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- The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square will not perform at President-elect Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration.
- Carrie Underwood will sing "America the Beautiful" with military choirs.
- Trump's inauguration is set to be the most expensive in U.S. history.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square will not perform at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony next week, choir president Mike Leavitt confirmed.
"We did not receive an invitation to perform at the presidential inauguration," Leavitt said.
The Tabernacle Choir, which performed "America the Beautiful" at Trump's 2017 inauguration, is preparing for an international trip to South America in February, Leavitt noted.
This year, "America the Beautiful" will instead be performed by country music star Carrie Underwood, Axios first reported Monday. She will be accompanied by the Armed Forces Chorus and the United States Naval Academy Glee Club.
Other details of Trump's inauguration ceremony — happening on Jan. 20 — are slowly being revealed. According to a ceremony program obtained by the Washington Reporter, the ceremony will feature prayers from faith leaders, including Yeshiva University President Ari Berman, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York and the Rev. Franklin Graham.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will administer the oath of office to Vice President-elect JD Vance.
The 2017 ceremony featured performances from The Rockettes, singer Jackie Evancho and the Tabernacle Choir. It was the sixth time the Tabernacle Choir performed at presidential inauguration festivities: Lyndon B. Johnson's in 1965; Richard Nixon's in 1969; Ronald Reagan's in 1981; George H.W. Bush's in 1989; and George W. Bush's in 2001.
The Tabernacle Choir's decision to accept the invitation to sing at Trump's 2017 inauguration sparked backlash. An online petition asking the choir not to perform garnered over 36,000 signatures, and one member of the choir quit in protest.
The choir performed at Utah Gov. Spencer Cox's inauguration ceremony last week.
Trump's 2025 inauguration ceremony and its surrounding events are set to be the most expensive in U.S. history. Trump's inaugural committee has raised over $170 million, according to the New York Times, for the ceremony, a parade, several inaugural balls and other events.
The group's fundraising spree is so large, the Times reports, that "some seven-figure donors have been placed on wait lists or have been told they probably will not receive V.I.P. tickets at all because the events are at capacity."
By comparison, Trump's 2017 inauguration committee raised $107 million, then a record.
