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In This Issue:
In its nineteenth season, the Longwood Symphony Orchestra (LSO) continues to bring together leaders in Boston’s medical community with both local and world-renowned musicians. Together this group, combining their love of medicine and music, shows that both physicians and musicians embody the power to heal others. No group knows this better than the LSO. Comprised of faculty, students and staff from 18 hospitals and all three of Boston’s medical schools, members of the orchestra possess not only brilliant musical and scientific minds, but hearts full of compassion.
The LSO performs on average four concerts per year, each of which helps to support a different medical charity. LSO beneficiaries include organizations such as the March of Dimes, the National Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Foundation and most recently, the New England Hemophilia Association (NEHA).
The May concert held at Jordan Hall on Saturday, May 11 hit close to home with BWH doctors. Peter Marks, MD, PhD, of BWH’s Hematology Division and a former member of the LSO, returned to the stage to introduce the musicians and members of the NEHA. For one of Marks’ fellow hematologists at BWH, Leonard Zon, MD, Saturday’s performance really struck a chord. While entertaining the audience, Zon, a trumpet player, had the pleasure of knowing his music mirrored the mission he carries out at the hospital each day - to help members of the community overcome the challenges of blood disorders.
Along with Zon, four other BWH doctors participated in the LSO this season. They include Susan Pauker, MD; Mark Gebhardt, MD; Stephen Wright, MD; and Lisa Wong, MD, who also currently serves as LSO president. As musicians, these physicians are required to attend two to three hour practice sessions weekly and in the days preceding a concert, they meet for almost eight hours of rehearsals. They have performed with several local and international celebrities, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and conductor, Jonathan McPhee, music director, Boston Ballet.
“It makes me very proud to be a part of this organization and such a superb group of people,” said Pauker, who is celebrating twelve years as a violinist with the LSO this season. “In the music we play, there lies a mutual healing process. After a demanding day, I am healed when I begin playing. Similarly, our concerts support advances in medical research and patient care. This mission draws me back year after year.”
The LSO’s next concert season will begin in October. For more information about next season's line-up, visit the LSO website (www.longwoodsymphony.org).
To support the LSO's mission and purchase season tickets, pleasecall 617-332-7011.