NIH Community Orchestra

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The NIH Community Orchestra is an all volunteer orchestra based near the communities of Kensington, Bethesda, and Rockville in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, USA just north of Washington, DC. The current NIHCO is the fourth orchestra affiliated with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland and has the distinction of having the largest size and most expansive repertoire of the four. It has also achieved the greatest longevity. Supported in part by the NIH Recreation and Welfare Association, many of its members are employees of the NIH but its roster also includes members of numerous other Federal government agencies, educators, doctors, lawyers, students, retirees, and other members of the general community.

Founded in 1996 (as the NIH Chamber Orchestra), the orchestra held rehearsals and performed concerts at the Jack Masur Auditorium at the NIH until campus access was restricted following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Indirectly because of an article in the New York Times noting the orchestra's plight, the orchestra was able to enter into a musical partnership with Saint Mark Presbyterian Church in Rockville, Maryland and Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland. Because of this, and thanks to the cooperation of the members, the NIHCO is able to operate with an annual budget of less than $1000. It continues to grow and thrive with seven concerts scheduled for 2006, including a popular Handel's Messiah sing-along performed annually in December. A number of smaller ensembles have formed from its ranks, including a chamber orchestra, a brass ensemble, several string quartets, a Celtic ensemble, and a classic rock band.

One of the NIHCO's prime missions is to raise money for the charities at the National Institutes of Health. An equally important mission is to bring the joy of music to the surrounding community. This includes outreach concerts (and open rehearsals) at nursing homes and senior centers, as well as performances for elementary and middle schools in the greater Washington, DC area.

NIHCO concerts focus on core symphonic repertoire from the 18th and 19th centuries, but its performances have included music from the Renaissance to the 21st century. With a concert roster that averages 50-60 instrumentalists, recent concerts have included the Carmen Suites by Georges Bizet, Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn by Johannes Brahms, Caucasian Sketches by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, and Wellington's Victory by Ludwig van Beethoven.

In June 2002, the NIHCO became one of the first orchestras in the world to perform a September 11, 2001 related composition when Associate Conductor Jesse Parker conducted the world premiere of the choral/orchestral compositon Psalm 9:11, composed by NIHCO musical director Gary Daum.

The NIHCO prides itself on having intense and engaging musical performaces while focusing on a relaxed atmosphere of music making. The orchestra's website states that "making music is wonderful therapy--it should never be a reason for having therapy."

Reflecting its ties to the musical and medical communities, the NIHCO logo includes the symbol for medicine along with the first few notes of Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 by J. S. Bach, the first composition of the NIHCO's debut in early 1997.

The website of the NIH Community Orchestra: http://www.nihco.org [1]