Lots of physicians enjoy listening to music while in surgery or working in the office.
But there’s a whole separate group of physicians who just love to make music. A group of those musician physicians from around the world will gather in Buffalo this summer to make music with professionals from the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, while raising dollars for the new John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital.
Forty doctors from nine countries will perform at the July 19 concert at Kleinhans Music Hall, performing alongside professionals from the BPO under the direction of conductor JoAnn Falletta.
The event is a mash-up of two existing programs for people who love music: The BPO’s Fantasy Camp, a two-year-old program that allows adult amateur musicians to join the BPO for a day at Kleinhans; and the World Doctors Orchestra, a Germany-based nonprofit that brings together physicians from around the world to perform benefit concerts for medical aid projects.
“We’re always looking for ways to do different community connections and this was such a unique opportunity for us to connect with the medical community in a really meaningful way,” said Robin Parkinson, the BPO’s director of education and community engagement. “We of course jumped on it immediately and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to do it more than once.”
Parkinson gives credit to Dr. Fred Albrecht, a Grand Island physician who played bassoon in both the BPO Fantasy Camp last year and with the World Doctors Orchestra in 2009 and 2010. The BPO took both programs a step further, inviting members of the World Doctors Orchestra to travel to Buffalo, as well as other musician physicians in doctors orchestras from Cleveland, California and elsewhere. Read More.