Strains of angelic harp music echoed through the state Capitol rotunda Saturday night during an annual fall concert.
And for a moment, it was almost like Elizabeth Ann Smart was there, plucking away at her harp, seemingly in unison with the other 120 musicians.
The concert was dedicated to the blue-eyed, blond-haired teen who was a regular participant in past concerts and has been missing since her June 5 kidnapping.
The night's most poignant moment came at the end of the concert when a medley of songs was played in sync with a video featuring Elizabeth spending time with her family, riding horses and playing the harp.
"It was nice because it felt like she was playing with us," Elizabeth's harp teacher, ShruDeLi Ownbey, said, "and that's kind of what we wanted to do."
Elizabeth's mother, Lois Smart, wiped away tears during the tribute.
It's been more than five months since Elizabeth was kidnapped at gunpoint from her bedroom as her then 9-year-old sister, Mary Katherine, watched in terror. Her family still isn't giving up hope they'll find her. Saturday night they attended the concert that Elizabeth has performed in since she was 8 years old. Elizabeth's family marked her 15th birthday Nov. 3.
"She would be here because this is what she loved to do," Lois Smart said following the hourlong concert. "It was beautiful."
Mary Katherine, the only witness to her sister's abduction, made her first real public appearance at the concert wearing Elizabeth's ballet shoes and playing her black pedal harp in the performance. Both started taking harp lessons from Ownbey at age 4. Mary Katherine, now 10, graduated to her sister's larger pedal harp from her simpler lever folk harp following the kidnapping.
"That was really hard for her to play it, but we just reassured her that Elizabeth would want her to play it," Lois Smart said.
Elizabeth's parents watched the concert with their remaining children from the front row of folding chairs. Spectators spilled onto the east and west steps of the rotunda as well as the second and third floor balconies overlooking the concert. A picture of Elizabeth playing the harp was on the front of each program, with the words "Dedicated to Elizabeth Smart" printed on the back. The harps of varying colors and sizes were each adorned with a light blue ribbon, representing Elizabeth's favorite color, and each harpist wore a black dress with matching red ribbons around their waists.
Mary Katherine, dressed in a black dress with white collar and cuffs, sat near the inside of the large circle of harps that filled the rotunda. The Riverton High School Bell Choir also joined the performance along with a string quartet, flute and clarinet.
For the Smarts, it was a bittersweet night.
"It's great to be here with all of the kids and hear the pieces, but it's really hard," Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, said. "You think about Elizabeth playing those pieces. You just wish she was here."
The concert featured a variety of songs, some of which Elizabeth had been practicing before her disappearance. Ownbey's students performed a spiritual medley titled "Motherless Child and Wayfaring Stranger," which was prepared in memory of Elizabeth.
"I wanted to be able to play something for the Smarts," Ownbey said. "That was kind of our expression of sadness, I guess."
E-mail: djensen@desnews.com