Local musicians perform to tribute 9/11 victims

Music helps to pay tribute to the lives lost in Sept. 11 terror attacks

By Joy Powell, Star Tribune

Last update: September 10, 2007 - 11:10 PM

Some of Minnesota's finest musicians will perform tonight at the Lake Harriet Bandshell in Minneapolis in a free musical tribute to those who died in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

This year, the sixth in what's becoming a tradition co-sponsored by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, those who died in the Interstate 35W bridge collapse will also be honored. "My parents had Pearl Harbor, and this is my generation's Pearl Harbor," said Bob Bayers, a Linden Hills hardware store owner who produces the tribute. "The day should not be forgotten."

The 7 p.m. event will feature a 62-piece orchestra and 71-voice chorus. Conducting the orchestra will be Manny Laureano, formerly assistant conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra. John Hoffacker, an internationally renowned conductor who founded and conducts the Mississippi Valley Chorale, will lead the chorus.

Minneapolis composer Carl Schroeder wrote an elegy for orchestra dedicated to Christine Lee Hanson of Groton, Mass., the youngest victim of the attacks. The 2-year-old died with her parents.

Among tonight's performers will be the Zuhrah Pipes & Drums, a local unit formed in 1959. Last year, about 1,000 people turned out for the concert, and Bayers predicts that just as many, if not more, will attend this year. "It's necessary," he said. "It's free, and it's a beautiful evening."