Performances, reflection, public expression
However you’d like to remember September 11, 2001, someone at Berkeley is thinking like you

By Jonathan King, Public Affairs

04 September 2002 | The campus will mark the first anniversary of last September’s tragedy with 24 hours of observances — from a powerful orchestral and choral performance in Hertz Hall to a quiet interfaith gathering in Sproul Plaza.

Music and drama
Seven hundred listeners will crowd Hertz Hall at noon for “In Memoriam,” a performance by the University Chorus, the Chamber Chorus, and members of the University Symphony.

The music department’s Marika Kuzma, who organized a choral concert last Nov. 18 in remembrance of Sept. 11, has scheduled varied works for this year’s observance, ranging from an orchestrated Bobby McFerrin tune to settings of children’s poems in Arabic and Hebrew, as well as works by Brahms and Mozart. There are tentative plans to pipe the music via loudspeaker to those outside the hall.

Music will also feature in the Berkeley Art Museum’s plans for the day, but until 5 p.m. the galleries will serve as a retreat for faculty, staff, and students engaged in quiet contemplation. Much the same happened spontaneously last year, recalls Deputy Director Rod Macneil, when “the museum became a space where people could get away from their TV sets, step away from the tragedy and try to get a sense of the bigger picture.”

At 5 p.m. in the museum’s central atrium, Berkeley Symphony cellist Nancy Bien Souza will play selections from Bach. At 6 p.m., a string quartet of students and recent graduates from the music department will play works by Mendelssohn, Dvorak, and Beethoven.

At 8 p.m. on Sept. 10, a staged reading of Anne Nelson’s play “The Guys” will be performed at the Zellerbach Playhouse. The play, which opened off Broadway last fall with Sigourney Weaver and Bill Murray as a journalist and an NYFD fire captain, “became something of a phenomenon,” says Mark Griffith, acting chair of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. The New York Post called it “a stark and simple, potent and poignant play, brimming with edgy humanity.” The Berkeley reading (admission free) will feature Lura Dolas, a member of the department’s acting faculty, and James Carpenter, a local actor with extensive credits at ACT, the Berkeley Rep, and the California Shakespeare Festival.

Student perspectives
At noon, a campuswide moment of silence will be observed, with the only audible sound intended to be the tolling of the Campanile.

Ten minutes later, in Sproul Plaza, ASUC President Jesse Gabriel and Graduate Assembly President Jessica Quindel will speak briefly, as will Chancellor Berdahl. Following a vocal interlude, 12 preselected student speakers will take the microphone for two minutes each.

“It’s very important that all voices be represented,” says Quindel, who is co-organizing many of the day’s events with the ASUC’s Gabriel. “If we have diverse perspectives, we won’t be shutting anyone down. We’re the home of the Free Speech Movement, and students should have the opportunity to speak out on these events.” (A longer, more unstructured open mike will take place that evening between 6 and 8 p.m., unrestricted by the longstanding one-hour daytime limit to amplification in Sproul.)

And indeed, many campus events are being organized by, and for, students, including a candlelight vigil sponsored by the ASUC, starting at 9 p.m.

“It’s critical to have a strong student voice and presence in any kind of September 11 observance,” says Quindel. ”The idea is that we’ll serve both those who wish to make political statements and those who simply wish to grieve and remember. That’s why we’ve created separate events: the nighttime vigil for remembrance, and the evening open mike for expressing thoughts and opinions.”

The noon event at Sproul will include a bit of both elements, with a clear separation between them, both Quindel and Gabriel point out.

Among other activities and observances planned:

The University Religious Council will facilitate spiritual expression on Sproul Plaza. All afternoon, Jews, Christians, Mus-lims, and others will observe their respective rituals, joining together in other moments of reflection.

“Twin Tragedies: Commemorating 9/11 and Thereafter,” a discussion and video presentation sponsored by the Asian Pacific Council, the Alliance for Humanitarianism in Modern South Asia, and the Sikh Student Association, will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in 2060 Valley Life Sciences Building. See ahimsa.berkeley.edu for information.

The UC Alumni Chorus will participate in a worldwide “Rolling Requiem” on the morning of September 11 at the First Congregatonal Church of Berk-eley, at Dana Street and Durant Avenue. The event features sing-along performances of Mozart's “Requiem” in every time zone. Doors open at 8 a.m.; the event is free.

As September 11 approaches, more details on these and other observances will be available at www.berkeley.edu/news/sept11.