National Symphony Orchestra Delights CRC Crowd
A Pharmacy You Can Hear. National Symphony Orchestra trombonist David Murray was featured in a selection from Jose Berghmans’ Tableaux forains.
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
Dr. James Gilman, CEO of the Clinical Center, welcomes patients, staff and guests to the NSO performance.
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
Eric Shin solos on typewriter in The Typewriter, as Steven Reineke, the NSO’s principal pops conductor, leads the orchestra.
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
An orchestra member indicates that for the Leroy Anderson piece The Typewriter, the typist would play in the key of A.
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
The NSO as seen from the upper floors of the CRC. Part of its Sound Health Initiative, the group’s frequent visits—either as orchestra or smaller ensembles—have promoted “tranquility, healing and wellness,” says hospital CEO Gilman.
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
When you see a semi-trailer pull up in front of the Clinical Research Center, followed by a tour bus, there’s a good chance the National Symphony Orchestra is back on campus.
The NSO played a 10-selection concert on Sept. 18 in the CRC atrium as part of its Sound Health Initiative, now in its 6th year.
Patients, staff and visitors crowded not only the atrium floor but also several stories worth of balcony to enjoy the performance.
The concert had a pronounced pharmaceutical effect; it was as though the entire lobby went into a hush to allow the music space to enchant.
“It was an important goal of the architects to design a hospital that was comfortable and welcoming,” said Dr. James Gilman, CEO of the hospital, in welcoming remarks. He added that the frequent NSO visits—either as orchestra or smaller ensembles—have promoted “tranquility, healing and wellness.”
Selections at the concert ranged from Beethoven, whose compositions both began and ended the show, to Aaron Copland, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Bryce Dessner, a modern American composer perhaps best known as a member of the rock group The National.
The concert also featured Leroy Anderson’s The Typewriter, a whimsical piece featuring Eric Shin on, yes, an old Royal manual typewriter.
The performance was sponsored by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences, Inc.—Rich McManus