Gwozdz will conduct Sept. 11 performance

Lee Gwozdz, music director from at Corpus Christi Cathedral, and Gilbert Patenaude, music director at the Québec Mont-Royal Choir School, will conduct a combined choir of American Federation Pueri Cantores at a special Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on Sept. 10 in honor of Sept. 11 victims and their families.

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan requested that the American Federation Pueri Cantores sing at the Mass as a way for young people to honor the families and especially the children of the victims of Sept. 11. Approximately 300 singers including a delegation from Quebec, Canada, are expected to attend.

The Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, will concelebrate the Mass.

Some youth singers participating in the Remembrance Mass were directly affected by the attacks on Sept. 11.

“For them this concert is a way to remember their loved ones lost,” Gwozdz said.

To highlight the memorial service, the song selections for the Mass include “Pie Jesu” written for the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing and “America the Beautiful,” a rendition commissioned by the American Federation Pueri Cantores for its July 4, 2008 performance in front of the White House.