Attention youth leaders. If you have recently been called to lead the rising generation, I have a next step for you. Listen to an awesome presentation by Yvonne Hubert and Peter Vidmar who are both respective members of the Young Women and Young Men General Advisory Council for the church. Their presentation really helps clarify ways on how to effectively lead the
youth using the children and youth program. They also cover topics like youth led groups, how to lead through personal ministry, how to meet youth where they are, identifying the youth strengths and capacities. This presentation is part of the Young Saints virtual library, and you can access it at no cost by going to leading saints.org slash 14. Again, simply click the link in the show notes or go to leading saints.org/14.
If you wanted further insight into a come follow me lesson, you'd probably search in YouTube or get the We Believe app. Tough church history questions? You'd reach out to the BH Roberts Foundation. But what if you wanted to learn to be a better leader? Well, I'm glad you asked. You'd come to Leading Saints. That's why we exist to help Latter day Saints be better prepared to lead by being familiar with others' leadership experiences, understand the latest leadership research, and finding a
community to share ideas. That's why I'm glad you found the Leading Saints podcast. We hope you will dive into the archives and visit leading saints.org to find out what are the top most listened to episodes on the podcast. Welcome. You're gonna love it. Hey, Hey, everyone. This is Kurt Franco with Leading Saints, another episode of the podcast. I'm really excited to invite Brett Stewart into the
studio today. He's somebody I've really been, you know, wanting to get in the studio for an interview. And, many of you know his name, but he is the CEO and founder of Millennial Choirs and Orchestras. If you're not familiar with Millennial Choirs and Orchestras, keep listening and definitely go to their website, subscribe their YouTube channel. This is phenomenal music. I'm probably gonna use all the wrong words to describe just how professional and awesome
this choir is. My children have even joined this choir. That's how much I love millennial choirs and orchestras. They have chapters across the the Western United States and, so there's so many ways to get involved. But I wanted to sit down with Brett to really talk about the dynamic of music in the church, in sacramenting, in state conference, the ward choir director. Right? The all these callings that sometimes get dismissed or taken for granted,
and how could we improve on music? And he gives some phenomenal advice, many that he frames as controversial, but it's, it's more encouraging than controversial. I think you'll appreciate it, you know, the leading saints audience. That's what we love digging into of ways we can think out of the box, especially with music, and have a more worshipful experience in these sacred meetings that that we
conduct and and put on. And then we get into just the leadership component of running an organization like millennial choirs and orchestras with so many people, so many moving parts. What do you do with contention that comes up? How do you keep everybody focused? How do you stimulate a vision where people are are, you know, banging down your door to get in this choir? And you're gonna love it. And then, of course, we focus on a phenomenal experience coming up, which is Messiah in America.
And this production will link to the the trailers and things describing that. But think of, you know, Les Miserables, but that type of quality production and singing, but about Christ coming to the Americas, all the scriptures that that are around us. So it's gonna be phenomenal. Definitely something you wanna be a part of and and check out. So here is my interview with Brett Stewart, the CEO and founder of Millennial Choirs and Orchestras. Alright. Today, I'm excited to welcome in Brett
Stewart from Millennial Choir and Orchestras. Did I say it right? Is that good? Choir's plural. Choirs. Millennial Choirs. Yes. That's right. The owner just got one of these parties going on. Right? That's right. Awesome. So where where are all the choirs and orchestras? Like, how do you what's the layout here of your organization? Give them to you in order of how they opened. Okay. So Orange County, California is the first one, kinda,
Irvine, Newport Beach area. Mhmm. And then East Valley of Arizona, we rehearse in the Gilbert area. And after that was Dallas, Texas. Oh, wow. Yep. And simultaneously with Dallas, Utah, rehearses in Utah Valley, and then Boise, Idaho, and then can't remember all these, Austin, Texas. Okay. And the most recent was Kansas City. Nice. And did you mention Utah in there? Uh-huh. Okay. So and is there plans for more? I mean, there's this Yes. Every state needs 1.
Right? Yes. Every state should should have one. Yeah. There are, of course, plans for more. In fact, we did kind of like an open call last time for 1 and had kind of a a three way battle between locals, and Kansas City won that out. So it was fun to we didn't we didn't ever envision going, you know, that far east. But yeah. It's it's there's there's always room for more. It's just our capacity to continue to do it. Now are you personally
involved with all of those? Or My brother and me as founders are we travel around a lot to a lot of them, especially to concerts, not always the rehearsals of all of them. And but we have an amazing team who helps take care of it. So, yeah, our hand is in a lot of it, but not the week to week rehearsing everywhere. Nice. So what's the origin story of of it all? The origin story is super
near and dear to my heart. It's not one that I tell a lot because I realize how it sounds almost when I do, but I was getting my doctorate degree in choral conducting at the University of Cincinnati, and my brother was getting his master's at Julliard in piano performance. And I had always wanted to be a college professor. I mean, a, you know, a
college choir director. And as I was getting my doctorate, we had had our 4th kid out there in Cincinnati, and I started to have all these doubts just about my career for the first time in years. I mean, I had gone through all this schooling, and here I was in kind of the tail end of it all, started to talk to my wife about it. And she, of course, was concerned, you know, like, let's figure this out. And we're out here, you know, with no family, nothing. Where are we
going next? Kind of a thing. And I just started to make it a matter of really fervent prayer, probably more than anything I've ever done in my life, just started to freak me. I'm I'm pretty certain person, know what I'm going after, you know. Yeah. Especially when you get a doctor degree and things like, I know what I'm doing. I'm I'm going for it. And I just had just
many, many downs for many reasons. And it was probably months of just really, you know, prayerful and teary kind of behavior to the Lord just going, what am I supposed to do? Like, I've gotta support this family. I've gotta figure this out. And also realizing that I my brother and me both, we had done some stuff all growing up together with piano and with singing, and I just thought, I I feel like we're supposed to do something, and all of this is swirling around in
my mind. And previous to that, there had been several I mean, I had worked in church music my entire life since I was a teenager. I was leading state choirs and big productions and, you know, interfaith community events that I had to help put together and just things like that. Did music for you and your brother just natural I mean, it was just from a young age or doing it. From my mom sought the talent there and put us into classical piano, some pretty
heavy duty competitive piano. And so we both majored in that at BYU. But, you know, here I am and I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do. So it literally was a dream one night. I had a dream and it was my high school choir director, not LDS, who was in my dream, and I was having a conversation with him, and he said, You know what you're supposed to do. And the whole idea of MCO came into my
mind. And I woke up in the morning, and I knew what it was supposed to be named, and I knew what we were supposed to doing, and I knew it was gonna be my brother with me. And it was this moment of utter clarity, and I called my brother up and said, I just had this dream. And he said, let's go for it. Let's do it. Yeah. No questions asked. Wow. He had a year to finish at Juilliard, but I went out to Orange County and him over the phone and me in person got it started, and it just
