Healing Music: World Doctors Orchestra to Perform in Armenia
An orchestra made up of medical professionals will perform a charity concert in Yerevan Sunday (January 17).
A group of 80 musicians-physicians, representing the World Doctors Orchestra arrived this week, most coming to Armenia for the first time.
Founded in 2007 by Stefan Wilich, Professor of Medicine at the Charite University Medical Center in Berlin, Germany, the orchestra exists “to make medical care more accessible and develop medical policy throughout the world through music,” according to its founder.
Wilich created the orchestra by placing announcements in medical journals and on the internet (www.world-doctors-orchestra.org). Currently the orchestra has some 400 members in 20 countries.
All 1,300 tickets for Sunday’s concert at the Aram Khachaturyan Concert Hall sold out, with proceeds from the performance going to benefit Prkutyun center for disabled children NGO. The 80 musicians from 12 countries travel at their own expense. Among the group are six Armenians, including three from Armenia.
A special concert has been added for Saturday, 4.00 p.m. which will be free.
World Doctors Orchestra Armenia representative Armine Mazhinyan, through whose efforts the organization of the concert has become possible in Armenia, is a dentist-violinist and will have her second performance as part of the group. And the soloist at the concert will be Germany-based violinist, laureate of several prestigious prizes Sergey Khachatryan. The 25-year-old plays a 1708 Haggins Stradivarius instrument. According to Mazhinyan, the young Armenian musician would be coming to Armenia after his concert in Paris (planned for Thursday) and joining the Orchestra’s rehearsals in the Armenian capital.
Compositions by Alexander Harutyunyan, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven will be performed by the Orchestra during the Yerevan concert.
“We chose not to perform Aram Khachaturyan, because Armenians know his music pretty well,” Wilich said frankly.
Medical work proper is not part of the doctors’ plans while they are in the country.