The voices of nearly 60 Northern Irish and American teenagers filled a chapel near the site of the World Trade Center as they performed a concert to remember the victims of terrorism.
"Both countries have lost a lot of people in terrorist attacks," Mr Daryl Simpson, musical director of the Omagh Community Youth Choir of Northern Ireland, said at St Paul's Chapel in New York.
"For us, the significance of performing here is to share our experiences and emotions with people in New York."
Mr Simpson (27) founded the choir shortly after a car bomb blast in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killed 29 people and injured more than 300 in August 1998.
His goal, he said, was to provide a salve for a community whose close-knit population of about 14,000 was shattered by the attack.
The choir helped to create bonds between the town's Catholics and Protestants, Mr Simpson said.