kind of went from there Yeah. Year to year. And And is this like a new concept, or are there other choirs like this that are sort of independent? There had been other community back in the day, I mean, they were all kind of Mormon choirs, they called them. Mhmm. You had the Washington DC Mormon choir, and you had one in Seattle, and you had one in Colorado, and you had one in Arizona, and that by then had disbanded,
but it was yeah. These had been going on, and there was even one in Orange County, but it wasn't something I people had mentioned it to me in my younger years. You should do one of these. And I just remember thinking that is the furthest thing from what I wanna do with my life and my career. I actually, at one point, almost applied for USC Film Score Program, and I mean, there were so many other directions that
I would have chosen to go. So I think the Lord knew that he needed to hit me over the head in the way that he did because it was without a doubt, it was it was no question. And then of course, once I got into it, I realized I've been being prepped for this
in different ways. My master's thesis was on, you know, an LDS music topic because that's what my professor had kind of My professor was Jewish, and there's a huge Jewish music tradition, and he just loved the Mormon music tradition, and he said, do that for your thesis, you know? So I had been prepared for it. It was even though I knew it was what I was supposed to do, it was scary. I'm thinking, okay, I'm going to and I knew I needed to make
a career out of it. Most of the community Mormon choirs that had been formed were just, you know, a choir, band director, or who knows, a a certain you know, the they're just on the side was going and doing this choir, and that's just not the way that I roll. I just knew that if I was gonna jump into this, it needed to be full time, and it needed to be a you know, it needed to blow up and be huge. Yeah. And I can get into that later why, but it's
interesting. Yeah. And so a way you went with with building this organization and was it just little by little, you started the first choir in Southern California and and Without any thought of that we were gonna grow to other locations. Really? So that was not a You're gonna be the Southern California Orange Orange County Yep. You know, choir and It was just gonna be the Orange County, and that was it. And then other communities started to hear about
it. We had family in Arizona and them and their friends, I mean, even came out to concerts in Orange County and they're like, we want this here. Mhmm. We're like, oh, how are we going to make that happen? You know? And then we did. And then the same thing happened in all of the other locations, you know, that have existed. Just somehow there was some connection and some way that somebody found out about it and started getting the ball rolling for us, and then we came out and started
it. Yeah. Yeah. So I I kinda would love to go in a couple directions here. 1, obviously, a a leadership audience. The I mean, the jokes are innumerable as far as the award choir jokes. Right? And and the ongoing effort and, you know, the you call that that really energetic ward choir director. He or she's gonna get it done and begging people to come in choir practice. So I would definitely wanna go, like, as far as on the the church
tradition, ward choir, state choir thing. But then also just being a leader with so many people involved, so many moving parts, so many different choirs. Yeah. Just how that that goes. So what are you drawn to? Where where's a good place? Because they there's they could go back and forth there. It was but We could talk we could talk, you know, the whole leadership aspect of it and also organizational aspect on a local level, which is interesting because
it's been 17 years. Most people don't realize one of the impetuses for, or however you pluralize that word, that one of the things that caused us to wanna start this was just growing up in those programs. Like I had to go to award choir since I was 12. Mhmm. It was just a thing our family did. And then eventually and my steak was very musical. Just a shout out to the Huntington Beach steak, which is just mind blowing, the kind of performances and Broadway reviews and all the things that we did.
But as I mentioned, I was called to be the state choir director, I think 17 years old, junior in high school, and I'm up there. I'm already starting to arrange for the choir, and we would put on these massive productions for 4th July and for Christmas and, of course, state conference and everything. And so here I was doing this recognizing at the same time that, well, that's great that I happen to have the wherewithal or the knowledge or the training or the talent
or whatever. What about this stake and that stake all over the world? And, you know, I started to realize very quickly that this was not a normal thing everywhere, you know? And also, there may or may not be talent, but there may or may not also be leaders who have that kind of a vision, understand or have been converted to the idea that great music can absolutely transform hearts. It can see your testimonies into people's hearts and souls. I could preach forever about that, but that
doesn't exist everywhere. Most of the leadership is has no idea about it or what even if they know what it can do, they don't know how to make it happen. And so they just sort of leave it up to the well, yeah, that's great. I support it, and go for it. You know, do it. And they leave it up to a choir director who may have no idea or a state music coordinator, you know, you name it, who has no idea how to make something happen either. There's no training on that
really. There's no you know, it it does take an organizational business sense even in a volunteer situation like that. So, yeah, that was one of the reasons we started to I think that the original mission statement said something about enhancing the quality of music in the local levels of the LDS church. Mhmm. And we were definitely LDS geared in those beginning years and still are in some respects, but also just in all churches. So, yeah, I think I think that there's a lot to be learned
from it. You can't create an MCO in local congregations, but you can certainly elevate. Yeah. And you can think outside the box. There are ways to reach people. And then one of the most poignant things about our organization, I think, is just what it does for the youth. Yeah. Because I think we get scared in the church that youth are not going to be attracted to certain things that we're feeding them or, you know, that that's not going to satiate their appetite. And what we've
learned is the opposite in MCO. Like, you would normally think sacred classical type music in this respect is not going to have any there's just going to be no desire with the youth. And sometimes there isn't. They get to a rehearsal at at first, you know, mom or dad makes them or a friend drags them in, and they think, what is this? And eventually, that language becomes a part of them,
and they just they feel it. And I believe it's because it's something they recognize from before the time they from before they even came to the earth. Yeah. Yeah. So they once you tap into that, it's just amazing. They just For sure. Yeah. I remember in in high school, my sister said, you need to join the high school choir. And I'm like, that doesn't sound fun. I'm like, no. Like, the social aspect is worth it alone.
And I did that. And I ended up being just in love with that dynamic of music as a young teenager and then, you know, being part of the high school musicals and things. And it was it was real blessing for my life. So definitely lean into that. Yeah. Anything to say, like like, just getting people interested in at least considering being part of the state choir or the word choir or getting
them, hey. Come try a few practices. Anything that comes to mind as far as that other than just straight up begging, which we've been trying. Well, this may speak more to parents, but families getting involved is huge. And, again, MCO's model that that's it's a definitely a family organization, whether it's all the siblings that do it or mom and dad participate in some way in the choirs and orchestras, but making it a family affair. That's what it was for me growing up in in
Warden State Choir. It was a family affair. We all participated in it, from dad to mom to everybody. And yes, my whole family has musical talent, but there were definitely families who you wouldn't they would never say, oh, our family has musical talent, but they just did they just went and did it. Yeah.
