Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra is opening its new season with a concert built entirely around that anniversary. The performance, titled What Remains, Rises, takes place on Friday, September 11, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mesquite Arts Center, and it doubles as the orchestra's 2026–2027 season opener.
According to the City of Mesquite, TX Government, the evening invites attendees to honor the 25th anniversary of 9/11 through live orchestral music, with tickets available through the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra's website. The program includes three major works: Mason Bates's Art of War, John Williams's Hymn to the Fallen, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, performed with guest pianist Dr. Kaden Larson.
A Concert Hall Built for the Occasion
The performance will unfold inside the Mesquite Arts Center's Concert Hall, a space that seats up to 500 people and features a specialized canopied stage designed for vocal, chamber, and orchestral acoustics, per the venue's own facility details. The hall sits on the same grounds as Mesquite Freedom Park, located on the north lawn of the arts center at 1527 N. Galloway Ave. That park holds an authentic section of structural steel recovered from the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, a detail Hoodline previously reported when covering the city's annual Patriot Day memorial service held at the same site, complete with tributes from police and fire honor guards and local school choirs.
That physical proximity gives the evening concert added weight for Mesquite residents. The same grounds that host a solemn morning ceremony each September 11 will, this year, also host a full orchestral tribute after dark.
Sound of Conflict, From Artillery to Currency Presses
Mason Bates's Art of War is arguably the program's most unusual piece. The composition incorporates original field recordings of U.S. Marine Corps artillery and mortar tests captured at Camp Pendleton, layered alongside recorded sounds from the printing presses at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, according to Mason Bates's own account of the work. The piece uses those contrasting sounds, weapons fire and money being printed, to illustrate how economic forces can drive military conflict.
John Williams's Hymn to the Fallen carries its own history. Williams wrote the piece specifically for the closing credits of Steven Spielberg's 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, intending it to honor casualties of all wars, and recorded it at Symphony Hall with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. What began as a film score has since become a standalone concert memorial piece performed at commemorative events well beyond the movie itself.
A Pianist Whose Own Story Shapes the Program
Guest soloist Dr. Kaden Larson will perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, a piece Gershwin reportedly wrote in just five weeks in 1924 after being asked to fuse jazz and classical styles, drawing rhythmic inspiration from the sound of a train ride. Larson's presence on the program carries its own resonance: he was diagnosed with severe Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis in his hands and feet at age two, and he initially began playing piano as a therapeutic activity before building an international career as a performer and educator, per the orchestra's account of his background.
The pairing of Rhapsody in Blue with Larson's story sits alongside the evening's heavier themes of conflict and sacrifice, offering a note of resilience within a program otherwise centered on remembrance.
An Orchestra on the Rise Under Felix Torres
The concert also reflects a period of growth for the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra. Since Music and Artistic Director Felix Torres's appointment in 2018, the orchestra has seen revenue grow by more than 70% and audience attendance increase by roughly 60%. That trajectory culminated in November 2025, when Torres and the orchestra were named a national winner of The American Prize, a recognition of artistic excellence among American performing arts organizations.
The orchestra's community mission extends beyond the concert stage. It runs an annual Scholarship Competition offering four memorial scholarships, ranging from $500 to $1,000, for local high school and college instrumentalists and composers, according to the City of Mesquite's event listings. The program underscores an educational commitment that runs alongside the orchestra's growing artistic profile.
Whether the city plans to formally connect its traditional morning Patriot Day ceremony at Freedom Park with the evening's orchestral performance remains unclear. What is confirmed is the schedule: doors open for a 7 p.m. start on September 11, with tickets available now through the orchestra's website.
