Joseph Smith The Prophet

Christa and Ryan and my sister Cindy had the opportunity to participate in a cantata that the Boise Institute put on this past weekend in honor of Joseph Smith, our first latter-day prophet. Christa and Ryan played in the orchestra (Christa on the violin, the youngest member of the orchestra, Ryan on trumpet and guitar, and one of the older members of the orchestra), which was open to all ages, and Cindy sang in the choir, which was just college age kids. They performed in the Morrison Center at BSU, which is a great performance hall, and it turned out really well. The composer, Rob Gardner, came up from Phoenix and conducted the performance, which added to the energy of the whole performance. He composed the piece when he was just 23. Pretty amazing. Basically it tells the story of Joseph's life, of the First vision, and the early history of the church, including the persecutions in Kirtland and Missouri, and the martyrdom. There were some gorgeous solos and a good deal of narration, and the music reflects the mood of the story beautifully. It was all very powerful. If you have access to BYU-TV, a performance of the work with a group from Salt Lake will be aired this Friday, June 27, in commemoration of the prophet's martyrdom. Check out the webiste at www.josephsmiththeprophet.com. Good stuff. For me, things like this allow me to feel the spirit which reconfirms the truth of what I already know.