It was a family affair. That's something that kids will argue less, and I say less because they still might give you a hard time, but that's something they'll argue less about when they see that you're making it as a family effort rather than, you know, that's really hard as a parent to just say, hey, you know, you're going to go participate in this Stake Youth Choir and no questions asked and go out the door, get ready, you know, you're going to go and you're
setting yourself up for major failure if you haven't already built a a rapport with them that you're gonna love this. We've remember, we've done this together as a family, these kinds of things, and we're gonna, you know, so Yeah. It makes sense. I mean, that's essentially how, you know, church attendance is. That's right. If I just told my 9 year old to get on a tie and drop them off at church, she'd be like, what the Yeah. I come with like, why am I doing this alone? Right? But Yeah. We all
go together. It's like, this is what we're doing. You know? So Yes. That's true. That's a barber. I didn't think about that. That's true. What about just like I mean, you know, the typical state conference agenda, you know, roughly 2 hours and, you know, typically, there's a state choir there. And I remember being in a state presidency, I'd always tell the the music director, the choir director of state conference, like, I want let's
do this general conference style. And what I meant by that is I want to start the meeting. You know, like at 10 o'clock, the choir begins to sing, not like like, hello, welcome, you know, like and prelude type thing. But is there anything else we could do? Just the simple things to really jazz up a a state conference or even award sacrament meeting. Well, do you want me to get into the controversial answer? Yes. Absolutely. Well,
nothing less. So I live in Texas, and I go on occasion because we're invited by friends. Surround we're in a small Texas town surrounded by Christians, you know? And the big churches around us are baptist churches, mega, big churches. And when I say that, I say it to kind of accentuate the juxtaposition between that and our churches, which we're trying to keep congregations small, it seems like, these days. They keep
splitting wards and everything smaller. That alone makes it very difficult to come up with, you know, real quality musical numbers because you just completely, you know, diminished your pool of potential. But also just our meetings aren't set up
for it like theirs are. And there's a lot of reasons for that, but I will say that in Texas, if you were to think about taking one of these friends, and this is this is controversial to say, but if you were to think of taking them and bringing them into the walls of our church when they are fed with music where they go, there is music throughout their services. I was shocked when I went to the first one when I moved to Texas. My daughter had a friend getting baptized in the
local baptist church. They invited us to come. So I'm like, we are going. Our whole family went. And every song you stand for, every single song you're up, and the words are up on the screens. And so you're not buried in a hymn book with your head down. You know, you're not sitting. Everyone's half asleep. You know, it's this there's not an organist who can't play or, you know, or is trying to play or whatever it
is. So there's just our church already, the way that music happens at the local levels is setting us up for failure. We're using an organ, which I love the organ, but it's it's an in in the modern world, that instrument is is just It's an antique. Right? It's an antique. People don't understand that language. And then, again, the smaller ward sizes, the buildings that are they don't lend themselves to any kind of acoustic or any kind of a setup. Our AV is horrible in
the buildings. Right? We don't have great equipment. We don't. And so you're setting in every possible way I can think. You're setting it up for failure. So you really do. I don't say all that to say that we should be doing it like the other churches. I can see the reasons. First of all, we don't pay people. You know, they're Right. Yeah. They're professionals. We're not going to. So there are things that can't happen. But I would say to any leader, like, to answer your question,
think outside the box. There are other ways to make this happen. Consult, care, go talk to people, go talk to the musicians, the ones that, you know, that you see that are successful in their personal and professional lives and say, what could we do? You know, does that mean that we do we have to have a choir or can we put together a I mean, there we could go on and on and on with the different ways you can make great music, and I have been in ward and state meetings where I have left.
People always go to the professional musicians in the congregation and go, what were you thinking? You know? And you get really good at just smiling and saying, it was great. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it was I mean, I'm not any offering to me is is great, and I've been able to to just appreciate
anything. But when it's something that really hits home, I am so appreciative of the leaders and of the musicians or non musicians, whoever it was, that put it together and and that they were willing to think outside the box. Yeah. So, I mean, that's we're progressing in the church with that. The handbook used to even say that brass and less worshipful instrument should not be played and Yeah. You speak very different. Of that language is gone.
You know, I see guitars in church much more now, and there's such a you can do it so tastefully. You know? We don't really do the praise band thing like the churches I'm speaking of. Yeah. I think listen, if I were in charge and could do whatever I wanted Yes. I would have a screen down every week and the words would be up on the screen. Really? And I would say, get out of the and I would have people standing. Every hymn. Right. Just
stand. Just stand to sing the hymns. Like, where I know there probably is something in the current handbook about that and I'm I'm sure it if I I don't know it. I don't know if I've read it. Maybe. Yeah. But if there is, it's probably at the at the direction of the presiding authority. Yeah. Which is appropriate. But, man, I have I know of church leaders who won't. They we
are not standing for the hymns. Mhmm. And, I mean, I don't have leaders like that, but I'm wondering if anyone's question and said, why? Like, this wakes people up. It's like, we need to it's an we're sitting there for 2 hours. Right. So we're sitting there for 1 hour, whatever it is. And in today's ADHD world, that's a long time to just sit and have to just listen and not participate fully. So it's awesome. That's an easy
thing to do. Yeah. Get them up and then think outside the box, you know, with the whole thing. Most churches aren't using hymn books anymore. Even in our church, these new hymns are coming in a digital format. Right. And I've noticed a lot of the congregations are printing them all and putting them in a separate folder. I'm like, oh, great. Now all our heads our heads just went back down into the music. Whatever. So the the screen dynamic, that's more not because some of
them might think, well, why? We have all the hymn books over, but it's just a different posture in in singing the music. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. It's a yeah. Like I said, we've just set it all up for we've we mentioned the antique mode for providing the accompaniment, but also just the music director. Think about that for a minute. When's the last time you really followed a music director? I mean, no one no one's You're not supposed to say that out loud. No one's really watching for a cutoff.
You know what I mean? Or, you know, or, and, I've never been to another church that has one. I'm in Texas again. I'm in So, like, your typical baptist church, they're just they're they don't have a music director. No. The I did the either the music pastor is at the piano or he's standing there, and he just starts to sing, you know, and everyone. But, like, it's pretty it's pretty
obvious what an introduction is. You know, someone plays the introduction on the keyboard or on the whatever they have or the band, and then they just all start singing together. So it's a song leader is what it is. It's not somebody beating a 4 4 pattern. Mhmm. Which is I mean, I it's my career. That's what I do on stage, but I'm gonna tell you that's archaic in a in a sacred music setting. Right. So I don't know. I'm not suggesting to get rid
of that. I just suggesting somebody might actually watch them if they knew what they were doing, if you got someone that was trained or knew what they were, you know, knew what they were doing and had command, you know, over the music, and if their head if their eyes were out of a book. So that's why I mentioned the screens. Yeah. That does make sense. I'm gonna get a lot of people in trouble because Okay. Well, this is So there are really people have really strong opinions
on both sides of this. Uh-huh. So you have to really navigate that as a musician. I think it was Boyd k Packer who said, musicians are temperamental. And he said, they're more temper than mental or something like that. You know? And it's because you get passionate people in there who are just, like, see the problems and go, oh my goodness. Think outside the box. Do something different, and we're just not set up for it. Yeah. So I definitely keep my mouth shut most of the time. Well, not
today. Okay. Any other won't today. I I wanna hear any other, like, controversial or outside the box ideas that you've seen that surprised you that because, again, we you've addressed, like, the the limitations that are there. So all things considered, the limitations that are there, anything else that you could maybe see the audience with that can do to make the whole box? Some of them were just because I was in kind of multicultural places. I saw a small choir get up and do something
in New Orleans. We were there actually for a BYU football game and went to award there, and it was it was amazing. Like, they're using their hands and they're, you know, you you can imagine. It was it their the culture down there, and it was just so different, and it was so refreshing to just see people worship in a way that in the west where I grew up would have been like, oh, this is awkward. What's happening right now? You know? And then, same
thing in Hawaii. I've been to a couple different worlds in Hawaii, and people were literally doing, you know, using their hands. You know, you can imagine like like it was a luau almost. And I just went, this is amazing. This is amazing that people are thinking outside the box. I've seen a lot of guitar being used recently just in my own ward. Last week, there was a a quartet or a sextet of men that got up there and had a guitar accompaniment. That was it.
