Tabernacle organist Richard Elliott on sacred music and his conversion

Church News

News, Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 873 Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

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Summary

For more than 30 years, Richard Elliott has inspired audiences worldwide as an organist for The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. Elliott was introduced to and baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while studying for his undergraduate degree. He later served a mission in Argentina, married his wife, Elizabeth, in the Washington D.C. Temple and taught as an assistant professor of organ at Brigham Young University. Today, Elliott is the Church’s principal organist for The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. He joins Church News editor Ryan Jensen on this episode of the Church News podcast to discuss the power of music and conversion to Christ.

The Church News Podcast is a weekly podcast that invites listeners to make a journey of connection with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints across the globe. Hosts Jon Ryan Jensen, editor of the Church News, and Church News reporter Mary Richards share unique views of the stories, events, and people who form this international faith. With each episode, listeners are asked to embark on a journey to learn from one another and ponder, “What do I know now?” because of the experience. Produced by KellieAnn Halvorsen.

Transcript

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0:00.0	When you sit down to the bench for general conference to play for a conference session or at the choir Christmas concerts,
0:14.0	it's very easy to start doubting yourself and saying, do I really know how to do this?
0:19.0	But then if you exercise faith and pray and make the
0:23.3	Savior the focus, then you feel the reassurance of the Holy Ghost telling you can do this and
0:28.7	things work out. And there are no coincidences, you know, for me in the gospel, that our Heavenly
0:36.4	Father has a plan for each of us and that if we are in tune
0:41.6	with the Spirit, we can see his hand in every aspect really of our life.
0:49.8	This is John Ryan Jensen, editor of the Church News. Welcome to the Church News podcast.
0:55.8	Today we're taking you on a journey of connection as we discuss news and events of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
1:06.7	A young man growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Richard Elliott once dreamed of becoming a studio musician and played in a rock band as a teenager.
1:17.7	Elliot eventually went to college to study music at places like the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Catholic University of America, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
1:28.0	and the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York. While studying for his
1:33.1	undergraduate degree, he was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the
1:37.0	Book of Mormon. After studying the book and praying about it and the church, Elliot chose to be baptized.
1:43.2	He later met his wife while still in school.
1:45.5	She plays the piano, and the two were married in the Washington, D.C. Temple. Today,
1:50.6	Elliot is the church's principal organist for the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple
1:54.8	Square. And in August of 2025, he traveled with the choir and orchestra to perform in
1:59.3	Argentina, the country where he served as a missionary after he joined the church. He said at the time he traveled with the choir and orchestra to perform in Argentina, the country where
2:00.8	he served as a missionary after he joined the church.
2:03.6	He said at the time he felt over the moon when that stop was announced.
2:07.6	We're excited to hear more today about both his missionary experience in Argentina and the
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