Eva O’Grady felt goose bumps when an ambulance drove by the National Arts Centre, the sound of its siren intermingling with the rising crescendo of Barber’s Adagio for Strings during the 9-11 Concert of Hope and Remembrance.
“It was a wonderful mix of music and terror,” she said after Sunday’s concert. “It was a historic telling through music.” The sound of two local planes flying overhead late in the performance was similarly eerie.
The only difference is that today “we get to leave,” said O’Grady.
Approximately 2,000 members of the public attended the free tribute, which began at 8:46 a.m., in sync with the moment the first plane hit one of the World Trade Centre buildings on Sept. 11, 2001.
Former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Mayor Jim Watson also attended the performance, along with representatives from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, National Defence and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Following the concert Chretien recalled the first public gathering immediately following the attacks was also open air.
“Rather than have a service in the Church we decided it was to be to be in the open, we were not to go into hiding and we had 100,000 people on the hill,” he said. Chretien said the three minutes of silence that day were among the “most moving of my life.”
Baird said the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people including 24 Canadians, were a “senseless act of horror.
“Many left behind still grieve for the loved ones taken from them and today we stand with them in solemn solidarity. Sadly the terrorist threat is still with us; still very real,” he said.
Guest conductor Peter Oundjian and Director Matthew Larkin led the NAC Orchestra and the Ottawa Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys through a six-piece set that was broken halfway with a moment of silence.
“It was a beautiful and tasteful way to mark a very sad event in our history,” Watson said afterwards.
“We all remember where we were on the morning of 9-11,” said Oundjian. “10 years later, we stand in solidarity with our neighbour and great friend, the United States of America.”
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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