Just, you know, strumming and picking at the guitar while they sang it as well with my soul from the new you know, one of the new not a new hymn, but one of the hymns in our new digital hymnal. And so it was I just loved it. And the ward choir, here's another outside the box thing. Don't have a regular standing ward choir that I mean, I think the hymn the the, handbook actually still suggests that where possible, the word choir sings every month and meets, you know, regularly.
I don't know of a I, I might know of 1 or 2 wards of all the wards that I've been to or know of in all the places that I travel that actually can do that. And so I think, obviously, there's local adaptation, but I would say in order to not burn out all of you musicians, throw together a choir like that just for special occasions. Yeah. And then just have musical numbers and have, you know, those kinds of things. Also, everybody loves when the kids get up, and we
I never see enough of it. We see a primary program once a year, and that's it. But they're learning those songs all year long. Yeah. And so who cares if once you've learned one of the songs, you sing it, and then you sing it 6 months later for the program. We're okay with the greatest hits. We're okay with the best. Let's go with that. Yeah. We'll hear it again. But that would think of what that would do for your kids, the comfortability if they
got up every few months and performed. So there's just a lot of different things like that that people can do. I know people do steak music or multi state music workshops all the time. I'm not people listening to this might go, yeah, yeah, this is old news. All these ideas, you know. But it it if that's the sad thing, it is old news, but yet, we get into these ruts. Yeah. And we just get into ruts.
So any leaders that are listening, it's pivotal that that be on the forefront of your conversations and your councils and in your meetings. How's it feeling? Mhmm. Start asking people, how's the music feeling to you? If people are honest with you, you might be surprised to learn that it's boring and uninspiring, and there needs to be something done about
it. Yeah. So a word about that. I'm a huge and and I'm a I'm guilty of it myself, but I'm a huge fan of doctrine covenants section 25, obviously, about the music. And that it is a prayer. You know, the the the song of the heart is a prayer. I don't even think it says like a prayer. I think it says it is a prayer unto me. And I think sometimes we like to think that it's like a prayer. It's just sort of like a
prayer. It's it's not the lord didn't really say that the song of the heart or the song of the righteous is a prayer, but he did. And I think there's purpose in that, and I think we forget that. So now all of a sudden when music comes on in our church, whereas in a prayer, most of us would bow our heads, close our eyes, and completely focus on the words being said if we're really doing alright. That's why we close our eyes and bow our heads. Right? Or it takes away all the other distractions.
Music is the time to go to the bathroom. It's the time for leadership to talk about what's coming next in the meeting up on the stand, you know, whisper to each other about what's coming next. It's the time to, you know, dig through the bag of goodies for your kids and figure out what you're gonna do to distract them next. It's the time for a lot of things other
than prayerful worship. Mhmm. And so all of these, the reason I feel like it should be on the forefront of people's minds and leaders and councils and everything is because in most cases, it's mundane and mediocre and uninspirational, and it doesn't need to be. Mhmm. You don't have to have professionals sitting in your congregation, you know, to have it be something that's touching for people. So Yeah. That's really helpful advice. And and this is not just our church, but church can be such an
extrovert experience. Like, for the extroverts, like, oh, this person's talking. Like, I need to give a lesson. I need to comment. Right? Where we sometimes lose the introvert experience of, like, let's just sit and, like, listen to and music is a great way to get your mind in that place of, like, we're just sitting and listening. Right? And so a fantastic idea is really helpful. I think it'll help a lot of people. Anything else as far as in the church experience?
We've talked about state choirs, ward choirs, children. Anything else any other soap boxes you have today? We covered pretty well. I could tell lots of stories. With leadership again, I would say that just have behavior and have action that shows that you care about what we were just talking about, that the song of the righteous is a prayer. As much as you do with, you know, the focus that goes into preparing talks for a state conference for instance. Mhmm. Months of planning will go into that.
And, you know, state presidents will consult with bishops and, you know, what stories have you heard? Who could we get to speak that would really inspire people? And I I I just watch having been in leadership myself in councils. I just watch so much preparation go into the other things. There are so many ways that you can make sure that things are top notch with the music. Is the piano tuned? Is it
functional? You know? Yeah. These are the kinds of things that musicians pull their hair out, and it's not that people don't notice it. I have played on pianos before at church where I have come down and somebody was like, what was wrong with that piano? Like, is there something I'm like, yeah, it sounds like I'm in a bar. Like, an old like, a honky tonk bar. You know?
And nobody cared to and, of course, FM groups are supposed to be, you know, maintaining all of that, but it often I don't know I don't know the behind the scenes on that. I will tell you that we had, in a stake that I was in, and I I was well established in that stake. I had lived there for years, and they trusted me and they were great. But they even the stake leaders could tell, like, something's wrong with these pianos. What do we need to do? I said, you need
to replace them. As far as we know, these buildings are 40 years old, And the piano itself, they don't even have a record of where it came from. So it probably wasn't even new because this was one of those old time stakes that, like, the members funded everything and, you know, it was and so the pianos were falling apart. And they had kept getting piano technicians and tuners and and peep specialists in there, and it's it
just it was irreparable. There there was nothing you could do, and so we started down that road. They finally had me meet with one of the facilities people that was in charge of the whole thing. The state presidency member said, would you please come and talk to them because they weren't wanting to replace it. And so I had was all ready to go and I had all my little points and I was a little bit nervous, you know, I was I'm presenting this thing and I were you to get this piano.
Anyway, he flat out looked at me in the eyes and he said, brother Stewart, he said, you need to understand that these are sacred tiding funds we're working with. And I don't know what, it fired me up. And I looked at him and I said, brother so and so, how many times have you redone this basketball floor in the last 40 years? And he just kind of backed up and looked at me with these big eyes like I was this rebel, you know, and it was a Kievan.
