4.2K views · 177 reactions | Twenty years ago, the world changed forever. On this solemn day, we offer a moment of peace in remembrance of the lives lost on September 11. Here is Ryan Opera Center mezzo-soprano Katherine Beck performing Verdi’s "Ave Maria" with Music Director Enrique Mazzola on piano. | Lyric Opera of Chicago | Facebook

Franz Schubert composed the music (in 1825) within a cycle of seven Lieder taken from the verses of the epic poem, “The Lady of the Lake”, by Walter Scott. Thus, the most famous Ave Maria in the world did not initially contain the text of the Catholic canonical Marian prayer. Yet it is the composer himself who, when writing to his father, underlined how this melody is mysteriously “capable of striking a chord with every soul and inspiring devotion”. Andrea Bocelli will perform with Carla Fracci