Cliches are cliches because there usually is some element of truth in them. Those words strung together in that order, repeated through generations, can ring true.
Pearl Toy
Here’s a cliche for our story today. “Ask, and you shall receive.”
It’s about how a woman’s determination and perseverance blossomed into a beautiful tradition.
In 1998, Pearl Toy, MD, UCSF School of Medicine, now a Professor Emeritus, had a goal. After performing the Beethoven piano concerto No. 4 with the UCSF Orchestra, she wanted the pianos at the UCSF music practice rooms to be tuned for everyone to enjoy. She thought that pianos at such a prestigious university should play the part.
Wasting no time, she made an appointment with Chancellor Haile Debas, MD, to discuss this matter. After waiting a few months to be seen, she finally got her face-to-face time. Without skipping a beat, she led him on a field trip across the street to the two music practice rooms at Parnassus.
There, she moved her fingers across the keys of the struggling instrument playing the opening of Beethoven piano concerto No. 5, the Emperor. To Toy’s surprise, Debas immediately said “Fine.” He will allocate funds to tune the practice pianos.
Success.
The inaguiral flyer from 1998.
As they waited at the traffic light to walk back across Parnassus Avenue, the Chancellor asked, “What else?” Caught off guard, Toy thought a bit and said, “It would be nice to have a concert series for UCSF.” Debas requested a proposal and soon after the Chancellor’s Concert Series was born in the fall of 1998. Toy took on the impresario job as her community service for UCSF and recruited the best musicians in the area. The Cole Hall’s old Steinway grand piano was renovated to have a beautiful sound. Since 1998, she has worked closely with Arts and Events staff to run the concert series up to this day.
Fun Fact: There was a special concert series to celebrate Debass' 81st birthday. Calendar page.
The weekly noon concerts drew hundreds of busy learners, staff, clinicians, and even neighbors - all eager to hear the world-class musicians. Nelson Schiller, MD, cardiologist, UCSF Health recalls, “One trio won a competition in Japan and was pronounced the leading trio internationally. Another, a pianist, appeared in a New York Times crossword puzzle. A violist from the San Francisco Symphony who came to UCSF annually went on to join one of the celebrated string quartets and gained recognition as the world’s finest violist.”
In addition to appreciating the caliber of musicians, Schiller has supported the concert series by writing the program notes for every single concert. “It is not a stretch to say that this opportunity met my needs for a strong cultural connection between medicine and the arts,” he says.
But First, Poetry.
If you’ve attended the concert in the past, you know that each event begins with a poem. David Watts, MD, gastroenterologist and UCSF clinical professor of medicine, recites a carefully selected piece from his own writing to ground and welcome the attendees. As he recites, the room grows quiet and pensive, ready for the commencing show.
Watts reciting a poem at the 2023 concert.
Although Watts enjoys sharing his love for poetry, the true value in being involved with the CCS comes from, “connecting medicine and the humanities (through music). The two make for more humanistic caregivers, happier patients, better outcomes and less burnout,” he says.
Present Day
Now, UCSF Arts and Events, Carol Yarbrough, business operations manager of Telehealth/UCSF Health, Mary Webb, a dedicated volunteer, and Nora Hirschler, MD, Department of Laboratory Medicine continue to help host the series.
Yarbrough, joined as a volunteer, and through the experience has been able to find a community. “It brings me closer to the university as a whole organization. As a person with an administrative role, I rarely get to interact with the medical students, residents and fellows, and it’s wonderful to see them enjoy the music and a bite to eat,” she explains.
One time the late, pianist Robin Sutherland performed the Elgar Quintet in A minor for Piano and String Quartet, Op. 84 with a string quartet from Palo Alto. Yarbrough, a intermediate level pianist, hesitantly volunteered to be his page turner.
“I’d never turned pages for a Grammy award winner. I asked Robin how he would indicate when I should turn the page and he replied, ‘Oh we’ll be in constant contact – you’ll know.’ Between marveling, sitting next to this man, feeling the piano vibrate with the music he was making, looking at his long-fingered hands on the keys - and then blanching at seeing 64th notes about halfway in–I lost my place. I looked at Robin for help and he was looking at the music. I frantically looked back and forth between his hands and the music and figured out it was time to turn the page. Later, Tina (a friend) said that I hadn’t blinked for the 30 minutes while the piece was played. I’ll never forget this nor the beauty of that haunting Elgar piece,” recalls Yarbrough.
The next Chancellor Concert Series event is on September 18, noon. Come to see the regulars like Toy and her husband Larry Toy, Schiller, Yarbrough, Watts, and the Arts and Events team.