And he said, I think that and I knew they had just redone it, and it was beautiful. Yeah. They were right, Cubs. Basketball. That's great. You know, we do our cultural events in there and it's great. And floor needs to be great. And he said, you know, 3 or 4 times. I said, and when's the last time you replaced that piano? He goes, to my knowledge, it hasn't been replaced. And I said, don't talk to me
about Sacred Tithing Funds. When you are replacing a basketball floor 3 4 times in the last however many years, but you won't touch musical instruments. And that was I never heard a word from him again. We did get an one new piano eventually, but it was just it's that kind of thing. What are we prioritizing? Right? What are we prioritizing? And, you know, that this this is where dear Boyd k Packer gets his quote, you know, about musicians being temperamental. But,
yeah, you wanna fire a musician up. You, you know, you tell them that, you know, you can't because you're working with whatever it is, it's where are the priorities. So leaders think just I'll say the same thing again. Have it on the forefront of your minds and in your councils. Even if you know nothing about music or know nothing about what the needs are, somebody does. Mhmm. Find out and make sure that it's well taken care of. Awesome. Yeah. Just a few practical questions come
to mind. I've heard that, you know, like the the like a typical chapel with the the lectern and the microphone made for speaking. Right? And but you see a musical number where someone will sit at the piano that's not mic'd but they'll sing into the microphone. I've heard that's like a faux pas. Like, if you if the piano isn't going through the audio system, you shouldn't sing it. Any other, like, quick, like that? Well, I mean, sitting and singing from a piano is taboo too. I mean, it has
been in our church. That that's more pop style. Right? To be accompanying yourself. Yeah. I mean, I've seen some particularly youth that have gotten to guitar where they'll play the guitar and sing, and it's gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's so cool. But we just that's been taboo. So again, outside the box, yeah, Elton John, you know, I think of Barry Manilow, but that's it definitely ages me. But, it's cruise ship style, you know, like and so you wanna make sure that it's gonna be appropriate,
of course, as a leader. You wanna make sure that all those things that we that the handbook, you know, suggests. But, yeah, again, those are the details that are not always well thought through. Someone will sit at a piano, and they will play and sing into a microphone, but the piano is not mic is what you're saying. Yeah. And so okay. What's the person on row 13 hearing? Or or worse, cultural hall, you know, back in the on the basketball floor. What are they thinking, and what are they hearing?
And, yeah, you can imagine. I mean, anybody who knows anything about a microphone, and you've gotta know that a piano is not gonna carry as far as the person's voice right into a microphone. And, yeah, that's such a small detail, but that will enhance the experience if you know how to properly mic the piano and the singers, and also that lectern mic we use for singing Right. You know, it's not Even like a a quartet. Right? Where Yeah. There's 2 people in the middle or we can hear, but
then You can't hear everybody else. Yeah. Yes. Just little things like that where, you know, a real just conscientious leader or or a person the leaders put in charge that's conscientious would say, let's think through this formation. Let's think through how this is gonna translate, which I'm glad you brought that up, Kurt, because musicians
even don't always think through that. And they sit and prepare, and they prepare, and they prepare, and they prepare, and they're all nervous, and they get up there, and they present this thing, and nobody can hear it. And it's the saddest thing, you know. So, yeah. There are there are definitely ways stakes can
purchase great good equipment. You can, you know, earmark some funds for that 1 year or a couple of years and save up or whatever it is, and you can certainly I've been in stakes that have amazing audio visual equipment. That's cool. Amazing, you know. And it's really it really makes it nice. So Yeah. That's awesome. Alright. Let's switch to, millennial choirs and orchestras. I mean, this is quite just the operation.
So talking about leadership, like, all the moving parts, all the people, maybe just give us what's the typical, like, for a certain area? Like, who's involved? You got kids choirs? You got adult choirs? Like, what what are all the moving parts? So every locale has the following choirs. There is a choir for 4 year olds to 1st graders. There is a choir for 2nd graders to 5th graders, so basically, older elementary. There is a middle school choir, 6 to 8th grade, and then there is a high
school choir, 9th through 12th. There's also an adult choir. All those youth choirs are non auditioned. Anybody can join. Anyone can register and be a part of it. That's what my kids have done. As your kids yeah. So and then the adult choir is audition. And so that's competitive. And then there's an orchestra, symphony orchestra, and that's also auditioned. So that's also competitive. So that's how many ensembles are in every locale. So you times that by the 7
locales, you can imagine. It's why we I think I think we are around 5,000 plus participants in any given season in all those states. So yeah. And the moving parts as far as organizationally, we have a central team. We have it's a nonprofit organization. It's but it's a corporation, obviously, like all nonprofits. And it is there's employees. We have about 27 or 28 employees who kind of we call it MCO Central, and they kind of take care of the
bulk of the work. But they're also the ones that the volunteers report to in all the locales. So in all of the locales, there are dozens of volunteers. There's a locale manager. There's a a manager of the adult choir, and a manager of the youth choirs, and a manager of the orchestra, and there's somebody over attire, and there's somebody over I mean,
it just keeps on going. Mhmm. And then, of course, as you can imagine, particularly for the youth, you have 100, sometimes 1,000 in certain locales, but 100 at least of youth coming in those doors every week for a rehearsal. And so, you have all these volunteer parents who are managing all of it. I always joke about the volunteer thing because in our organization and this is different than in church or anywhere else. It's obviously voluntary. The voluntary nature of MCO is actually required.
Oh, yeah. So I felt like volunteer probably isn't the right word for it. But if you are a parent, if you have kids in, you have to volunteer for 2 rehearsals Oh, wow. And one concert. And that's how the magic happens. So we have coordinators that organize all those volunteers and they I mean, this is no different than when you're on a soccer team and you have to bring treats 1 you know, twice and, you know, it's But there are consequences, like and if you don't, then it's probably isn't a good
fit for you. Yeah. This is right. And we can do that at church, like, we can invite you to go to a different church. Yeah. You can. But yeah. You can go to that ward. You know? No. So there is an advantage of being, you know, in some respects, it's very similar, the volunteer aspect, and in others, it's like, no. You
you need to do this. But I will say this, and here's something that I can kind of as I'm talking about volunteerism and as I'm talking about organizational aspects, something that does relate to church leadership, I would say, is just inspiring people to do the job. Just because you can't just send them away or say this isn't the right fit for you, if you're not gonna willing to volunteer. On the flip side, you can make it exciting for people to be a part of
something and to volunteer for something. We don't think about that a lot in the church. We just just sort of a, oh, you just say yes to this if I ask you and, you know, you're. And I've learned the hard way through 17 years of this that if you wanna keep volunteers around and even if there's a shelf life to it, we try to have a shelf life actually. We wanna pass the torch.
