The Cleveland Orchestra will be having a free commemorative concert next Sunday to observe the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 events.
Conductor Loras John Schissel, director of the Blossom Festival Band, will be returning to Public Square in Cleveland to lead the special free program. Community events will kick the day off before the concert starts at 5pm.
The challenges of putting on such an event proved to be numerous. Organizers had to deal with the lack of a model to follow, and the risk of having the concert seem artificial or veer off-course into religious, political or patriotic territory.
Schissel, a former Navy corpsman and music director of the Virginia Grand Military Band, said, “It’s not a feel-good concert. My whole intention is for it to be something meaningful. I hope people leave with the sense that it was worth sharing.”
The event begins at 2:30pm with essays from the “Stop the Hate” contest at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage. HandsOn Northeast Ohio activities follow from 2:30 to 4:30pm at the Tower City Center. A display at the same venue will feature artifacts and photographs from Ground Zero. At 4pm, a reading of “Poems of Peace” will take place with Michael Salinger, Sara Holbrook, Phil Metres and Cavana Faithwalker. Finally, the “Images of Peace” display will be unveiled on Public Square at 4:30pm, followed by the concert proper.
As Schissel put it, “I think we’re on the right track to have the right mix of things.”
