Elliott Clark is a musical superstar and a “chip off the old block.” It’s no wonder Elliott Clark, the music coordinator at the My Hometown Central Valley View Community Resource Center, is such an accomplished musician.
His father, Owen Clark, was a master musician and professional guitarist who also taught and played a half-dozen other instruments. Elliott and his wife, Helen Elliott Clark, were members of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for 25 years. Additionally, Helen taught voice and vocal performance for 40 years. Elliott emphatically and jokingly proclaims, “If I couldn’t sing, I would have been kicked to the curb.”
So, Elliott grew up learning and performing music at a variety of venues and with numerous musical groups. He composed and arranged a dozen original pieces of music, including “Nachthimmel” (Night Sky), a piano sonata, in 2024. Clark has composed for voice, piano, strings, flute, and harp for 28 years. At age 12, he took his first conducting class, followed by a class in advanced conducting at the University of Utah, and has conducted congregations and choirs for 60 years.
Elliott has sung under the baton of Jay Welch, Donald Ripplinger, Gerald Ottley, Craig Jessop, Mack Wilberg, Ryan Murphy, and the prodigious and renowned film composer John Williams of Star Wars and Indiana Jones fame.
Elliott founded the Toole Messiah Choir and Orchestra, which just completed its thirtieth year of performing. Elliott directed this choir for seven years. Like his parents, he sang with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for 20 years and was a choir soloist. Like his father, he is an accomplished guitarist.
Elliott is married to Jane, an accomplished violinist. She is in her 25th year of performing with the Orchestra at Temple Square. At a young age, after violin completion victories, Jane was invited to perform as a Salute to Youth violin soloist with the Utah Symphony.
Elliott says that “people are not prepared for what they ‘feel’ when they listen to music.” This feeling has kept Elliott engaged in music for decades.
We are blessed to have this superstar among us at the My Hometown Central Valley View Community Resource Center in West Valley City, where he oversees the piano faculty and the instruction of 44 piano students each semester.
