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Meet the lone Filipino full-time member of the world-famous Tabernacle Choir

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MJ Felipe

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/20240227070248_CHOIR 1.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/> <span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">Leo Marcelo is the only Filipino full-time member of the world-famous Tabernacle Choir. Photo courtesy of Leo Marcelo</div> MANILA -- Leo Marcelo, 42, is the only Filipino full-time member of the world-famous Tabernacle Choir, who are currently in Manila for their World Tour of Hope. According to Marcelo, it has always been his dream to be part of the Tabernacle Choir. He first heard about the choir back in 2001 when he became a new member of the church. Born in Quezon City and was raised in Angeles City, Pampanga, Marcelo and his family would frequent Hong Kong where his father worked as an engineer. In 2003, he became a missionary in Naga City in Bicol for three years until his family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. Having moved to Utah, he got closer to his dream of being part of the Tabernacle Choir. Asked why he wanted to be part of it, he told ABS-CBN News: “Mainly because of the history. They have been around for 177 years. If you’re living in Utah, the best singers around you have been in the choir already.”And so he applied. “It’s a difficult process and a lot of people tried, and you can try only twice in your life. If you fail, you can’t do it anymore,” he said.It was a 7-month process and while working on his application, he was also working in his day job. “It was very new and difficult in the sense that everything was, I didn’t get the training before. As far as music theory is concerned, I consumed books months before the test. So I crammed everything. Tayong mga Filipino we have the capacity to review really fast so I was a good student,” he recalled.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/20240227070248_CHOIR 2.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">Leo Marcelo with members of the world-famous Tabernacle Choir. Photo courtesy of Leo Marcelo </div>During the audition process, he met some music enthusiasts who helped him prepare for the exams ahead. “There was a lot of divine intervention, I have to admit. I think it was meant to be ‘cause I met the right people to interview with, to talk with. The day of the test, I was so calm. It felt like I was prepared,” he said.Now, Marcelo’s dream is a reality. Travelling miles away from Utah, he is back in his home country to sing alongside Filipino pride Lea Salonga onstage. “Today, I met her. That’s a dream come true. I’m a big fan of Miss Lea Salonga. When I met her today, I was shaking a bit,” he said.The Tabernacle Choir, together with the team behind them, or a total of more than 350 individuals, flew via three private chartered flights to Manila for this concert. <div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/20240227070248_CHOIR 3.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">Leo Marcelo with members of the world-famous Tabernacle Choir. Photo courtesy of Leo Marcelo </div>“People think that we are paid for this. We are volunteers. We are all volunteers. We have our real jobs, day jobs. We do this every Thursday nights and Sunday mornings. So we come prepared and we sing and we go back to our personal lives. These are all volunteers. We are stopping our lives to perform because we love this,” Marcelo said.Best of all, it’s the word of God that they bring with them as they travel the world.  “And we are missionaries, we spread the gospel. We inspire people to feel the spirit in their lives thru songs, which is the universal language,” he said.<div>How difficult is it to be part of the Tabernacle Choir?</div>The Tabernacle Choir is an award-winning choir, known for its one-of-a-kind signature sound created by 420 voices under the direction of Mack Wilberg. United by their faith and shared love of music, the choir and the orchestra serve as musical ambassadors for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based in Salt Lake City, Utah. At present, Marcelo is only one Filipino full-time member of the choir. There are other Filipino choir members who are called global participants, but they are not full time, not based in Utah and would only perform during conferences. But how difficult is it to be part of the choir?<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/20240227070248_CHOIR 4.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>T<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">he world-famous Tabernacle Choir. Photo courtesy of Leo Marcelo</div>“It’s a seven-month process, you send your tape and they give you requirements to record your voice into something and if you pass that, you move to the second stage,” Marcelo said. “The phase two is a music theory test and an oral exam. Hearing test, you hear musical passage and you hear what happens to the next passage. It’s not easy at all.”According to Marcelo, a lot of people fail the second stage. “Everybody in the choir is so trained and talented. They’ve been doing this their whole life. Ako. I’m a karaoke singer, a typical Filipino who sings all the time. But I don’t have the background training for it. So when I joined the choir, I kinda had to equip myself with the music theory,” he said.Going back to the second stage, he saidL “When you pass that, you move to the third phase which is an in-person audition. You sing for them and music recital reading, and you have an interview with them.”<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/20240227070248_CHOIR 5.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>T<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">he world-famous Tabernacle Choir. Photo courtesy of Leo Marcelo</div>But just when you think that you have hurdled the most challenging stages, there’s another one. “And when you pass that, you get enrolled to the choir school which is a four- to five-month process. And you go to that choir teaching and school and if you graduate from that you become a full-time member of the choir,” he said.The process is tedious and rigorous because of the demands when you earn your spot on the choir. Kim Farah, the publicist of the Tabernacle Choir, shared one other requirement.“We have to be equally blessed to have Leo in the Salt Lake City area so that he can sing with us on a regular basis. That is one of our challenges, is that you have to live within a 100-mile radius of Salt Lake City to be able to handle the schedule and the numerous practices, and the incredible volunteer hours that the choir and the orchestra put in,” she said. Practicing inclusivity, they invite global participants to be part and sing with the choir and even rehearse with them in the virtual rehearsal room. Marcelo added that availability of your vocal range needs to considered. If all the tenor slots are full and occupied, for instance, then you won’t be considered even if you’re skilled and qualified. Marcelo, at 42, is one of the newest members. Their youngest member, as far as Marcelo can recall, is around 26 years old. Those who reach the age of 60 retire from the choir. Since 1893, the Tabernacle Choir has traveled across the United States and overseas -- from Israel, to Japan, Brazil, Australia, Europe and now in the Philippines for the very first time. <div> </div>

Meet the lone Filipino full-time member of the world-famous Tabernacle Choir

Meet the lone Filipino full-time member of Tabernacle Choir

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Meet the lone Filipino full-time member of Tabernacle Choir

MJ Felipe,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 27, 2024 04:05 PM PHT

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