Over 180 Choirs Participate in Worldwide September 11th Rolling Requiem Tribute

Twenty-six countries and twenty time zones represented

Seattle - Over 180 choirs in 26 countries and 20 time zones will participate in the Rolling Requiem, a worldwide choral music commemoration of September 11th. All seven continents are represented. Concert locations and details are available at www.rollingrequiem.org.

Over 17,000 people from around the world will sing Mozart's Requiem, which demonstrates the love, hope and healing they want to express, comments Rolling Requiem chairwoman Madeline Johnson. To our knowledge, this is the only worldwide tribute occurring on the first anniversary of the attacks.

Initiated by members of the Seattle Symphony Chorale, the Rolling Requiem is a worldwide choral commemoration of September 11th with performances of Mozart's Requiem in each time zone. Concerts will begin on Wednesday, September 11, 2002 at 8:46 AM, the moment of the first attack on the World Trade Center. Beginning at the International Date Line and cascading from time zone to time zone, these concerts will provide almost 24 hours of music, giving voice to hope and healing. Participants will each wear a heart badge honoring a person who was lost that day.

The Rolling Requiem tribute begins in Auckland, New Zealand, where the Orlando Singers Chamber Choir leads off at 8:46 AM on September 11th in Time Zone 25. When they begin singing, it will be 1:46 PM on Tuesday, September 11th in the Pacific Standard Time Zone on the West Coast of the United States.

The final choir in American Samoa, Time Zone 1, completes the 24-hour song cycle. When their concert begins, it will be 8:46 AM on Thursday, September 12th in New Zealand and 11:46 AM on Wednesday, September 11th in the Pacific Standard Time Zone.

In Riga, Latvia, 19 choirs will come together to sing in the country's largest cathedral, Dome Cathedral. In Tucson, Arizona, U.S., following a public invitation for singers, over 300 choristers will sing. In Lisbon, Portugal, and Vienna, Austria, the U.S. Embassies are helping to organize concerts. In each venue, the president of the country plans to attend. In Bangkok, Thailand, the Bangkok Orpheus Choir, which was organized just after the attacks a year ago, will sing. In Seattle, Washington, U.S., community interest has been so enormous in the performance of the Seattle Symphony Chorale Rolling Requiem organizers, that the concert has been moved to SAFECO Field. Twenty thousand people are expected to attend the concert, which Gerard Schwarz, music director of the Seattle Symphony, will conduct.

Representing a true grassroots effort, the Rolling Requiem has been organized and implemented by seven members of the Seattle Symphony Chorale, all volunteers, with almost no funding. It represents a worldwide gift from the heart.

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