You wanna shuffle that deck. But if you want things to be happy and successful and you want people to to come back and all of it, you have to create an environment that they are just loving what they're doing. They're loving what it's all what it's all about. And I think in the church, we sometimes it's almost like we feel it is our privilege or it is just a given that people are loving it or that they are, you know, they subscribe to the doctrine, therefore,
they're all in. Or or this this calling came from god. This calling came from god's call. On board. We're not all in. Not all of us are always. In fact, most of us probably aren't all in all the time at different stages of our lives. And so it it that then it behooves a leader or leadership, you know, councils and stuff to set a mood and create a climate that is 100% welcoming, and I wanna be a part of
this. I wanna be on your team because what you're describing and the way you're making it sound sounds absolutely desirable to me. Like, I I wanna be a part of that and do that. And there's a good good gazillion ways you can do that. I mean, there's so many. I'm not gonna sit and give people those ideas. Those are people have way better ideas than I have. But we've realized that in MCO that it there's a mission and a purpose there, and also just the way that we talk about
it. We're very visionary, very vision visionary. It just is this is the greatest thing to be a part of, and we will remind people of that and remind them the reasons why. I'll give one example. Mhmm. I talk a lot, and I I alluded to this before. I talk a lot about the size of MCO. And my brother, he loves to say this was never meant to be small. And I think we've had some people over time maybe that haven't seen the result of something big yet, kind of question why? Why do you care that so
many people be a part of it? And I think it it stems from just the idea that there's strength in numbers. And, I've read I mean, you read about praise and worship in the scriptures. Everything from Solomon's temple dedication, so to speak, and the trumpets, and the hundreds of singers, and the whole thing, you read it from the new testament all the way to, you know, prophets who've had visions. There's a couple that are my favorites. First of all, I love
the Christmas story. I absolutely love the idea that this one angel announcing to the shepherds the birth of Christ is then suddenly it says, and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts. I love that it was multitude and hosts. Big words. Never meant to be small. Right? Yeah. I imagine those were probably some of us or or if not all of us and, you know, that were part of that angelic choir. And, of course, in Luke, it says that they it says the word saying.
And I think the scribe was having an aneurysm when that happened or something, your little stroke. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I believe that those angels were singing glory to god in the highest and on earth peace toward men. Because you have other scriptures like in the book of Mormon when Anne Lehi looks up into the heavens and he sees god. And he says, he saw numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising
their god. There's 2 big words again, numberless concourses, multitude, hosts, all these words. Then Alma, we just read this a few weeks ago. Alma has a similar experience where he saw what his father Lehi saw. He says I saw quotes it exactly. And he says numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their god. And then he says, and I did long to be there. He adds a little addendum that Lehi didn't say and I thought, that's
it right there. We long to be a part of something big and great and inspiring. And I just had that happen at the BYU football game. I was there. Done this past week? Yes. Last week. I was there too. I was at that game and it was so loud. I was at the Kansas State game. I'm sorry for the other team. I was so loud in those stands, but I sat there and I watched first of all, I thought of all those people buying tickets, and I know what I spent on my ticket. And I thought, we will do this for sports
Yeah. Without even questioning, you know? But you get there. And I thought, what would this experience be like if I were the only one in this stand? This thought occurred to me. You know, everyone else is just enjoying a game, but Brett Stewart's sitting there thinking of a, you know, a philosoph philosophical concept. And I just sat there thinking, what would happen if there were only 10 of just me and my family? What would happen if
there were only 50 of us? It would have been a completely different experience there. The experience was what it was. First of all, yes, they played. But what would it have done to the team if there was only 1 person there? Teammates coming in after how much the crowd helped. Yeah. How could a a number 13 ranked team played if it was only 1 person in the stands compared to how they played when there were, what, 64,000
boudeville in the house? So I just thought about that and thought, man, if there is strength in numbers, there is something to numberless concourses in a common cause. And that's the other thing. We all had a common cause. We all had our white shirts on. We love BYU. We're there. You know? And I just thought, this is what we are trying to create. It's in our wiring feature. Yeah. It's in our wiring. This is and and rightly so. There's gajillions of us. Right? Think of
the preexistence. Think of the war in heaven that we speak of, and think about the council in heaven we talk about when when we stood up and literally fought for the savior's plan against a side that was that was against it. And I think you're right. This is in our DNA. It's in our spiritual DNA.
And I I love that concept. So, yes, for MCO, you are gathering the masses for that reason, but back to the point, you have to inspire them and keep them coming, and get them recruiting, and get them building, and become ambassadors for your cause. Mhmm. And I think, man, the church is no different, and leadership in the church should be no different. Yes, it speaks for itself, but so so does the music that we perform. It speaks for itself.
But you have to you have to rally people behind your ward or your state cause, and it's gotta be more than a simple mission statement or, you know Yeah. You know, it's it's gotta be in the way that you in the product that you're providing week to week. And that doesn't have to be pomp and
circumstance. It could be, is this a worshipful place where people want to come to the, you know, come to the altar so to speak, come to the sacrament table and do what they're actually supposed to do or are there things that we're doing that are distracting
from that? So So I'm curious and maybe dig in that a little bit as far as, like, when you have a visionary, you know, vision and, a culture and it's easy to maybe think, oh, the music kinda does it, which probably helps, you know, being there, seeing these amazing songs. Is there anything else that comes to mind as far as how to inspire that? Because I'm just thinking of, you know, a a award council that really
wants to get that energy behind it. We want people to come because they wanna be there and rather than, oh, I think we're just supposed to be. But anything else you'd say is, like, how do we really inspire? What does that look like week to week? Any, like, routines or habits you do to make sure that's in line? Yeah. I've seen a lot of different things. I'll tell you one thing that we've done with the youth in MCO that could be applicable. You could draw applications
for awards or stakes. We have a scripture that we quote every single week. It's the same scripture, and we make them memorize it. And it's short enough to memorize, but it has to do for us with the theme of the concert that semester, the
theme of the music that we're singing. And so, we will have that quotable scripture and we will repeat it, and then we'll just give an give a little concept about it each week in our rehearsals, or a little kind of a little, spiritual devotional mini in every rehearsal so that they're always fed when they come. So I would say, you know, if I were a leader trying to use some idea like that, find some way that that some recognizable way that people can be spiritually fed and
they know they're gonna get that. And I I hesitate to say, start some tradition. Listen, I have a thing about tradition. My mom always used the quote, the pendulum always swings, you know, and it always swings one way or the other. We went through I don't know what period of time we're in right now. I don't know exactly what we're in, but we're in we went through a period of time in the church where tradition was also taboo. Like, don't do that just because it's tradition.
Uh-huh. And, of course, the pendulum swung and everything gets, you know, throw the baby out with the bathwater where you stop after all of that years later and look at it and go, now it's boring. Now we've just done away with all the cool things. Now we've, and I think that there is definitely a meat in the middle on this. I think that you can start some traditions or or have a tradition that goes on for a year and that it's, you know, something people can look forward
to. What is the scripture in in is it Moroni chapter 6 where they talk about church? Which is interesting to me because this is Moroni writing. Right? So and and you're thinking of what the church would have looked like in his day. I mean, it's falling apart, but he also is commenting like there was these times that it was really great. And so, it says that the the people did meet together off to fast and to pray or whatever. I'm I'm completely paraphrasing.
And to speak with one another concerning the welfare of their souls. I love that. That line is the social aspect to me. This isn't just about praying. It's not just about taking the sacrament. It's also about people coming together and having a social network to speak with one another about the welfare of their souls. I love that the welfare of their souls. You don't just get into welfare of their souls in in Sunday school class with with the teacher up there giving the come follow me lesson.
So, yeah, I think I would think of ways to really feed people. It's easy for us in MCO because the music just kinda does that, but, think of ways and traditions and things that people can look forward to, you know? And that's why I mentioned all the music stuff. Can you imagine if all of a sudden, you told your I mean, we get excited about one tiny little announcement in general conference.
