Concert night here in Boston!

Tonight, Saturday May 18th, at 7:30pm, my wonderful ensemble, The Longwood Chorus, will perform our spring concert in Back Bay’s historic Church of the Covenant.

As many of you know, I am extremely fortunate to lead this now 80-voice ensemble of singers from Boston’s vibrant medical, health, and science community. The group continues to grow and flourish.

Dress rehearsal this week.

Here’s our set for tonight’s show:

• Three works by the late-great Alice Parker.

• Beati Quorum Via, by Charles Villiers Stanford.

• Schicksalslied, by Johannes Brahms (featuring an 11-piece chamber orchestra of players from The Longwood Symphony).

• Requiem by Herbert Howells.

Please join us! If you’d like to attend, here’s the link to reserve free tickets! (I highly recommend you reserve in advance, as we tend to fill up our venues).

One little nugget I thought would be fun to share. It turns out that Brahms had a long and meaningful friendship with Dr. Theodor Billroth, who is still considered the father of abdominal surgery. Their relationship seems to have been a wonderful one. My friend and colleague Dr. Lisa Wong (a pediatrician and violist in the Longwood Symphony) wrote a nice brief essay about Brahms and Billroth, and how such disparate disciplines like music and medicine can inform one another in important ways.

Also, it’s our final concert with soon-to-be Dr. Iris Chan (who graduates from Tufts Medical School tomorrow and is moving to Philly to do her residency). Iris has been far more than the associate conductor and accompanist for The Longwood Chorus; she’s been the heart and soul of it since our founding in 2017. (We’ll be okay without her—but barely!) It’ll be really nice to celebrate Iris this evening.

So…I hope to see any Boston locals tonight. The music will be wonderful and I’d be thrilled to share it with you in person.