SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Volunteers erect Scottsdale 9/11 Memorial Wall and National Unity Flag

What:  In preparation for the city of Scottsdale’s 9/11 Day of Remembrance event, volunteers will be erecting the 9/11 Memorial Wall and the National Unity Flag.
Where: Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts - Atrium, 7380 E. Second St.
When:  Beginning at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8.

About the 9/11 Memorial Wall:
Scottsdale resident Lisa Vella created memorial cards for the 9/11 victims in 2007.  Using more than 15 websites, she found photos and bios for nearly all the victims.  What made this project even more memorable, she says, was the opportunity to “become acquainted” with each of these innocent bystanders.  The project took hundreds of hours and six months to complete.  Tanasybert, a printing company near New York’s Ground Zero, donated the cutting and laminating of the cards.  Watching people read the cards and learn about the lives of the victims has been an inspiring, heart rending experience for Lisa.

About the National Unity Flag:
Scottsdale resident P.R. “Randy” Cooney conceived the idea for the National Unity Flag while witnessing the U.S. Congress spontaneously join hands and sing God Bless America shortly after the horrific and shattering events of Sept. 11, 2001.  This historically divided group stood before a broken nation, reached out and symbolically said “we will get through this together.”   The flag stands nearly three stories tall and measures more than 1,000 square feet.  It includes the flags of the 50 states, the six U.S. districts and the 9/11 victims’ names – firemen in red ink, police officers in blue and civilians in black.  In the center stands the Statue of Liberty looking proudly to the heavens.  The flag’s border is red, white and blue and reads “3046 Lost and 290,000,000 United.”  The flag is also signed by the 100 U.S. senators who served in 2002.   Cooney designed the flag and volunteers, along with Ironwood High School students and teacher Cathy Wallace, constructed it.

Learn more about the city’s 9/11 commemoration events: www.scottsdaleaz.gov

9/11 Day of Remembrance at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts

9/11 Day of Remembrance: Activities begin at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, with the reading of victims' names in the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts Atrium, 7380 E. Second St. The program continues at 6 p.m. in the center's Virginia G. Piper Theater with keynote speaker Ray Maione, a former New York police officer and firefighter, who was visiting New York on Sept. 11, 2001. Other activities include a welcome by Mayor W.J. "Jim" Lane, patriotic music from local school bands and choral groups and a candlelight vigil. News Channel 3 Reporter Mike Watkiss will emcee the program. A variety of exhibits will be on display in the Atrium Sept. 9-16. They include a 9/11 Memorial Wall with 2,996 full-color memorial cards with biographical information and a photograph of each of the fallen victims. A National Unity Flag, standing nearly three-stories high and signed by the entire U.S. Senate in 2002, also will be on display.

‘In Remembrance’: A free concert to benefit charity on the anniversary of 9/11

People across the Valley are invited to attend a unique and moving commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy: a performance of Brahms’ masterpiece "Ein Deutsches Requiem" (A German Requiem).

The choral and orchestral work, one of the most beautiful ever composed, will be the centerpiece of the "In Remembrance" concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, presented by Scottsdale Musical Arts. The concert will be free and open to the public. We will collect funds from the audience to donate to the 100 Club of Arizona, which assists families of fire and public safety workers who were killed or injured in the line of duty.  It is our hope that our collective efforts will benefit people across the United States who experience senseless tragedy, just as our country experienced tragedy a decade ago.

Details:
Music: Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, op. 45
Performers: Scottsdale Arts Orchestra and Scottsdale Choral Artists
Time: 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11
Location: La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church, 6300 E. Bell Road, Scottsdale.
Admission: Free. Donations will be collected to benefit the 100 Club of Arizona.

The 100 Club of Arizona recognizes that when tragedy strikes, the effects can be swift and devastating. There is a need to respond immediately with support and understanding. Whatever the need – financial, advisory or moral support – the 100 Club of Arizona is there to ease the pain of the families of those in fire, public safety or law enforcement who are injured or killed on the job.

Scottsdale Musical Arts selected Brahms’ “Requiem” because of its beauty and appropriateness for the occasion. Brahms called his masterpiece a "human requiem."  This work was performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus just days after the tragic events of September 11, 2001.  Scottsdale Musical Arts is proud to present the work in remembrance of all victims of that tragic day.

ProMusica Arizona Joins National Requiem of Remembrance on September 11, 2011

Performances at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. — Admission is Free

On Sunday, September 11, ProMusica Arizona (PMAZ) is honored to join concert groups across the country performing Mozart’s Requiem in memory of that day 10 years ago when the towers fell and our nation’s history forever changed. This powerful and moving one-hour tribute--The 9-11-11 Project: A Requiem of Remembrance-- starts at 3 p.m. in different time zones across America and “rolls” across the country in churches and auditoriums from the East Coast all the way to Hawaii. PMAZ is honored to be participating in this unique, once-in-a-lifetime national event. It is especially fitting that PMAZ’s all volunteer chorale and orchestra is performing in honor of both the victims and of those ordinary people called upon to do extraordinary things on that day—these are your friends and neighbors offering the gift of their talents in tribute to the fallen and the brave.

The Rolling Requiem will be performed at the Community Church of Joy (just north of 101 on 75th Ave) in Glendale at 3 p.m. For this performance, ProMusica Arizona members will be joined by singers from the Community Church of Joy, Scottsdale Community College, and several other churches. In all, more than 150 singers and musicians will deliver this momentous performance. To assist with the occasion, the Daisy Mountain Honor Guard will appear in dress uniform to serve as ushers, and a single bagpipe will pipe in the Honor Guard as they present the colors before the performance begins. The Church of Joy seats up to 1400 people.

If you cannot attend the national Rolling Requiem performance at 3 p.m., a second performance will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley (6947 E. McDonald Dr., one quarter mile west of Scottsdale Road on McDonald). Sean McGarry, new Executive Director for PMAZ, encourages anyone who cannot attend the afternoon performance to come to the evening concert. “This is such a unique performance opportunity; we want everyone to be able to attend, which is why we scheduled the duplicate performance at Valley Presbyterian. Everyone is welcome. We especially encourage people who are now or have been firefighters or first responders to attend—this is a tribute to you as well as those who gave so much on that day.”

Copyright © 2011 Sonoran News