By Brian Mccoy

Record Entertainment Editor

September 10, 2006 6:00 AM

The Stockton Symphony concert of Sept. 15, 2001, was meant to be memorable from its inception.

That night's performance at Atherton Auditorium was designed to kick off the orchestra's 75th anniversary season in grand style. Conductor Peter Jaffe had selected an all-American program anchored by pianist Leon Bates joining the symphony for George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue."

No one could have foreseen the effect the events in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania would have on the performers and the audience. But the first major cultural event after the terrorist attacks - opening, as it has each season, with the national anthem - helped San Joaquin County find solace and celebrate America.

As the shock of the attacks settled in on Sept. 11, symphony officials briefly considered canceling the concert, Jaffe said. Ultimately, an awareness of music's healing power prevailed.

"It speaks about our universal, underlying, good moral features," Jaffe said. "Music brings everybody together. We needed this concert."

Emotions were particularly acute in Stockton's classical community. One of its own, University of the Pacific music professor Derrill Bodley, had lost a daughter, Deora, when hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.

"Here was one of our own people," symphony violist Don Peterson said. "Fortunately for the musicians, when you're in the music, it's a bit of an escape."

The mood at rehearsal the night of Sept. 11 was somber, Peterson added. As the string players prepared to play Samuel Barber's aching "Adagio," Jaffe said it would be dedicated to those who had lost their lives.

And there was another issue - getting Bates to California.

The Philadelphia pianist had been scheduled to fly out on Sept. 11. But all airline flights were grounded. So Jaffe tapped Frank Wiens, a mainstay of Pacific's Conservatory of Music and veteran concert pianist, as a potential substitute.

When the airlines resumed a sporadic schedule that Friday, Bates got the first flight out of Philadelphia.

He spent the day hop-scotching across the country, stringing together whatever flights were available.

"There weren't many people," Bates said last year prior to a return engagement with the symphony. "The San Francisco airport was like a ghost town."

Bates got to Stockton just in time for the last rehearsal Friday night.

The Saturday night performance drew more than 1,000 concertgoers. One of them, Stocktonian William Lynch, 80, recalled being moved by the stirring patriotism of the concert's first piece: "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Then came the Barber composition. As its last somber strains died away, there was no applause.

By contrast, Bates and the orchestra received a momentous ovation for their performance of the rousing Gerswhin composition.

"The mood was somber but very patriotic," said Joan Beattie, 70. "Just being with other people was important. Even though you had talked to your friends and all that, being in a public area (was) very helpful. There was kind of a sense of togetherness, you might say."

Looking back, Jaffe can see how in tune the orchestra and the audience were with the music and its ability to heal and spur hope.

"I almost didn't have to say anything," he said. "Everybody understood, and that was what made it so magical."

Contact Record Entertainment Editor Brian McCoy at (209) 546-8293 or bmccoy@recordnet.com