On Saturday evening, the Washington Festival Chorale and the Washington Symphony Orchestra will present a free 9/11 remembrance concert at Immaculate Conception Church in Washington, Pennsylvania. Music director Mitchell Stecker, who was a fourth‑grader on September 11, 2001, helped select a program that blends solemnity with hope.
Concert program and purpose
The concert will open with Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” followed by Dan Forrest’s choral work “Requiem for the Living,” jazz classic “I Dream a World” by Dave Brubeck, and the contemporary piece “Bring Me All Your Dreams” by Texas composer Christopher H. Harris. Stecker said the event will “honor the loss of that day and consider how we can move into a way of living that doesn’t involve violence.” Advance registration is encouraged at washsym.org/concerts/community-events, though attendance is free.
Other memorial events in the region
Friday and Saturday see a slate of additional commemorations. In Connellsville, a remembrance service will be held at Veterans Plaza at 6 p.m., featuring state Rep. Ryan Warner, Mayor Greg Lincoln, first‑responders, patriotic music and representatives of the local VFW post.
South Strabane’s annual 9/11 service will move this year to Tanger Outlets on Racetrack Road because of construction at the former Washington Mall site. The service begins Friday at 8:45 a.m., timed to the moment the first plane struck the World Trade Center.
In Carmichaels, Greene County’s sole 9/11 memorial will feature a recitation of “A Fireman’s Prayer” and the poem “Tears of a Cop,” performed by the Carmichaels Area Band and the American Legion Post 400 band. Former state lawmaker Tim Solobay will address the crowd.
Saturday morning, a 5K run and walk benefiting the Tunnel to Towers Foundation will start at Canonsburg Memorial Stadium at 8 a.m. The foundation honors Stephen Siller, a New York firefighter who ran from the Brooklyn‑Battery Tunnel to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Volunteers in Cecil Township will gather at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies at 10 a.m. for headstone cleaning and other beautification projects as part of the National Day of Service and Remembrance organized by the nonprofit Carry the Load.
Eldersville’s annual service will take place Saturday at 1 p.m. in the White Church building on Fire Road, across from the Jefferson Township Fire Hall.
Community significance
These events underscore how the 25th anniversary of the nation’s deadliest terrorist attack continues to bring together families, faith communities and first‑responders across western Pennsylvania. For many in their mid‑30s, like Stecker, the day remains a defining moment in American history, and the music and memorials aim to foster healing and a renewed commitment to peace.
Original reporting: Herald-Standard – latest news for Uniontown, Pennsylvania — read the source article.
