Twenty-five years after the towers fell, Trinity Church is marking the anniversary the way it long has: with music, freely given, to a city that still remembers. On Friday, the Trinity Choir, Trinity Youth Chorus, Downtown Voices and the Novus Orchestra will gather for a free concert titled “Remembrance: 9/11,” performing Gabriel Fauré's Requiem and Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna under conductors Melissa Attebury and Stephen Sands.
According to Spectrum News NY1, choir member Elena Williamson is encouraging New Yorkers to attend regardless of whether they consider themselves classical music fans, saying the choir offers music meant to soothe people and help them feel something warm, shared or emotional. The station reports that Trinity Choir member Steven Hrycelak, who joined the choir one year after the terrorist attacks, said being part of Trinity Church's long history while continuing to create and share is special and meaningful to audiences. He added that free concerts let people experience what the community can offer.
The concert is one piece of a larger weekend of remembrance. The compositions chosen for Friday evening's program, focused on themes of reflection, solace and peace, were detailed by OperaWire ahead of the anniversary. Following the evening performance, Trinity Church is hosting a full weekend of free hourly musical offerings at St. Paul's Chapel on September 12 and 13, according to the parish's own event listings.
A Chapel That Would Not Fall
St. Paul's Chapel, part of Trinity Church's parish, sits near the former World Trade Center site and has become known as the church that served as a refuge during the 9/11 cleanup, per the NY1 report. Built in 1766, the chapel stayed open for nine months after the attacks, providing refuge for recovery workers as they labored at Ground Zero.
The scale of that relief effort was documented by the Charleston City Paper, which reported that more than 15,000 volunteers transformed St. Paul's Chapel into a 24-hour crisis relief hub, serving over 500,000 meals alongside medical and spiritual support to Ground Zero first responders. The chapel remained undamaged even as the towers collapsed nearby, a survival that the National September 11 Memorial & Museum attributes to a 70-year-old sycamore tree in its churchyard, which absorbed the blast and debris shockwaves. That fallen tree later inspired the 15-foot-high by 23-foot-wide bronze memorial sculpture Trinity Root, created by artist Steve Tobin in 2005.
The chapel's pre-9/11 history runs even deeper. It is Manhattan's oldest surviving public building in continuous use and served as a place of worship for George Washington following his 1789 inauguration, according to the same 9/11 Memorial & Museum account.
Ringing the Bell of Hope
Every September 11 at 8:46 a.m., Trinity Church's rector tolls the Bell of Hope in St. Paul's Churchyard in a pattern of “four fives,” the traditional FDNY salute to fallen firefighters, marking the exact moment the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center's North Tower in 2001, Trinity Church has said. The bell itself was a gift from the City of London, presented to New Yorkers in September 2002, according to a history compiled by Walkabout NY.
On the afternoon of September 11, St. Paul's Chapel will also host its 11th annual Calling of the Names ceremony, dedicated to honoring 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who have died in the years since 2001, including those who succumbed to 9/11-related illnesses, per the Calling Of The Names Foundation.
A Parish Older Than the Nation
Trinity Church itself opened in 1846, though the congregation dates back more than 300 years, having been established in 1697 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, according to Trinity Church's own event materials. That gives the parish a history spanning more than 328 years.
The terrorist attacks took place near Trinity Church, and the parish has carried that connection ever since. Choir members say they hope their music this week will provide peace and comfort to those who hear it, with the Trinity Choir, led by Attebury, performing regularly for worship services at Trinity Church as well as concerts at both Trinity Church and St. Paul's Chapel.
Trinity's tribute arrives alongside other free 25th-anniversary commemorations across Lower Manhattan, including a reunion concert by cast members of Come From Away, set for September 13 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center on the World Trade Center campus.
