September 24, 2001

Nearly 5,000 people attended the Music Department's performances of Mozart's Requiem last weekend and donated more than $30,500 in relief funds.

All of the money will be given to the American Red Cross and the New York City Firefighters Fund.

The music department held three performances at locations in Storrs, Bloomfield and Stamford in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States. The funds were raised in a free will offering following the three separate, non-denominational memorial performances.

On Saturday, Sept. 15, more than 1,400 people attended the performance at the First Cathedral in Bloomfield and donated nearly $7,700.

On Sunday afternoon, more than 2,200 people attended a performance at Jorgensen Auditorium on UConn's Storrs campus. More than $11,500 was raised at that performance.

The final performance, held Sunday evening at the Palace Theatre in Stamford, attracted more than 1,000 people and raised more than $11,300.

About 70 instrumentalists, including the University Orchestra and several members of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra performed with 150 singers from the University's Festival Chorus and the Department of Music. They were joined by members of the Hartford Chorale.

Robert Miller, the head of the music department, chose Mozart's Requiem, which many consider to be Mozart's supreme achievement, specifically for the event. The piece, Mozart's final work, is an interpretation of the Catholic Mass for the departed.

"The response to our performances has been remarkable," says Miller. "We prepared these performances as a way of working through our own confusion and grief, but the music also seems to have provided solace and comfort to thousands.

"It is a testament to the power of music to move people that so much was collected."

Allison Thompson