 |
| Famed news anchor and author Tom Brokaw with the Tabernacle Choir |
In a promotional video on Music and the Spoken Word’s website, [Mr. Brokaw] explains how “Rising Above” will present, in music and word, how that tragedy and other challenges faced by everyday Americans have bound our nation together and inspired us to lead lives of deeper understanding, appreciation, and purpose.
“As much sorrow and grief as came from 9/11, there have also come positives,” said Mack Wilberg, music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. “In this program, we wanted to show how the indomitable American spirit turned a tragedy into a triumph of coming together and caring and serving. The message of this show is that as individuals and as a nation we can find healing and strength in adversity, and literally rise above all the negatives.”Ten years ago, the Tabernacle Choir and orchestra were among the first to hold a memorial concert on the evening of September 11, 2001. They had a performance that night in Salt Lake City which quickly shifted from the prepared repertoire to a tribute to those who had lost their lives that day.
I remember well the shock of that horrible day. You could see it in the faces of people on the freeway driving to work that morning - grief, shock, sadness. Even traffic seemed subdued. When I got to work the TV was on, turned to a news channel. It remained on throughout that week. No one got any work done. Customers came into our office, not to purchase anything or do business, but just to talk about the terrible tragedy.
Then it started, a slow but steady outpouring of patriotism. People were standing on street corners waving the American flag. Everywhere you went, people wore or carried flags. In every gathering, we sang "God Bless America". New York and the twin towers were all we could talk about and those dreadful images replayed on our TV sets for weeks. Still, throughout those bitter days there was a unity and pride in our country that I have never experienced before or since.
 |
| Mack Wilberg directs the choir and orchestra |
“9/11: Rising Above” will be broadcast on September 11 on approximately 750 stations and networks in the United States and Canada. A large number of these—about 160, including many NBC network affiliates—will be carrying the weekly Music and the Spoken Word radio program for the first time.
Air times and station information can be found at www.musicandthespokenword.org or by clicking this link:
1 comment:
thank you for posting this
Post a Comment