Organ Virtuoso Series concert features Tabernacle organist

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

How to watch in person or online

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

It will also 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 will be available on demand.

The Tabernacle Organ Virtuoso Performance Series

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

The series began with concerts 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 is an organist at Trinity United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, Florida; James O’Donnell, professor in the practice of organ at Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in New Haven, Connecticut, and has had tenures at the Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral, both 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 concerts with Mathias, Kerr, O’Donnell, Billa, Terrone and Unsworth are available 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 world’s largest instruments. Its golden pipes are made from wood staves fashioned from Utah timber and still add to the sound of the famous instrument today.

There are also free daily organ concerts at noon in the Tabernacle. Previously, the Tabernacle organists performed a weekly “Piping Up! Organ Concerts at Temple Square” series that was streamed online. The series ended in November 2023, and past performances are available on the Tabernacle Choir’s YouTube channel by searching #pipingup.

Playlists of organ music, including “Organ Solos” and “Tabernacle Choir Organ Performances” are available 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 also in Vienna, Austria, and Jerusalem, according to the announcement.

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

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

Past concerts in the Tabernacle Organ Virtuoso Performance Series

The concerts with Mathias, Kerr, O’Donnell, Billa, Terrone and Unsworth are available for on-demand viewing on the choir’s YouTube channel.