The Church Music Festival filled the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square on Saturday, November 7, 2026, featuring more than 300 singers and musicians performing new hymns from the global hymnbook.
Love Without End Concert Features New Hymns
- The free concert titled “Love Without End” took place on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square.
- More than half the program featured new hymns published digitally in the new collection, “Hymns for Home and Church.”
- Performances included choirs, soloists, duets, and groups ranging from the jazz ensemble Synthesis to the Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir.
Tabernacle Concert Highlights New Global Hymns
The concert brought together more than 300 singers and musicians who traveled from across the country or participated via submitted videos, Church News reported. Performances spanned contemporary, strings, gospel, jazz, and Latin styles.
More than 300 participating singers and musicians presented new hymns, including the first performance of the new hymn “Fight the Good Fight,” and Laura Raty, who won the music division’s “Stand By Me” song demo competition, performed the song with her Los Angeles-based band.
More than half the program showcased new hymns from the collection “Hymns for Home and Church.” Utah State University student Maddy Cook told Church News that performing in a combined institute choir felt like representing a worldwide church through a universal language.
Fellow choir member Alan Baker shared that experience. He told Church News that sharing testimonies through music brought him joy.
Composers and Performers Receive Recognition During the Program
Writers, composers, and arrangers stood to be recognized at the beginning of the Saturday evening program. Jesse Ellsworth of Knoxville, Tennessee, heard his arrangement of “Look Unto Christ” performed by an orchestra and sung by Spencer Stevens. His arrangement was added to “Hymns for Home and Church” in June 2025.
Ellsworth told Church News that the arrangement came to him while driving to work and listening to a song by Sherrie Manwill Boren on repeat. His wife, Lindsey Ellsworth, told Church News that the evening provided an opportunity to feel connected through music.
Additional performances included Roy Bosch singing “Jesus Is My Shepherd” in English and Spanish with a Latin family band, and soloist Allie Smith performing alongside the Kings Music Foundation Children’s Choir for “Little Baby in a Manger,” while the jazz ensemble Synthesis, made up of Brigham Young University musicians combining swing, blues, jazz, Latin, and fusion styles, performed original jazz hymn arrangements composed by band members. The choral group Sound of Ages, an innovative ensemble described as bridging old and new, sacred and secular, performed “What Child Is This?” by Garth Smith, arranged for guitar, piano, strings, and mixed choir.
Melissa Heath, an operatic soprano, performed an original arrangement of “How Can I Keep from Singing?” by David Kjar. Bryson and Tierra Jones, a married couple from Arizona, performed an original duet of “As I Keep the Sabbath Day” by Johannes Bowman.
Video presentations included “He Is Born, the Divine Christ Child,” a violin duet by Aubrey and Alex Woods; “Were You There?” by the Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir; and “Jesus Is My Shepherd,” by Roy Bosch and a Latin family band singing in Spanish and English.
Performers Sing Songs from the New Collection
| Song Title | Performer |
|---|---|
| “On This Day of Joy and Gladness” | Combined Institute Choir |
| “Look Unto Christ” | Spencer Stevens |
| “Where Can I Turn for Peace?” | Sydney Strong |
| “Jesus Is My Shepherd” | Axa Zárate Maquera and ensemble |
| “Little Baby in a Manger” | Allies Smith and Kings Music Foundation Children’s Choir |
Longtime songwriter Janice Kapp Perry attended the event as a member of the audience. She told Church News that her ward sings two or three of the new hymns every Sunday, noting that people are responding well to them.
The 90-minute event was recorded for on-demand viewing and will be published on the Church Music Festival page, Gospel Library, Gospel Media, and the “Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ” YouTube channel. Free sheet music downloads will be made available at the official Church music library.
