Roger Zahab doesn't want the audience to applaud the world premiere of
his new string quartet. Zahab's composition "...and stars will appear"
will debut in a Heinz Chapel concert on September 11th, part of a day of
university commemorative services. Zahab, director of the University of Pittsburgh Chamber
Orchestra, will play violin in the quartet. Performing with him will be
his students Wyatt True on violin, Jennifer Vaughan on viola, and
Sharleen Jirreh on cello.

"We want to create the right atmosphere for meditation," Zahab says. "We
won't be applauded. We want to provide the quiet thoughtful mood."  He
wrote the piece specifically for this occasion and for this group of
musicians. The quartet will perform the piece at 9 a.m. and again at 4
p.m., along with pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Gershwin and Barber. Zahab
describes the concert as a "meditation hour."

"I think that this concert is going to be a quiet space in which people
can be who they are and connect with their own thoughts," says Zahab, who
calls his piece "a meditation on how human life passes through eternity."
 "We are hoping to show a river of time," he says. "In the river are very
intense human lives that happen, and music can show the contrast between
the immediate moment and the infinite span of time."

Rather than passion, Zahab says, "...and stars will appear" aims for
consolation.

Zahab, a Lebanese-American who grew up in the Byzantine Catholic church,
says his family has always been stuck between different cultures.

He takes a lesson from that: "My experience in life has shown me how
similar people are, even as they try to stake out their own territory. My
music seems to have diverse things going on, but they all seem to fit
together."