Race for the Sky: Songs for New York and 9/11 – September 11 at 7:30 p.m.

Noted on NPR as "powerful and transformative," this free concert of songs by American composers Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Stephen Sondheim, Maury Yeston, and Lucy Simon reflects the themes felt by many after 9/11 – love, loss, war, peace, and hope. Inspired by the City Lore exhibit Missing: Streetscape of a City in Mourning at the New-York Historical Society in the months following 9/11, soprano and Inwood resident Lisa Radakovich Holsberg developed the program for a performance at the Historical Society on the first anniversary of the attacks, which included the premiere of Race for the Sky by Richard Pearson Thomas. This award winning song cycle for voice, violin and piano, which Holsberg has since performed across the United States, is a setting of three 9/11 poems written during the outburst of artistic expression following the attacks and later discovered at the many spontaneous memorials throughout New York City. Joining Holsberg for the MOSA performance is LeAnn Overton, piano; Katie Kresek, violin; Karla Moe, piccolo; and Anthony Pulgram, tenor.

Holsberg points out the importance of art as a response to the attacks: "In the days that followed 9/11, I was able to find some hope in the many kind acts of my fellow New Yorkers. In particular, I was deeply moved by the tremendous rush of expression which filled our city streets. At a time of great crisis, the city communities turned to the mediums of the arts in order to express themselves. By choosing creation in the midst of destruction, the city defied the violence of 9/11. The significance of this act, for the arts and humanity is unmistakable. I commissioned Race for the Sky is a tribute to this spontaneous and peaceful act of creation and expressions."

            Pre-concert discussion with Lisa Radakovich Holsberg and Richard Pearson Thomas, along with a visual presentation courtesy of City Lore at 7:00 p.m.