While excessive media coverage threatened to diminish meaning, the reverent, beautiful and hopeful 9/11 Memorial Muse/ique concert in Pasadena offered a welcome balm. Similar events and commemorations were presented nationwide, but it is difficult to imagine another being more uplifting. Under the baton of Artistic Director Rachael Worby string members of the orchestra, joined by the Pasadena Master Chorale and popular actor Wendie Malick performed Worby’s thoughtfully constructed program in front of the historic Civic Auditorium at 7 p.m. Sunday, September 11, 2011.
When Worby was music director of the Pasadena Pops she conducted a somber and heartfelt concert on the steps of Pasadena City Hall a year after the attacks, September 9, 2002. Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard said when he was contemplating a 10th year remembrance he asked her if she would help plan it and received an enthusiastic, “yes,” in response.
Honoring those who perished during the terrorist attacks the concert began with a touching moment of reflection by Rabbi Josh Grader followed by the presentation of the colors. After a lovely a capella performance of America the Beautiful by the Chorale, the orchestra played a stirring version Serenade for Strings Movement No. 1 by Peter Tchaikovsky (made more so by the winds that evening).
Highlights of the peace-centered event included cellist Kim Scholes performance of Song of the Birds by Pablo Casals, Malick’s moving reading of the Billy Collins poem The Names, George Gershwin’s Lullaby and a sublime arrangement by Jeffrey Bernstein and Chorale performance of Paul Simon’s America.
At the end of the program Worby invited the audience to join the orchestra and the Chorale in singing Woody Guthrie’s timeless anthem This Land is Your Land, both a fitting and uplifting finale.
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