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There's an old Dublin adage that says, "You may as well sing grief as cry it." David Ezer, a second-year MBA student at Baruch, isn't Irish, but on Sept. 12 he put that adage into practice anyway. Feeling alone and desolate in the wake of the World Trade Center tragedy, David sent an e-mail to every choral group in New York City asking members to join him at Lincoln Center Plaza to sing a few American songs. And so, on Thursday at 7 pm, about 100 people turned up. They sang "God Bless America," "The Star-Spangled Banner," and "Yankee Doodle." They sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "Amazing Grace."
"I have no special skills so I couldn't join the rescuers at the site of the World Trade Center. I couldn't even give blood—I had hepatitis A as a kid. But I needed to do something to feel connected," Ezer explained. A member of the Juilliard Choral Union, David is also the conference manager for Chamber Music America. He could think of no better way to feel connected than to join with his fellow New Yorkers in song.
After a while, the singers, joined by passersby, went to the Firehouse on 10th Avenue, to Engine Co. 40, Ladder 35, just behind Lincoln Center, where they sang for the firemen. "Their grief was just so overwhelming," Ezer says.
A week later, after a regularly scheduled rehearsal, David and the Juilliard chorus went back to the fire station, this time performing a more polished rendition of "America the Beautiful," in four-part harmony. It brought applause and tears. "The firefighters clapped for us. We clapped for them. A lot of people were crying," says David.
By Wednesday, Sept. 19, word of their spontaneous musical tribute to the firefighters had reached CBS. A crew from the network's Sunday Morning show turned up to see what was going on. They interviewed David and taped the firehouse performance.
But that Saturday, Isaac Stern, the great violinist, died. The story of his life and death bumped David and his fellow choristers from national TV. No matter. They weren't doing it for the media. They were singing for themselves, for the firefighters, for all New Yorkers. "The creative act is as holy as the destructive one is unholy," David Ezer reflected sometime later. That week, music seemed to help.
—Zane Berzins
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