NEWS RELEASE

9/9/02

CONTACT: John Sanford, News Service (650) 736-2151; e-mail: jsanford@stanford.edu

Rolling choral requiem, memorial set for Sept. 11

This Sept. 11, at 8:46 a.m. -- a year to the minute after American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center -- Schola Cantorum, a more-than-100-member volunteer chorus based in Mountain View, will lead a community sing-along of Mozart's Requiem at Memorial Church.

Gregory Wait, Schola Cantorum music director and a senior lecturer in music at Stanford, will conduct.

The event is part of the Rolling Requiem initiated by members of the Seattle Symphony Chorale. The project aims to create a "continuous," 24-hour performance of the piece as choirs around the world begin singing at 8:46 a.m. in their time zone. Choirs from at least 40 states and 30 countries as diverse as Japan, Latvia, Brazil, Armenia, Israel, Thailand and Austria are set to participate, according to the project's website (www.rollingrequiem.org).

The community sing-along, however, is a somewhat different take on the Rolling Requiem, which consists mainly of organized choirs, Wait said. Those attending the Stanford event may join the singing or simply listen.

"Maybe some people want to delay coming to work and spend a few minutes in a sacred place to commemorate the day in whatever way that is important and right for them," Wait said. "This is a way for people to express themselves individually or corporately, which is one of the beauties of singing together."

Choral singers who know and have performed the Requiem may register at the Schola Cantorum office at (650) 254-1700 through Sept. 9.

Remembrance service

A Sept. 11 memorial service also is scheduled Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. in the Main Quad. President John Hennessy and the Rev. Scotty McLennan, dean for religious life, will speak, and representatives of various religious faiths and perspectives will offer prayer, meditation and music. This event also is free and open to the public.

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