We get I remember the quote when or when Elder Holland got up after all the changes and said, some of us have weak hearts, you know? Like, he's joking about all the changes that were going on. And yet other people are going, bring it on. Yeah. Give me more. Like, that was nothing. Let's go for it. You know? We're really excited about change. Can you imagine if all you did was the things that I
mentioned before? We're gonna stand for the hymns, and we're gonna put words up on the board, and we want everybody singing and looking up and having this be a communal experience. Mhmm. That alone, people would go, our words fun. Yeah. Yeah. We just do things different. We you know, it's just so, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. That's helpful. I I'm curious about you know, you talk about the you you joke about the temperamental nature
of musicians and the passion that's there. How do you handle the that conflicting of passion, especially you work with your brother? I mean, maybe he wants to go right. You wanna turn left. And, I mean, do how do you work through that? What does that look like? Any any tips when you have those passionate voices? Yeah. Because there's no hierarchy there. Right? There's no deference to an authority or where you just say your piece and say, but I'll support whatever. There's it's not like that.
So we will we'll talk through it and be very open. We're super open with each other. Everything from because we're also the composers, but the main we're composers in residence for MCO. So we wear multiple hats. But whether it's administration, whether it's musical things, whether it's composing, whatever it is, if one of us we've decided it gets kind of become a thing where if one of us is super strong opinionated about it and the other isn't, then you just let them go with it.
We trust each other. You know? If neither of us have an opinion about it, we usually defer to somebody else in the arts. So can somebody figure this out? Like, we we really care, but we want it done well, and we know other people can do it better than or have a better idea than we have. If both of us have a really strong opinion about something, then, yeah, we will hash that out back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And we've always been able to come to a compromise.
You know? It's just either after a lot of heavy discussion, one person realizes, yeah, you're right. I'm not as passionate as you as I thought I was or as you are. Or we'll we'll either shelve it or we'll say, can we come to some kind of a a meet in the middle on this? And I can't even give you an example of what what that would have been. Yeah. That's rare Yeah. That that ever happens to us. But you recognize when it comes up and saying and to sort of gauge where's everybody at? You seem
really passionate. Go with it or That's right. We'll talk it through. We'll figure it out. Yep. That's awesome. Any other leadership principle, you know, running an organization that we can fit in here before we wrap up? I'm gonna do a pitch for a personal pitch Okay. For how I feel. Perfect. We talk a lot in the church about youth and rightly so. And we do it in in, again, similarities. We do it in
MCO. That's the bulk of our participation just because of the fact that we've got 4 or 5 choirs of youth and only 1 choir of an adult in each locale. But we we put so much focus on youth and I love that. Don't forget the adults. Don't forget about the adults. Yes, the youth need to be fed now so that they aren't the ones leaving, you know, that the disenchanted and with bad experiences
and all of that. But you also have adults, and when I say adults, I mean young adults too, but all the way all the way up, you've gotta find a way to keep them inspired. They also are the bread and butter. That they are the stability factor. They are the current stability of the organization, right? They are the known. They're not the unknown like what's going to happen. So I think you have to balance those things.
Bishops are obviously and bishoprics have charge over youth particularly, rightly so. But, you know, I think sometimes we just in leadership and in the way we organize things and the things that we plan, we forget that adults need to be fed. Men need to be fed. Even this masculine idea of the men need to be the strong ones and whatever. No. Sometimes the men need to get together and there's weakness there where they need to be together and strengthen strengthen each other the same way that
the women do. And this is we get along and we're all in callings over the youth. Right? Be it seminary or Sunday school or in the presidencies or bishoprics, and, we just forget that organizationally, we have to make this an attractive place for the adults as well. A place that they want to come and want and that that they're actually being fed. You know, make sure that the teaching is top top notch, you know, and that the things that we're providing are that rises above mediocrity.
I'm terrible at remembering quotes, but one of my favorite quotes ever, it actually hangs in my office at home and so I shouldn't have it memorized, But it was president Monson, Thomas s Monson, and he was actually speaking at a funeral of a woman who had served in probably in a general primary or early setting presidency, I forget. And he said she lifted us to a plane of excellence, and anyone who's been lifted to a plane of excellence is never again content with mediocrity.
And it is my Wow. I think I actually nailed that quote. No. No. I love it. I think that was it. But I've lived. I've built. My brother and I have built MCO on that philosophy. Anyone who's been lifted to a plane of excellence is never again content with mediocrity. So that's my, you know, youth have a different concept of what is mediocre and what is excellent, maybe they just haven't lived long
enough to know yet, but adults have. And so adults come into a ward or a stake setting and they sniff and and they root out mediocrity immediately. You cannot hide it from most adults. And there may be people that disagree, that say, you know, they just need to have a better attitude or have a better spirit about them or whatever, and that's one way to look at it. Yeah. And Yeah. It is. And the way that I suggest is no, provide something better. Yeah. We're we're better
than that. And we have all this talent. God's given us so much creative power and so much, you know, so many creative juices Yeah. And they flow within us. And there's this creative DNA in all of us. Get creative. Think outside the box and make these meetings places that people want to go that they can't wait to go. I love that. So I love it. And on that that note with creativity, tell me about the arrangement of Messiah in America. Is there a story behind that?
Yeah. My brother came to me about 14 years ago, I believe it was, and said I want you to write back then we called it an oratorio, but which is Handels Messiah. I think Handels Messiah. I want you to write an oratorio on the the story of Christ coming to the Americas. Like Les Mis is another Les Miserables is another thing that Les Mis is more like how we're turning it into now. That's that's, like, more Broadway musical. Right? Noratorio is just a choir
standing, singing Gotcha. In their normal choir outfits, you know, and and a professional soloist come on to stage and and there's an orchestra and it's very, you know, you're sitting there for an hour and a half or 2 hours. Gotcha. No actions, no costuming, usually not lighting. Beautiful music. Yeah. Just beautiful music. And it has its place. It's a dying genre in, you know, I'm I'm pretty frank about that. It's a dying genre.
Handel's messiah still lives and a couple of others in for certain audiences, but for most of our audiences and our LDS audience, that's not gonna speak to them, you know. There's so much more music out there and the palates have changed and tastes have changed. So he wanted me to write this and, I'm keenly aware of president Kimball, Spencer w Kimball's discourse on gospel vision of the arts that came out around the time I was born in the late seventies.
And he says in it it's almost like it's it's a wish list for him the way I read it is can you imagine an LDS composer? He talked about all the great composers, the master composers of the ages. And then he says can you imagine an LDS composer? Like, given the spirit of the holy ghost creating like, he was basically saying, can you imagine a Mozart with the spirit or a Beethoven with the holy you know, the spirit you know, the the gift of
the holy ghost. And he says in there, something to the effect of, you know, kind of this wish list of LDS composers someday composing and he gives a for instance, Christ's visit to the Americas. So when Brandon came to me, I'm like, absolutely not. Like, that that's the the you're that egotistical thing. Like, I am not gonna be some self fulfilled prophecy. Like, there's I'm not or try to look like I am. I mean, I cringed. I I I'm a very bold person. I am a confident person, but that
got I'm just like, there's no way. Well, he kept at it and kept at it and kept at it. And, eventually, this is in the early days of MCO.
