On anniversary, music echoes notes of hope for fire survivors — ‘the pulse and the heartbeat to the town’
As sunlight peeked through St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, parishioners exchanged embraces and a “Peace be with you” amidst tears on Wednesday, one year after the Palisades fire. An hour later, for its first concert since the fires, parishioners sat in awe as Grammy Award winning violinist Anne Akiko Meyers weaved her bow across her violin, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach echoing through the church.
“I lost my home…but I didn’t lose my church, so it feels beautiful and lovely to be able to open our doors today to the whole entire Palisades community,” parish administrator and long-time parishioner Shawn Silletti said. “To be able to be here and share it with others and have some reflection and some healing in the space that I love so much…this is a really special community.”
Nestled in the green hills of the Pacific Palisades and just miles from the Pacific Ocean, community members gathered for an afternoon service and concert to grieve, heal and remember — remember homes lost, remember their lives before displacement and remember to find hope in recovery.
“Driving through a year ago, it was devastating, and then just progressively, as I’ve been coming back and seeing the green hills and birth and regrowth, and that happens,” Silletti said. “Nature finds a way and we will find a way.”
Though the church itself stands physically unaffected by the Palisades fire, the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church’s community has been deeply affected by displacement of its members and damage of six buildings. Located nearby, the St. Matthew’s Parish School suffered damage from the fire and plans to reopen in the fall.
After a brief interlude outside for community members to reconnect, the pews filled up again. Meyers, performed works by Bach, Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre alongside Grant Gershon, the Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the chorale’s members.
Meyers and her family were displaced by the Palisades fire last year, while she was on a global tour after a recent Latin Grammy Award win. In the following months, Meyers worked with composer Whitacre on “The Pacific Has No Memory,” a newly released piece dedicated to those impacted by the fires. Both of them drew inspiration from overlooking the Pacific Ocean in temporary residences after the tragedy in the Palisades.
“I thought [music] would be such a wonderful way to just share in the spirit of rebuilding and really helping the local arts organizations here in town,” Meyers said. “By sustaining them, it gives the pulse and the heartbeat to the town of the Palisades.”
Meyers worked with clergy members of St. Matthew’s Church and School, St. Matthew’s Music Guild, Chamber Music Palisades, Palisades Symphony and Chorale and Theater Palisades to organize Wednesday’s event. All proceeds from the event will go to organizations based in the Palisades including: Chamber Music Palisades, Palisades Symphony and Chorale, St. Matthew’s Music Guild and Theatre Palisades.
“To quote a Bible passage, this too shall pass,” St. Matthew’s Music Guild board member Gordon Dressler said. “Hopefully, with things like faith in God, faith in the Creator and hope for the future, as expressed in a lot of music, that’s comforting and can lead the way towards healing from a disaster.”
After a difficult year, Wednesday’s concert served as a form of catharsis for those attending.
“When you just allow the music to wash over you, it gives you a fresh perspective and it just allows you to breathe,” Meyers said.