Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Featuring Renee Fleming and Claire Bloom

- American Soprano and British Actress Join Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City for Annual Concert -

Continuing a holiday tradition, PBS presents a holiday concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. CHRISTMAS WITH THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR FEATURING RENEE FLEMING AND CLAIRE BLOOM airs on PBS Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET, with an encore presentation on Sunday, December 24, 2006, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET. The renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square are joined by opera superstar and two-time Grammy Award-winner Renee Fleming, acclaimed British actress, Claire Bloom, dancers from the University of Utah Department of Ballet, and the Bells on Temple Square for the annual holiday concert.

This year's concert features solo numbers from Renee Fleming, including "What Child Is This" and "Poor Mary." Fleming performs other popular favorites with the choir, including "Angels from the Realms of Glory," "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Joy to the World." Claire Bloom reads the Christmas story from the Book of Luke. The high-definition production was recorded during four sold-out concerts performed in December 2005 in the state-of-the-art Conference Center in Salt Lake City to combined audiences of approximately 85,000.

Renowned for her exquisite voice, stylistic versatility and captivating stage presence, American soprano Renee Fleming is recognized as one of today's great artists. Acclaimed as "the gold standard of soprano sound," the two-time Grammy Award winner's vocal artistry is sought after on the world's most distinguished stages. Her most recent appearances include performances in Otello with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart and Spain's Festival Internacional de Santander, among others. Fleming was honored with the 2004 Classical Brits Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2003, she was bestowed Honorary Membership by the Royal Academy of Music as well as an honorary doctorate from the Juilliard School, where she had studied opera. In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Hall Corporation, Fleming is also a strong advocate for literacy and has published a book of memoirs called The Inner Voice.

London-born Claire Bloom made her first stage appearance with the Oxford Repertory Company at the age of 16. Just a year later she starred at Stratford-upon-Avon as Ophelia in her first major role. Her acting career has spanned stage, film and television for decades. Bloom was most recently seen on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theater as Clytemnestra in Electra, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award, and in London at the prestigious Almeida Theatre in Conversations After a Burial. She is the recipient of the Shakespeare Medal from the Shakespeare Society and was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in an evening devoted to her film career in 2001. Bloom has appeared as narrator with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony and the London Philharmonic. She has also published a best-selling book of memoirs called Leaving a Doll's House.

The 360-voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir, conducted by Craig Jessop, traces its roots to the arrival of pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. The choir is best known for its weekly national Sunday broadcast, "Music and the Spoken Word," which originates from Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The longest continuous network broadcast in the world, it has been a weekly American tradition since 1929 and is carried on over 2,000 of radio, television and cable outlets worldwide.

The choir is also known for its recordings, which have earned a Grammy Award, as well as two platinum and five gold albums. After having recorded for CBS, Sony, Telarc, Decca and others, it formed its own recording label - Mormon Tabernacle Choir - in 2003. Music from the PBS program is available on Christmas With the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Vol. 3, Featuring Renee Fleming and Claire Bloom (DVD) and on The Wonder of Christmas (CD). The choir has recorded with some of the world's great orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. It now performs regularly with the Orchestra at Temple Square, a 110-member symphony - all volunteer, like the Choir - formed in 1999. Craig Jessop and Mack Wilberg conduct the choir and orchestra, with many of the arrangements for the concert done by Wilberg, one of America's premier choral arrangers.

The holiday concert with Renee Fleming is the third CHRISTMAS WITH THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR program to be broadcast on PBS. The 2005 CHRISTMAS WITH THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR FEATURING AUDRA MCDONALD AND PETER GRAVES and the 2004 CHRISTMAS WITH THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR FEATURING FREDERICA VON STADE AND BRYN TERFEL were among the most-watched Christmas shows on PBS at their premieres.

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