along with its name change that occurred 18 months ago.
The logo was created for a digital environment: The church has created animations to go with the new symbol for social media platforms as well as broadcasts.
"As the broadcast will close, you'll see the animated logo come into play there so that will be kind of fun and different for people to watch for," choir president Ron Jarrett said.
The logo includes the name of the choir along with seven gold-colored organ pipes representing the iconic pipes in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
In October 2018, when choir changed its name from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, the choir began work on creating the new symbol to go with the name change.
The church partnered with Boncom, a marketing and advertising agency in Salt Lake City, to help create the new symbol and strategic direction.
The logo features plenty of symbolism with the rising and falling pipes alluding to the rhythm of music, and seven pipes being used to reference the number that scripturally symbolizes whole or complete.
"I think that it's also important to point out that this simplified logo was designed to allow people to add their own meaning or feeling to it, and how it relates to the choir organization and its music," choir music director Mack Wilberg said.
The choir, which formed in 1847, has garnered international fame, having performed all over the world. Jarrett said that the choir wanted to honor the past with the logo, and drew inspiration from the choir’s past logos, dating back to 1907.
“It includes that visual identity of the tabernacle organ pipes but in a new and refreshed way,” he said.
During this April’s general conference, Wilberg reflected a little on the choir’s storied history, when the coronavirus pandemic forced the choir to use prerecorded performances.
“I have to admit that I personally missed being there,” Wilberg said. “At the same time, it was great to not only experience the things that we had recorded several weeks before but also see the many wonderful musicians, from even 20 years ago that were part of conference. I was actually quite touched by watching that because, quite honestly, some of the folks that we saw have passed away, and others I haven't seen for many many years.”
The choir has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in other ways, halting their regular performances on their weekly radio and television broadcast “Music and the Spoken Word” — a program that has been broadcast since July 15, 1929 — and threatening its European tour this summer.
The choir has seven performances in five countries — Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Scotland — planned from June 25-July 14.
Choir spokesman Daniel Woodruff said the church will make a decision in the coming weeks whether or not those performances will happen.
As for now, the choir is just waiting patiently to practice and perform together again.
“Hopefully, we'll be in a place where we can rehearse together as a choir,” Jarrett said. “We are a choir; we're not a small group and, and I can hardly wait for that opportunity to be back with those good people.”
