Medical professionals are putting on a music recital entitled "Docs Play the Pops III" on Sunday, June 1, 2008, at 3 p.m. at the Modesto Junior College Recital Hall on East Campus, 435 College Avenue. The concert program will include a diverse genre of music, ranging from popular music to classical. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $10 for students and seniors, and may be purchased in advance, Monday - Thursday, by calling 575-6866. Tickets will also be available at the door for 90 minutes before the performance. The event raises money for the MJC Friends of Music, an organization that provides music student scholarships and supports the programs of the MJC Music Department. A complimentary reception on the Art Patio will follow the recital.
Although the title of the event is "Docs Play the Pops," the musicians performing represent an array of medical-related professionals, including operating room technicians, surgical assistants, relatives of people who work in area hospitals, and physicians of course.
Leadership for this third annual event is spearheaded by Modesto general surgeon and acupuncturist Dr. Calvin Lee and MJC Music Professor Cherrie Llewellyn. Sponsorship is provided by Surgical Artistry, a surgical group formed by Dr. Calvin Lee and plastic surgeon Dr. Tammy Wu.
Dr. Lee will participate on stage playing violin and piano. Other performers will include anesthesiologist Dr. Joel Yerby on violin; nuclear medicine specialist Dr. Jocelyn Espiritu on piano performing Somewhere in Time by John Barry and Theme from Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff; Dr. Melissa Pearce, who is completing her training as a family medicine physician in the residency program at Doctors Medical Center, will sing; Dena Chen (daughter of oncologist Dr. Jay Chen), will perform on cello, and hospitalist Dr. Tom Wallace will play the piano.
Professional opera singer Alexis Magarò will perform "Ah, fors' è lui che l'anima" from Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata. Returning to her native Modesto from performing in Europe, Magarò is "related" to the area's medical community through her sister who owns Wallace Medical Billing.
Guitarists Don Keener, operation room technician, Dr. Rangu Chandran, ophthalmologist, Mark Trammell, operation room technician, and Dr. Ross Redding, optometrist, will perform several pieces as a group. They will play My Cherie Amour, lyrics by Stevie Wonder and music by H. Cosby; Take Five by Paul Desmond, saxophonist for the Dave Brubeck Quartet; the swingy, flat-picking folk standard Beaumont Rag which was made famous by Doc Watson, and the timeless blues classic Statesboro Blues by Blind Willie McTell, which will feature Dr. Redding on harmonica. Dr. Redding will also perform Bach's Invention 13 - Guitar Duet with his daughter Karina Redding, and Dr. Chandran will give a solo performance of the popular classic guitar piece Romanza (A Spanish Romance).
Guitarist Mike Dunham, a surgical services assistant, will play Chattanooga Choo Choo, lyrics by Mack Gordon and music Harry Warren, and Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight, written by Calvin Carter and James Hudson, with the best-selling version recorded in 1954 by The Maguire Sisters.
