By Carol Tannenhauser

Two Lincoln Center performances and an art installation in Riverside Park offer beauty and solace on Saturday, September 11th, the 20th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Flight 93.

Photo of the Table of Silence by Terri Gold.

Table of Silence Project 9/11 — Free and open to the public starting at 8:20 a.m. ET (arrive by 8 as space is limited; masks encouraged) until 8:46 a.m. — when the first plane struck the North tower — dancers costumed in white and silver will encircle the fountain at Lincoln Center in the annual, free public performance of Table of Silence Project 9/11, a “ritual for peace” conceived and choreographed in 2011 by Jacqulyn Buglisi, Artistic Director of Buglisi Dance Theatre. It has been performed annually at Lincoln Center on 9/11 ever since. This year, the socially distanced live performance will begin with an excerpt from Ms. Buglisi’s master work Requiem, created in 2001 as an immediate response to 9/11. “Premiering in the shadow of tragedy, Requiem became a vehicle for collective healing.” You can also stream the entire performance live, starting at 8 a.m. ET, on YouTube, Facebook Live, and LincolnCenter.org.

Photo via Riverside Park Conservancy.

Ocufluent I & II — As part of its summer-long art exhibition, RE:GROWTH, A Celebration of Art, Riverside Park, and the New York Spirit, Riverside Park Conservancy has included a piece paying tribute to the lives lost on September 11, 2001. “Ocufluent I & II, which is at 97th Street and Riverside Drive, honors the victims of the tragedy and all those who are still impacted,” the Conservancy wrote, in a press release. “The piece is comprised of digital photographs of the Oculus — a sacred space where feelings of shock, terror, loss, and grief resurface and intermingle with…rebirth — printed on large-scale vinyl banners. The stitched flowers on the photo of the Oculus memorialize, hearten and pay tribute to all those who lost their lives on 9/11 and to all those who are still suffering.” The artist herself, named WOOLPUNK, speaks about her art and personal connection to 9/11 here.

Photo via Metropolitan Opera.

Verdi’s Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11 — On Saturday, September 11, at 7:45 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera will present a pre-season performance of Verdi’s Requiem to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The concert marks the first performance inside the Metropolitan Opera House since the March 2020 closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Live audio from the performance will be broadcast directly outside the Met in Lincoln Center Plaza; the opera house’s facade will be bathed in sky-blue light as part of the citywide 9/11 Tribute in Light. Audiences will also be able to see and hear live transmissions of Verdi’s Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11 as part of Great Performances on PBS, which premieres September 11, at 8:00pm ET (check local listings). You can get tickets for the live performance at the Met Opera House here.