Newly formed Canadian Doctors Orchestra joins the global stage with first charity concert in December
Photo via https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/.
Andrew Loe, a medical student in UBC’s Island Medical program who takes music courses at UVic, founded what may be Canada’s first national orchestra for medical students, doctors, and healthcare practitioners such as nurses and psychologists.
From a young age, Loe had a passion for music and science, pursuing both concurrently and eventually completed an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry (with a minor in music) at UVic. Based on a recommendation from a professor, Loe looked into joining the World Doctors Orchestra, only to discover there was no Canadian affiliate. However, that didn’t stop him.
“I looked for [the Canadian Doctors Orchestra], but it didn’t exist, so I then thought, what the heck, let’s see what it takes to do this,” Loe said. After getting advice from the founders of other national doctors’ orchestras, Loe set out to start the Canadian Doctors Orchestra, initially just reaching out to colleagues and friends.
However, the project soon snowballed into something much larger.
Now, the Canadian Doctors Orchestra is preparing for its first concert, with roughly 170 musicians signed up to audition at the time of publication.
“I was told in high school [that] once you’re in university, you won’t be able to [play music] anymore. You’re going to have to choose,” Loe said. “But I think, for me, I just love music. It brings me so much joy.”
Founded in March, the Canadian Doctors Orchestra is running on a tight timeline, with musicians to be contacted next month, and the concert taking place just five months later in December.
The orchestra will meet for a “weekend intensive” meeting, where all the musicians will come together to practice as a group before the concert, though they will receive the music to learn ahead of time. Loe told the Martlet that the concert’s program has not yet been set, but that he thinks it would be “amazing” to feature some original compositions, and compositions from underrepresented composers, such as women or people of colour.
The orchestra will be conducted by Dr. Ajtony Csaba, an associate professor at UVic’s School of Music. Csaba is the director and conductor of the UVic Symphony Orchestra and the chief conductor of the Central European Chamber Orchestra in Vienna, Budapest, and Bratislava. He is the artistic director of SALT New Music Festival, jointly hosted by UVic and Open Space, and has won prizes for his music in Hungary, Austria, Canada, and Germany.
“The newly formed doctors’ orchestra is a mixed formation and will have equally professional players as well as advanced amateurs … so it is required to have a professional conductor spearheading the ensemble,” Csaba said. “They honoured me with their confidence that we will do some great things together, and I am very, very happy to join them.”
The newly formed orchestra will provide healthcare professionals, many of whom live stressful lives, an opportunity to be creative outside work.
Csaba, a cellist and pianist himself, strongly believes in the social and therapeutic power of music. “It’s a fun historic fact that in the nineteenth century, people gathered for Sunday afternoon coffee, but instead of drinking coffee or eating, they played string quartets … and that was considered to be an elevated conversation for several decades,” Csaba said.
“So practicing music is a very, very effective and efficient outlet for anything that accumulates through the week [or] through the months.”
Csaba said he hopes the orchestra’s members gain connections from the experience.
“Music is part of the fabric of social life and it is a connecting tissue that connects us all in one way or another.”
The orchestra has a “triple mandate” –– to use music philanthropically as a tool for social good, to provide a creative outlet to high-burnout healthcare professionals, and to celebrate the diversity of the Canadian medical community and promote pan-Canadian cultural exchange.
The Canadian Doctors Orchestra will have its inaugural weekend intensive from December 18 to 20, followed by the charity concert on the 20, which will be hosted at UVic’s very own Farquhar Auditorium. Csaba said he is happy to have UVic at the “epicentre” of the initiative and was grateful to host the concert at the university.
“Nothing to me feels as amazing as working really hard with a group of really talented musicians,” Loe said. “There’s a lot of tough situations that you are forced to be in [in healthcare] sometimes, and I think this is a great opportunity for people to come and … play [their] heart out.”
