Concert to honor first responders, military
On Sunday, Sept. 11 Mozart's Requiem will be presented at 2 p.m. in the Zompa Auditorium at Bob Jones High School. There is no admission charge.
It has been ten years since the attacks of September 11, and in some ways, it seems such a short time ago. With the tenth anniversary of that day approaching, this Remember When column is about remembering a national event.
On Sunday, Sept. 11 Mozart’s Requiem will be presented at 2 p.m. in the Zompa Auditorium at Bob Jones High School. There is no admission charge.
A little over a year ago the choir at Messiah Lutheran Church in Madison began to make plans for their special choral event for 2011. The choir director, Randall Fields, suggested that the church choir combine with other choirs to present Mozart’s Requiem in remembrance and honor to those who had perished on September 11, 2001.
Robert “Gus” Gustafson has acted as producer for the event and hopes that the community will be moved by this special musical presentation. Many hours of work have gone into planning, practicing, and producing this special musical event to remember those who were lost “and honoring our military, first responders, and their families,” said Gustafson.
Fields is also the Bob Jones High School Choral director and has been preparing the Patriot Singers to perform the requiem as well. This has become a community wide remembrance, with members from First Baptist Church in Madison, and Asbury United Methodist Church choirs adding their voices to the other two choirs.
The solo quartet for the requiem will be; soprano Laura Stallcup, alto Anne Chelekis, tenor David Giambrone, and bass Mike Boyer. Stallcup is a Bob Jones High School alumna. Chelekis teaches music in the schools, Giambrone has taught theater and has been a choir director, and Boyer is a member of the Messiah choir/
Readings will be presented between musical pieces by Congressman Mo Brooks, Mayor Finley, Paul Kunitz, Mary Lynne Wright, Fr Phil O’Kennedy, and Pastor Scott Peterson.
Madison sent first responders to New York City after the attacks. And the community gave a great deal in the way of donations.
Even now I when I see the videos of the attacks of that morning, I still feel the emotions that overwhelmed me. The feelings may never go away, only ease in the coming years. The presentation of Mozart’s Requiem by all of the choirs and soloists, and the readings by all of the dignitaries is a wonderful gift to the citizens of Madison. I hope that everyone will come out and participate in this event of remembrance, filling every seat in the auditorium.
