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by Bill Rankin
Edmonton Journal 2002
The University of Alberta's music department isn't just a place where elite young musicians train for the profession, oblivious to the larger world around them. The department has also run an outreach program for the past three years called mUse of A, which sends student musicians to prisons, seniors residences and hospitals to bring a little musical cheer to the broader community.
U of A piano professor Patricia Tao, who joined the music faculty in 2002, is also doing her bit to promote classical music beyond the halls of academe.
As a grad student in Long Island, N.Y., Tao began a free concert series for people in the high-stress medical profession. Her Guild Trio gave concerts for seven years at the university medical centre before disbanding.
When Tao came to Edmonton, she approached then-dean of the U of A's medical school Dr. Lorne Tyrrell to see if he'd support a similar initiative here. He was all for it, so the Hear's to Your Health concerts were born. They will begin their third year Thursday at 5 p.m. in the lower foyer of Bernard Snell Auditorium, Walter Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, 112 Street entrance.
Tao says she'd like to see the space packed for the four free concerts, beginning with a duo performance with former St. Lawrence String Quartet cellist Marina Hoover, who's coming in just for the occasion.
The purpose of the series is to bring a little humanity to what can be a very clinical environment.
"What's great is the medical school here is doing a lot of things for the whole area. The (McMullen) art gallery itself is a wonderful addition. So this is just one more step toward the idea of bringing something human, something for people's souls, to the medical school," she says.
The target audience is people working or being treated in the hospital, but the concerts are available to everyone. Tao and Hoover will be playing sonatas by Chopin and Beethoven.
"They are free concerts and we've had really wonderful people from the community and I've had international people. Marina is the former cellist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. I mean, come on. It's free," Tao says.
Dr. David Cook, a music-loving medical person himself, will host the program. A small reception will follow.