European Doctors Orchestra - making music for a good cause

We are an orchestra made up of doctors from across Europe.  We perform at least two public charity concerts a year, aiming to promote the public's understanding in the performance and appreciation of music, and also to benefit other charity projects (usually related to health and well-being). 

Details of our next charity concert in Gateshead, UK on Sunday 10 November 2024 can be found here.

A Celebration of Life

Welcome to The Glasshouse for what promises to be a memorable European Doctors Orchestra concert in aid of St Oswald’s Hospice. Music is the ultimate celebration of that to which medicine aspires to protect: life, in all its triumphs and tragedies, ecstasy and anguish. As the Danish composer Carl Nielsen said of his fourth symphony, ‘Music is life, and like it, inextinguishable’. This programme is a reflection on the most joyful moments of life, symbolising that inextinguishable flame of hope which we carry through life’s darkest days. Above all, we celebrate life itself, uniting NHS workers, patients and carers through the magic of music.

This afternoon’s programme is full of memorable tunes, toe-tapping rhythms and full- throttle joie-de-vivre. Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso sparkles with the infectious energy of Spanish dance music. In his Gloria, fellow Frenchman Francis Poulenc ecstatically defines his vision of compassion for all mankind, tearing up the rulebook of sacred music in favour of something universally accessible to all people. We then present a new commission by award-winning composer Elena Kats-Chernin, in honour of the 20th anniversary of the European Doctors’ Orchestra. Finally, the 20th century American composers George Gershwin and Aaron Copland celebrate the sounds, romance and optimism of post-war Paris and the delirious swagger of the Mid-West in An American in Paris and Rodeo.

With very best wishes for a wonderful concert.

Past concert locations have included Czech Republic (Olomouc-2022),  France (Nantes-2019/2020/2023), Germany (Bad Nauheim & Wiesbaden-2023; Berlin-2007/2013; Essen-2019), Hungary (Budapest-2006/2016), Italy (Verona-2008), the Netherlands (Rotterdam-2017), Norway (Oslo-2011), Poland (Poznan-2009), Romania (Bucharest-2005), Slovenia (Ljubljana-2015), Switzerland (Bern-2014), and the United Kingdom (Belfast-2017; Birmingham-2013; Coventry-2018; Edinburgh-2010; Gateshead Newcastle-2011/2016; London-2012/2014/2015/2018/2022; Manchester-2019).

The recording of our June 2022 concert in the Czech Republic at Moravská Filharmonie Olomouc can still be viewed online.

European Doctors Orchestra on Facebook.

The European Doctors Orchestra aims to promote, improve, develop and maintain public education in the performance and appreciation of music, by the presentation of public concerts and recitals, and to further the work of other charitable organisations involved.