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It’s more than a coincidence that many medical professionals are also classically trained and highly proficient musicians. It was due to this convergence of circumstance that Dr. Miklos Pohl formed the Australian Doctor’s Orchestra in 1993.

The Australian Doctor’s Orchestra is a fellowship of medical professionals who share a love and passion for classical music and a desire to channel this passion into raising money for charity.

The classically trained musicians from various fields of medicine fund their own travel and expenses and donate proceeds to various charities, including the Anglicare Pandanus Program, which will benefit from the orchestra’s first ever visit to Darwin on June 19 of this year.

The orchestra has a total of 600 doctors and medical students on it’s books and usually performs two major concerts per year, covering one major city, and of late, one regional location. They congregate 2 or 3 days before a major concert to add the finishing touches to their months of individual rehearsal, before customarily performing on the Sunday afternoon.

Hungarian born plastic surgeon Dr. Pohl started the orchestra having already established the European Doctor’s Orchestra.

Dr. Pohl worked closely with founding conductor and artistic director, Christopher Martin, who was Senior Lecturer in Strings and Conducting at University of Melbourne for 20 years before retiring. Martin passed away in 2011 and the Darwin concert will feature conductor Matthew Wood.

Image: http://www.ado.net.au