Mack Wilberg
Mack Wilberg (born 1955 in Price, Utah) is a composer, arranger, conductor, choral clinician and the current music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.[1] He was the associate director of the choir and music director of the Temple Square Chorale for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from May 1999 until his appointment as director on March 28, 2008.
Biography
Wilberg was raised in Castle Dale, Utah, and served an LDS mission in South Korea where he was part of New Horizons, a vocal group made up of LDS missionaries.[2]
Wilberg attended Brigham Young University (BYU) after finishing his missionary service, and earned a bachelor's degree in music in 1979. He concentrated on piano and composition. He then earned a master's degree and a PhD in music from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.
He is a former professor of music at BYU, where he directed the Men's Chorus and Concert Choir. At BYU he was a member of the American Piano Quartet which included Paul Pollei, himself, and different other pianist at different times (Massimiliano Frani, Del Parkinson, Ronald Staheli, and Douglas Humphreys). This group toured throughout the world and commissioned many original works. Wilberg created many of their arrangements himself. His compositions and arrangements are performed and recorded by choral organizations throughout the world. In addition to the many compositions he has written for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, his works have been performed by such artists as Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, the King’s Singers, Audra McDonald, David Archuleta, Natalie Cole, Brian Stokes Mitchell and narrators Walter Cronkite and Claire Bloom. In 2006, he was awarded the Brock Commission from the American Choral Directors Association.[3]
Wilberg's father was part owner of the family's Wilberg coal mine but died well before the 1984 fire.
He is married to Rebecca and has four children.[4]
References
- ↑ Fletcher Stack, Peggy (March 29, 2008). "Tabernacle Choir gets new director". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
- ↑ Church News, November 29, 2008, p. 6.
- ↑ http://acda.org/page.asp?page=brock_pieces, Retrieved March 2016
- ↑ "Mack Wilberg". mormontabernaclechoir.org. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
External links
- Biography of Wilberg from LDS.org
- Biography of Wilberg from ClassicalComposers.org