String duo to perform to mix of audiences Marcolivia visit accents ‘healing power of arts’

When most chamber music groups arrive in town, they stop at two places: their hotel and the concert hall where they are performing. When Marcolivia, a string duo, shows up to perform Sunday, May 22, at Minsky Hall in Orono, the musicians will make a third stop: Eastern Maine Medical Center.

Violinists Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff will perform a full-length recital, with works by Bela Bartok, Mordecai Seter and Alfred Schnittke, in Minsky on Sunday, and they will also perform a shorter presentation on Monday, May 23, at the first-level concourse in the Webber West Building at the hospital. The second concert, which is free and open to the public, employees and patients, inaugurates EMMC’s “Art of Healing” initiative.

The hospital has a tradition of displaying paintings and statues, offering holiday music and facilitating conversations between artists and patients. The Marcolivia concert, however, formalizes the medical center’s commitment to the arts, said organizers.

“What we hope to achieve is a greater community understanding of the role the arts play in the healing process and to help the community understand how they can become a part of that,” said Michael Crowley, vice president for development at Eastern Maine Charities, the philanthropic arm of the hospital. “By bringing the pillars of the art of healing together – performing arts, visual arts, artist residencies and interactive patient care – we make it easier for the community to embrace.”

Patricia Stowell, a pianist in Bangor, organized the Marcolivia events after seeing the group play a few years ago at a music conference in New York City. Stowell had originally planned to have Marcolivia perform its longer concert in an art gallery because she wanted to mix audiences for visual and musical arts in one room. That plan fell through. Arranging for the musicians to play at the hospital was another way to bring together a combination audience, but it also gave Stowell the chance to express what she likes to call the “healing of art.”

“I wanted to get more music into the hospital because of the healing power of the arts,” said Stowell, a co-founder of the Chamber Music Society of the Maine Center for the Arts, which is sponsoring the performance at Minsky Hall. “In the healthcare setting, music should be present as frequently as possible to stimulate workers and patients.”

Janet Berkel, an EMMC administrator who has also been instrumental in organizing the program, added: “Stress aggravates and contributes to disease and disease processes. Anything we can do to reduce that stress contributes to the healing process. The more stressful you are, the harder it is to get better.”

Berkel oversees the hospital’s collection of art, including works by sculptors Clark Fitz-Gerald and Forest Hart, and paintings by Vincent Hartgen and Dennis Pinette. She pointed out that the hospital has had a commitment to the aesthetics since the early design of the grounds with courtyards, flowers and manicured grounds, all meant to add visual comforts and a calming effect on employees and patients alike. The new performing arts component, she said, was an exciting variation on that tradition.

For the performers, playing for a hospital crowd is a chance to get a little closer to a community in a unique way. Since its founding, Marcolivia has been committed to performing in settings other than concert halls.

“This is something we’ve done for a long time,” said Marc Ramirez. “As a student, I played a lot of concerts for inner city schools. I felt there was such a tremendous need for students and people in retirement communities to hear classical music presentations. They have very little access to concerts, and, in some cases, when Olivia and I go out into local communities far from urban areas, it’s the only chance they get. It’s personally very satisfying. They are a most appreciative audience.”

“We like to be involved in the community that we’re performing in,” said Olivia Hajioff. “My dad is a psychiatrist, and as a child I used to play quite often for psychiatric patients. For both Marc and me, when we play a concert, if we just go in and play, we haven’t made a connection. If we talk to people and find out how the music affects them, that makes it worthwhile.”

At both the Minsky and EMMC performances, Hajioff and Ramirez will chat with the audience about the pieces on the program and about their work.

The Chamber Society of the Maine Center for the Arts will present Marcolivia, 3 p.m. Sunday, May 22, in Minsky Hall at the University of Maine in Orono. For tickets, call 581-1755. Marcolivia will also perform a free concert 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the first level concourse in the Webber West Building of Eastern Maine Medical Center on State Street in Bangor. Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.