On Thursday afternoon, an uncommon musical occasion unfolded at Myongji Hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
Giant hospitals often host charity concert events that includes newbie or skilled musicians, however this one took the viewers without warning: Albrecht Mayer, principal oboist of the Berlin Philharmoniker, and Amihai Grosz, the orchestra’s First Principal Violist, took the stage.
The intimate efficiency provided sufferers, caregivers and medical workers a uncommon probability to expertise the heat and expressive vary of an ensemble that includes oboe, viola and harpsichord — an mixture seldom heard in conventional chamber settings.
The 2 Berlin Philharmoniker musicians had arrived in Korea only a day earlier to start the orchestra’s Asian tour. But, regardless of the jet lag, Mayer and Grosz selected to spend their first afternoon performing for the hospital neighborhood.
For Mayer, who has been with the Berlin Philharmonic for nearly 34 years, the go to carried private significance. He turned a affected person of Myongji Hospital after his decadeslong friendship with two of Korean docs finally led him to endure a hair transplant there.
“The photograph of me on the poster behind me was taken earlier than I bought a hair transplant,” he mentioned, prompting laughter from the viewers filling the hospital foyer.
Mayer underwent a hair transplant of roughly 4,300 grafts in July with Dr. Hwang Sung-joo, and on Tuesday he obtained an extra therapy. He admitted that his curiosity in hair transplants grew lately after seeing profitable circumstances amongst a few of his colleagues. He remained reluctant till his pal Dr. Hwang — a former coronary heart surgeon who now heads the hospital’s Hair Middle — satisfied him to proceed.
“I’ve pals working on this discipline whom I fully belief. If I had not had pals working on this very particular discipline, I might not have been satisfied,” he instructed The Korea Herald on Thursday earlier than the live performance.
Mayer can be no stranger to medical advocacy. In 2011, he established the Albrecht Mayer Basis to assist analysis and advance therapies for retinal and optic nerve issues — a trigger near his coronary heart as a musician whose profession depends upon sight. Sustaining good well being and restoring one’s sense of well-being is one thing he values deeply.
Mayer mentioned his household had instructed him a hair transplant was pointless, insisting they beloved him simply as he was. “Nevertheless it’s about satisfying the particular person within the mirror,” he famous. “I believe a majority of males are involved about their hair. It’s about restoring your outdated self — and I believe that’s good.”
However whereas restoring confidence issues, the best vitality he receives comes from his viewers — whether or not in a hospital foyer or a grand live performance corridor.
“As a musician, we dwell via the optimistic vitality coming from the viewers. If I make the individuals within the viewers comfortable, they are going to make me comfortable,” he mentioned. “When Dr. Hwang Sung-soo steered a live performance, I fortunately accepted.”
After uplifting an unconventional viewers of sufferers and hospital workers, Mayer now begins the tour.
From Friday to Sunday, the Berlin Philharmoniker will make historical past with its first-ever three-night run in Korea, below the baton of chief conductor Kirill Petrenko.
gypark@heraldcorp.com
