2026 Church Music Festival Celebrates New Hymns at Salt Lake Tabernacle
More than 300 singers and musicians filled the Salt Lake Tabernacle on November 7 for the 2026 Church Music Festival, titled “Love Without End.”
The free Saturday evening concert featured choirs, soloists, duets, and small groups performing in contemporary, string, gospel, jazz, and Latin styles. Over half the program showcased new hymns published digitally in the new hymnbook, Hymns for Home and Church, according to notices on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Performers traveled from across the country to Temple Square or contributed via submitted videos. Utah State University student Maddy Cook sang in a combined institute choir and noted the strong sense of worship.
Fellow institute choir singer Alan Baker shared a similar sentiment about the evening.
“I just think it was cool to be able to share our testimonies through music and just the joy that comes with us,” Baker told Church News.
The annual festival highlights original sacred music submitted by members worldwide through the Church Music Submission program. Writers, composers, and arrangers were recognized in the audience at the start of the program, alongside submission finalists.
Jesse Ellsworth from Knoxville, Tennessee, arranged the hymn “Look Unto Christ,” which was added to the new hymnbook in June 2025. He described hearing his arrangement performed live by an orchestra and sung by Spencer Stevens as surreal.
“This was her song, and I wanted to give respect to it because of the way it made me feel about the Savior,” Ellsworth told Church News, referring to original songwriter Sherrie Manwill Boren.
Veteran songwriter Janice Kapp Perry attended the event and expressed enthusiasm for the variety of musical styles. She said that her own ward sings two or three of the new hymns every Sunday.
“And the people are loving it,” Perry told Church News. “I hope all the wards are doing it.”
Axa Zárate Maquera performed “Jesus Is My Shepherd” in both English and Spanish in a video presentation, accompanied by a percussion band.
Soloist Allie Smith joined the Kings Music Foundation Children’s Choir to sing “Little Baby in a Manger.”
The setlist bridged traditional and contemporary styles with arrangements such as the 19th-century French Christmas carol “He Is Born, the Divine Christ Child,” performed as a violin duet by Aubrey and Alex Woods. The choral ensemble Sound of Ages performed “What Child Is This?”, while the Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir presented the 19th-century African American spiritual “Were You There?” via video.
The concert 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 digital sheet music from the event will be made available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org/music/library/submitted-music-2012-present.
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