September Concert Foundation Promotes Peace through Music
and Worldwide Events Commemorating 9/11
Main NYC Event, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Sunday, September 11th, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
In commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the September Concert Foundation is orchestrating a series of global concerts and performances, highlighted in New York City by "The September Concert: An Evening of Remembrance and Celebration" on Sunday, September 11th, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, between 50th and 51st Streets. Scheduled to perform are the New York Choral Society Choir, the Choir of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the Young People's Chorus of New York City.
The event serves as the cornerstone of a four-day global phenomenon with free concerts and musical performances held in approximately two hundred venues in nearly as many countries. It is the tenth year that the September Concert Foundation has spearheaded these musical tributes to encourage world peace.
"My goal in starting The September Concert was to fill the skies with music and celebrate the beauty in the human spirit," says Haruko Smith, founder and chairman of the September Concert Foundation. "Music is a universal language with which we can express our common humanity."
"Music has healing powers and I am proud to be part of an organization with such a noble mission," says Faith Hope Consolo, a Foundation board member and Chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman's Retail Group. "No one will ever forget that day, and in memory of all who were lost, we come together to reaffirm our hope for peace."
In New York City, the September Concert series takes place this year from Friday, September 9th to Monday, September 12th, and will include the following events:
Friday, September 9th, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Merchant's Gate in Central Park, entrance at Fifth Avenue and Fifth Avenue will be the site of a "sing-and-dance-along" to "Give Us Hope," led by the National Dance Institute (founded by September Concert Foundation board member Jacques d'Amboise) and the Young People's Chorus of New York City. Advanced information about the song and dance being performed is available on YouTube. All participants are welcome.
Saturday, September 10th
1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., New York City Fire Museum, 278 Spring Street, performances by Musica Thema, Peace of Heart Choir and Accord Treble Choir.2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Rockefeller Plaza, performances by the National Dance Institute3 p.m. to 7 p.m., New York Public Library Terrace, performances by the Scottish Choir, including three police choirs, PURE dance performance, Big Apple Chorus and the Nyack College of Music. Possible appearance by the U.S. Marine Corps Band.Sunday, September 11th8:20 a.m., Lincoln Center, Josie Robertson Plaza, "Table of Silence," a call for tolerance and peace through dance, silence and music, featuring 100 dancers with choreography by Jacqulyn BuglisiNoon to 2 p.m., Time Warner Center, Jazz performances.2 p.m. to 10 p.m., Ashford & Simpson's Sugar Bar, 254 West 72nd Street, performances by featured New York City jazz artists. 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., St. Patrick's Cathedral, performances by the Choir of St. Patrick's Cathedral, the New York Choral Society and the Young People's Chorus of New York City.Monday, September 12th12:30 to 2 p.m., NY Police Museum at Lower Slip Park, performances by The Lothian and Borders Police Choir and West Yorkshire Police Brass Band. For additional information and updates about the concerts held in New York City, visitwww.septemberconcert.org. The first September Concert was held on September 11, 2002, and has since expanded globally. Among this year's events will be six concerts in Poznan, Poland; a performance by the Polish National Symphony, hosted by the U.S. Embassy at the national symphony hall in Warsaw; a concert in London's Grosvenor Square to be broadcast by the BBC; five concerts organized by the St. Petersburg Centre for Humanitarian Programs in St. Petersburg and Pavlovski, Russia; and events in Nairobi, Kenya (its first); Ghana, Namibia, Australia, Mexico, Morocco, Italy, Haiti and Japan, among other countries.About the September Concert Foundation The September Concert Foundation, a public charity under IRS Section 501(c)(3), is a celebration of peace and humanity through music. Based on three basic principles: freedom to organize a concert of any kind; equality among different music and musicians; and accessibility, as all concerts are free, it invites musicians of every age and genre to come out and make music anywhere people gather. Founded under the auspices of UNESCO, with an endorsement from former President Bill Clinton, The September Concert has a current outstanding Board of Directors and Advisory Board, including such prominent leaders as Jacques d'Amboise, Faith Hope Consolo, Dr. Robert Benezra, William C. Rudin, Susan Rudin, Tom Freston, Steven Spinola and Ravi Shankar, among many others. For more information, visit www.septemberconcert.org.
