9/11 concert planned as ‘fitting tribute’

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

All those involved in the special show developed expressly to honor the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trace Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, are in agreement that what they are creating is not just a concert, but an emotional experience.

“Musically, we’re covering just about as many genres as we can that are appropriate to remembering the events of September 11, honoring both the victims and service personnel, fire and police,” said Melissa Shaw, director of communications and regional programs for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra.

Shaw said the program is a combination of music and multimedia content interwoven to produce a unique telling of the story of 9/11 and its aftermath.

Maestro Andrew Constantine said the music selected for the program is the glue that holds it all together, and also spoke about the orchestra members’ feelings about being able to participate in this special event.

“Music has the power to heighten feelings and emotions like little else, and bring us together in the most tragic of times,” he said. “We at the Fort Wayne Philharmonic are both proud and privileged to share in this special commemoration with the people of Van Wert.”

The first half of the program is more geared to the actual terrorist attacks and how those attacks impacted both the nation and local residents. Because the program has been created expressly for the Van Wert community, it will feature lots of local residents in a variety of roles. Local involvement includes Van Wert native Jake Wilder, a professional musician who will begin the program by singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” with the orchestra and later return to sing “Edelweiss,” a song written by Rodgers and Hammerstein as a paean to Austrian patriotism for the musical The Sound of Music.

Along with some stirring and emotional music performed solely by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, there will also be an 8½-minute video in which a number of local residents talk about the impact of 9/11 on their lives. Those who speak include one person who was booked on one of the flights that were crashed that day by terrorists and a couple whose daughter worked near the World Trade Center in New York City when the terrorist attacks occurred.

The second half of the concert has a more patriotic feel to it, Shaw said, while also noting that it also portrays attempts by the nation to get back on a more normal footing following the tragic events of 9/11. The second half begins with the stirring “Testament to Freedom” by Thompson sung by a 53-member men’s chorus made up of local residents, accompanied by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

Paul Hoverman, executive director of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio, said he feels that could be one of the highlights of the show — and definitely something people won’t want to miss. Part of the program will also be then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s speech following 9/11, in which he tells his fellow New Yorkers that they must put aside their grief and try to return to normal after the havoc the 9/11 attacks wreaked on the nation’s largest city.

The men’s chorus will also sing a tribute to the five armed services with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, something Shaw and Hoverman both said they are looking forward to.

Hoverman added that, for him, it has been a pleasure working with Maestro Constantine and the orchestra. “They have been very professional and yet extremely cooperative,” Hoverman noted. “I feel our collaborative efforts in putting this very meaningful tribute concert together will provide audience members with lasting memories.

“My prayer is that this will truly be a fitting and honorable tribute to those who perished on 9/11,” he went on to say.

Tickets for the concert, which begins at 7 p.m. Sunday, September 11, range from $15-40 and can be purchased by calling the NPAC box office at 419.238.6722 or online at www.npacvw.org.

For more information, visit either the Fort Wayne Philharmonic website at www.fwphil.org or the NPAC website.