The Score | Music for—and by—Frontline Workers

Music and healthcare are intersecting in direct, hands-on ways to provide relief and inspiration during the pandemic. The National Virtual Medical Orchestra, consisting of medical professionals around the country and founded in response to the pandemic, began rehearsing and performing remotely in May 2020, and wrapped up the year with an online concert presented in association with Carnegie Hall entitled “Live With Carnegie Hall: Music is Medicine.” The orchestra—its musicians are all medical professionals with musical training—was formed in the spring by John Masko, music director of the Providence Medical Orchestra and assistant conductor of the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra. In Boston, the New England Conservatory of Music and Massachusetts General Hospital partnered this fall on the Boston Hope Teaching Project to provide private music lessons for healthcare workers. The project connects teaching fellows from NEC with healthcare workers for weekly private music lessons—and offers respite from the daily stresses of working on the front lines of the pandemic.