I had no money to buy a new computer or a new keyboard, and I'm composing on this tiny little Casio or, like, I don't even know, little Casio keyboard that was falling apart and my computer was falling apart and it kept freezing and the notation software program kept crashing and I'm just and anyway, all of a sudden, one rehearsal, he were both there together and at the end of rehearsal, he goes, wait, Brett, we have something to present to
you. And they bring up this brand new Mac desktop and a brand new midi keyboard like 88 weighted key keyboard and they bring it up and he says the choir all pulled their money together when we purchased this for you so that you could write your oratorio. They will push this prophecy. So that's my brother, man, when he he just knows how to so anyway, I was both emotional and angry. I mean, he basically forced me into this. Anyway, long story short, I
wrote it. It was definitely I could tell stories about that process, but it was it turned out really amazing. I mean, we ended up coming. Arizona did it a second year. Arizona was around, and they did it. So Orange County and Arizona both performed it. We both combined, came up to the Tabernacle. We did, I think, about 4 performances sold out in the Tabernacle. It was awesome. So the Utah audience, if they were around, would be aware of that. This time, we're kind of reviving it.
Oh, and it it it had moderate success. I mean, we we did an album of it, and it got number 1 on the traditional classical billboard chart, and it was great. We had this, like, yay moment for MCO, and this was just really neat thing. And, of course, I believe in the subject matter. It comes mostly straight from scripture, The libretto, the lyrics of it comes almost straight from 3rd Nephi. I didn't even do a lot of poetic
interpretation. It's straight scripture. Wow. And I love that because the youth and the adults leave with these mute this music and these words just, again, seared into their hearts. And so I believe in in all of that. But, this time around, we're just making it a little bit more palatable for today's audience. Like you mentioned Les Miserables, much more of that style. Okay. Choir will still be a choir, but they'll be costumed. They'll be a little bit more, blocking and and acting on stage.
There will be Gentry is coming. We've got Gentry coming as as our guest soloist and they'll be throughout the production. The youth will be involved throughout. You know, there's there's a story line there. It talks about the people being divided everyone to his own tribe, you know, when the wickedness starts to happen before Christ comes and so, all that will be depicted. The great storm is depicted. The 3 days of darkness is depicted. Christ coming, all of it.
And it's it's gonna be great. So we've got light lights, camera, action going on for this thing. We're performing it in the various locales of MCO and, yeah. That's the spring coming up this spring. Spring. So if people wanna know more about it or Yeah. Make sure they attend anywhere you'd send them or Yeah. The best way to know about MCO is to go to a concert. We've got our Christmas concerts coming up. Christmas is always a
slam dunk because it's Christmas. Yeah. Everyone wants a great music music concert tradition at Christmas for their families, and that's what this has become for for families and friends. Businesses will take their employees, things like that. But our Christmas concerts, yep. I mentioned all the locals earlier. You can go to our website, millennial.org, and find that. And then messiah in America. Right now, we're fund we're raising funds for messiah in America. It's a huge project. So,
you know, we're doing that as well. But, yeah, the information's on our website, and, we've got an exciting season ahead with Christmas and then messiah and America on its tail. Yeah. And I'm so excited my my children get to be part of it. It's gonna be great. Yep. So and I just I wanna put a plug in for the first vision, Sonya. Did you call it the vision? Uh-huh. My brother arranged that. Oh, man. I don't even wanna say arranged.
It's like an original composition. It it just steer veers so much from the original hymn. Yes. And it's, oh, how lovely was the morning? But it's it's not. Right? Like, it's a Yeah. He starts he starts the whole thing with his own composition of if you lack wisdom, ask for God. Yeah. And then it goes into, oh, how lovely was the morning and Yeah. And kinda weaves that idea throughout the whole thing. And it's we call those journey pieces, Kurt. Oh, cool. They're so
long, but they don't get boring. You just sit there and you're on this journey and you can feel, you know, like as if you were like as if it was unfolding on a screen in front of you. And that's on your YouTube channel, I believe. Right? That is yeah. That's on YouTube and and, of course, all the mute hits it's been released as a single. So Spotify, YouTube, you know, Amazon Yeah. That's one of my favorite pieces. Cool. Well, before I wrap up, just one quick, like, 2 more questions, but one
fun one. If the church came to you and said, Brett, we need you to recommend one hymn for the new hymn book. Anyone out there that's not in the traditional hymn book, they like, this definitely has to be in there. Rob Gardner's Savior Redeemer of My Soul. Alright. Yeah. K. That's the one I would recommend. Everyone go listen to it. We have a MCO has a recording of it, but also Rob had there's several recordings of it out there. You can find it.
And, it's one of the most beautiful I mean, we have a savior redeemer of my soul, I believe. Do we? In our hymn book that nobody knows? But it's I think so. But I've heard it like in he wrote new music to it Yeah. For one of his one of his productions, and it's stunning. I hope it gets in. Awesome. I'm sure people already recommended it when they did their Yeah. Yeah. They're all those, entries. Yeah.
Exactly. Last question I have for you as you reflect on your time as a leader in several ways as a leader in the church or in in millennial choirs and orchestras. How has being a leader helped you become a better follower of Jesus Christ? Oh, that should be really easy to answer. I don't know. How's my time as a leader helped me become a better follower of Jesus Christ? Oh, you know what? That is an easy answer. Compassion. I've learned the art of empathy and compassion,
especially in MCO. I hear some of the most heart wrenching stories. And, I think if you learn as a leader to just be available to listen, and which is what I've tried to do and what I've learned to just listen, it helps me be a better follower because I think you become a better follower of Christ when you start to understand more and see things more how he sees them, and I don't in a lot of ways. I have so far to go, but compassion and empathy, they're just I don't know why.
It's just something that really has as I've learned people's stories and had my own story, you know? And you you just start to see humans for the humans that they are, and you start to see the work that they're doing and the efforts they're making for the work that they're doing and the efforts
they're making and nothing else matters. All the judgments disappear and they get peeled away, and, I can understand a little bit more maybe how Christ sees us, you know, in our major flaws and weaknesses and and disabilities and whatever it is. The end. That's it for this Leading Saints episode. I encourage you to check out some of the most popular episodes of the podcast that we list at the bottom of the show notes. If you haven't listened to all of those, do so now.
Remember, check the show notes to listen to the powerful presentation by the general Young Men, Young Women advisory council members, or go to leading saints.org/14. It came as a result of the position of leadership which was imposed upon us by the God of heaven who brought forth a restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When the declaration was made concerning the only and only true and living Church upon the face of the earth, we were immediately put in a position of loneliness, the loneliness of leadership from which we cannot shrink nor run away, and to which we must face up with boldness and courage and ability.