Urgent phone calls flooded in from singers who had registered—asking if the Missoula Community Chorus would go forward with the first rehearsal. No one asked to delay it, but rather declared that they needed to be together and sing.
And the answer was “YES, we will hold the rehearsal! We need to be together, and we need to feel our way through this together.”
One hundred and twenty people showed up for that first rehearsal. We sang—and we cried together—and then we sang some more.
The following week, our first public performance was at Missoula's 9-11 Memorial Service in Caras Park. Every person who sang, every person in the audience who listened—were all united in our grief and our determination that this terrorist event would not break our nation, but make it stronger.
On December 31, 2001, the chorus presented its first concert.
Every September 11th…
remember the power of music
“The musical beauty of singing together continues to inspire hope, help create safe spaces for joyousness and grieving, and allows us to find the strength of our community. Music can take you places, it can heal your places, it can create new places.”
Read more about the founding of the Missoula Community Chorus: I wanna hold your mule train
Missoula Community Chorus
In the summer of 2001 small group of Missoulians were working towards the first-ever rehearsal of a new community chorus…
We had forty people signed up and thought that if sixty showed up, we’d be well launched.
On 9/11, we woke to the stunning news of the attack on the Twin Towers, followed by the attack on the Pentagon and crash of United Flight 93.
MPower Voices
Formed in 1998 by Alayne Dolson and Malcolm Lowe, the choir was originally part of VSA Arts programming.
MPower Voices serves the differently-abled community by offering an opportunity for social engagement and artistic expression. They serve Missoula with musical offerings that surprise and delight with their heartfelt, open manifestations of joy.
