Remembering 9/11: Jake Heggie's "Pieces of 9/11"

In commemoration of Decade 9/11, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) presents the premiere of Pieces of 9/11, Memories from Houston, a specially commissioned song cycle by renowned American composer JAKE HEGGIE and librettist GENE SCHEER.

Through the transformative power of music and song, Heggie and Scheer seek to honor those who lost their lives on that fateful day and to pay tribute to the actions and thoughts of rescue team and community members. On Sept 11, 2001, an unprecedented rescue and recovery effort began and continued for over nine months. Houston Fire Department and Texas Task Force One, the elite search and rescue team, sent 88 members to Ground Zero in New York to help in the search and recovery efforts.

HGO will perform Pieces of 9/11, Memories from Houston on Friday, September 9, Houston City Hall Reflection Pond and Sunday, September 11 at the world renowned Rothko Chapel. The work was commissioned as part of HGOco Song of Houston project, a unique initiative designed to connect a great opera company to its community through collaboration.

Sung by a soprano, lyric baritone and girl soprano, the libretto is based on interviews conducted by Gene Scheer with first responders from the Houston area as well as family members of some victims.

“This should be done in memory of those who never got home.”
- member of Texas Task Force One

Scheer said, “the conversations were serious, honest, frequently surprising, and without exception, profoundly moving. The songs Jake and I wrote are based on the stories, observations and heartfelt memories of the people I had the honor of interviewing.”

“I keep a box under the bed – you know, the kind a wedding dress is kept in, with the things I brought home, my gear and things I found, like paper, picture frames and things.” - member of Texas Task Force One

Heggie said that the score was inspired not only by the stories, but the language and personalities of the people interviewed. He has orchestrated an affecting score, with a prelude influenced by Bach’s G Major cello suite. Scored for flute, violin, guitar and cello the songs are overlaid with elements of folk and rock. The use of these instruments allows for portability so the song cycle can be performed in a variety of non-theatrical venues including fire stations, city halls, outdoor plazas and places of worship.

HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers elaborated on those comments, “We have a duty as artists to reflect on our world, but how does one respond with meaning on an event so momentous and young as the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks, a day of such universal heartbreak? Here at HGO, we have chosen to focus on the response of the responders, setting to music poetry which has emerged from their sadness and shock, stories of our own community. No work of art can heal a wound so profound, but we hope through this project to contribute to easing the pain of remembrance, and to provide a forum to celebrate the small moments of joy which become available when we do so."

“In all of this destruction, there was a tree covered in grey dust. The closer you got, you realized that the things hanging from the branches weren’t leaves, but things like paper, memos, pictures…ordinary things from peoples’ desks.” - member of Texas Task Force One

And everything belonged to somebody,
To somebody gone.
And we all belonged to each other
From that moment on –
That moment on.

The events in Houston honoring the 10th anniversary of 9/11 includes a weekend of activities and community service:

Thursday, September 8, 7p.m.
Rothko Chapel / HGOco Community Conversations: Remembrance (Why do we memorialize?)

Friday September 9, 12noon
World Premiere of HGOco’s Pieces of 9/11 – Memories from Houston, in a tribute at
Houston’s City Hall Reflection Pond

Saturday September 10:
“Compassionate Houston” - a weekend of volunteer activities and opportunities including
community clean-up and beautification projects, building projects, visitations to hospitals and nursing homes.

Sunday September 11, 8:45a.m.
Lauren’s Garden. Songs from HGOco’s Pieces of 9/11 Memories from Houston.

Sunday September 11, 2p.m. & 4p.m.
Rothko Chapel. Performances of HGOco’s Pieces of 9/11 Memories from Houston. Full song cycle

Monday September 12, 12p.m., or 5p.m.
Midtown Fire Station. Pieces of 9/11 Memories from Houston.

Tuesday, September 13, 7p.m.
Rothko Chapel / HGOco Community conversations: Reflection and Healing

Thursday, September 15, 7p.m.
Rothko Chapel/ HGOco Community Conversations: Hope (Where do we go from here?)

Non- denominational services and Tolling of the Bells will be held at City Hall, Rothko Chapel, The Menil Collection, MFAH and Lauren’s Garden (downtown Houston).