We unequivocally believe in Jesus Christ. He is our Lord. We worship Him with all our might. We hope that shines through this performance featuring over 150 musicians from the Lyceum Youth Orchestras, 100 university singers under the direction of Marshall McDonald, and the remarkable Nathan Pacheco.

The Backstory

Over the years, Lyceum has performed many times with Nathan. A couple of years ago, we were choosing music for a concert and sent Nathan a list of everything we have ever performed together. It was a long list and near the bottom was this version of I Believe in Christ that we performed with Vocal Point, Jenny Oaks Baker and others as a big combined finale over a decade earlier. When Nathan added it to the setlist, we pushed back a little, reminding him that it was a Christmas concert and we actually didn’t have a choir for this show. After some back and forth, we put it in the show and weren’t really sure how it would go.

Well, in the middle of the performance between some Christmas carols and Greatest Showman tunes, we did this gorgeous Mack Wilberg choir arrangement without a choir… and it blew everyone away! The Spirit was overwhelmingly strong and Nathan’s voice absolutely triumphant. The audience gave us a five-minute standing ovation, unlike anything we had seen that night. Since then, we perform it together every chance we get. 

Last November, Nathan flew in for one day to perform and record it with our combined Lyceum Philharmonic (American Fork campus) and Lyceum Symphony (SLC campus), plus select voices from universities in the area. In the video you can see around 250 youth, ages 13 to 25. That recording session was the first time they had ever performed the work with Nathan. Later that same day, we performed it together for an audience of over 2,000 in the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

Credits
I Believe in Christ, text: Bruce R. McConkie, Music: John Longhurst, Arranged: Mack Wilberg
Performed by Nathan Pacheco, Marshall McDonald Singers, with Lyceum Philharmonic and Symphony at American Heritage School, directed by Kayson Brown
Audio Recording Engineer: Richard Duke
Edited and Mixed by Richard Duke
Mastered: Marcussen Mastering
Camera Operators: Matt Arntsen, Kenneth Chiara
Videographer: Kenneth Chiara
Video Produced by: Kenneth Chiara, Kayson Brown
Recorded at American Heritage School, Salt Lake City campus Performance Hall