SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has announced the special guests for this year’s widely popular Christmas Concert.

Concertgoers will be delighted as Broadway’s Michael Maliakel and actor Lesley Nicol join the choir this December 14, 15, and 16 at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. The Tabernacle Choir’s Music Director Mack Wilberg and Ryan Murphy, associate music director are looking forward to the collaboration.

“We are delighted to have the talents of Michael Maliakel and Lesley Nicol at this year’s
Christmas concerts,” said Wilberg. “Together they will bring the holiday spirit into the hearts of
our audiences through music and word celebrating the joy that is found in family and the
celebration of the Savior’s birth.”

Lesly Nicol is well known for her award-winning role of the beloved, yet stern, cook Mrs. Patmore on “Downton Abbey.” Nicol has enjoyed a diverse career on stage and screen and has worked on Broadway, the West End, movies, and television. Last year she produced a biographical one-woman show, titled “How the Hell Did I Get Here?”, with acclaimed American songwriter Mark Mueller, which opened in Chicago and to rapturous reviews in New York.

Actor Lesley Nicol. Credit: Ruth Crafer.
Broadway star Michael Maliakel. Credit Jiyang Chen.

Maliakel is currently starring in the title role of Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway. He is an award-winning Indian-American actor who excels in a wide range of production from opera to musical theater. He recently appeared in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Kennedy Center and before the pandemic he toured North America with the 25th Anniversary cast of Phantom of the Opera.

Tickets to this year’s Christmas concert on December 14, 15, and 16, are complimentary but required. Tickets will be distributed through a random selection process and have been increased to four tickets per household. Those wishing to request tickets are invited to sign up during the registration period, which runs from 12:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 24, through 11:59 p.m., Friday, November 3. Full details can be found at tabchoir.org/Christmastickets. Admission will be open to those eight years and older. The number of tickets will be limited due to the construction in and around Temple Square.