32 May 16 • 2019
jn

A 

regular clarinet just wouldn’
t 
do.
Michael Cher, a professor 
of urology at Wayne State University’
s 
medical school, was planning to play 
Mozart’
s Clarinet Concerto in A Major 
with the Detroit Medical Orchestra, an 
amateur group he helped start 10 years 
ago.
To prepare, he watched videos of 
performances on YouTube and saw 
some clarinetists playing very low notes 
by using an unusual instrument longer 
than a regular clarinet.
His research showed that musicol-
ogists think Mozart actually wrote the 
piece for the basset clarinet, which is 
about six inches longer than clarinets 
used today; it also has extra keys and 
mechanisms. Mozart’
s original man-
uscript has been lost and subsequent 
scores were written for a regular clar-
inet. In those scores, the piece makes 
several odd jumps — where you expect 
a run to go down, it goes up, said Cher, 
59, of Huntington Woods.
But where to find a basset clarinet? 
Cher emailed Ricardo Morales, prin-
cipal clarinetist of the Philadelphia 
Orchestra, and Morales immediately 
offered to lend him his own instrument 
for the concert. After receiving the bas-
set clarinet, Cher had to learn to play 
the unfamiliar lower notes.
The free concert, which will take 
place at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, May 
19, at the Wayne State University 
Community Arts Auditorium, is Cher’
s 

Detroit solo debut.
Cher comes from a musical family. 
His mother was a musician who passed 
her passion to him and his three broth-
ers, who have raised musically talented 
children.
Five other Chers will join him for 
the May 19 concert: sons, Benjamin, 
24, a medical student at University of 
Michigan, and Jonathan, 20, a sopho-
more at Washington University in St. 
Louis; brother, Danny, a physician in 
Palo Alto, Calif.; brother, David, an 
attorney from Denver; and David’
s 
cellist son, Eitan, an engineer from San 
Francisco.
Cher has been part of the Detroit 
Medical Orchestra since it began and is 
a member of its board.
The group now has about 60 mem-
bers, all of whom work in the medical 
field as medical students and physi-
cians, nurses, allied health profession-
als, researchers and professors.
The orchestra is “a great thing for a 
lot of people,
” Cher said. “Music can be 
very healing, for the musicians as well 
as the audience.
”
The group rehearses on Sunday 
evenings in a room at Wayne State’
s 
medical school, under the baton of 
Zeljko Milicevic, who also conducts the 
Rochester Symphony and the Oakland 
Youth Orchestra and plays in the Flint 
Symphony. He is the orchestra’
s only 
paid member. The group presents 
three orchestral concerts a year and 
one chamber recital. Smaller ensembles 
of orchestra members often play in 
healthcare facilities. 

Violinist Edward Malinowski, 
a retired cardiologist from West 
Bloomfield who is a speaker and board 
member of the Holocaust Memorial 
Center, said he likes the rehearsals bet-
ter than the performances. Playing in 
the orchestra provides relief from the 
often-stressful practice of medicine, he 
said. “It’
s also very encouraging to see 
young members of the orchestra mak-
ing music only for fun.
”
Violinist Jeff Klein of Huntington 
Woods, an internist with a practice in 
Troy, agreed. “Music distracts me from 
the pressures of practice and an other-
wise convoluted world,
” he said.
Oboist Samm Wunderlich, 31, of 
Oak Park, joined the orchestra in 2015. 
An independent recreation therapist, 
she says she welcomes the opportuni-
ty to play in a quality orchestra. The 
orchestra’
s mission, “Bringing Healing 
Through Music,
” “takes playing in an 
orchestra from just being fun and gives 
it purpose,
” she said.
Last week, Cher performed the 
Mozart concerto in Palo Alto. 
His brother Danny invited him to 
California to play clarinet in the 
Schubert Octet. Cher agreed but only 
if he could play the Mozart Clarinet 
Concerto as well. “It was a dress 
rehearsal where nobody knew me,
” he 
said.
Cher said he thought about music 
as a career but decided medicine was a 
better bet. “It’
s easy to be a doctor pre-
tending to be a musician,
” he said. “You 
can’
t be a musician and pretend to be a 
doctor.
” ■

DAVID DALTON 

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Rare
Clarinet

Huntington Woods urologist solos
in Detroit Medical Orchestra concert.

Book/Author 
Society Brings 
4 Authors For 
May 20 Luncheon

For devoted readers who enjoy meet-
ing acclaimed authors talking about 
their latest books, the semiannual 
luncheon of the Metro Detroit Book 
and Author Society provides that 
opportunity.
The spring event — scheduled 
Monday, May 20, at Burton Manor 
in Livonia — brings four diverse 
authors to the podium with friendly 
book signings afterward.
Joe Grimm, a longtime Detroit 
Free Press editor and Michigan State 
University instructor, tells a busi-
ness story and a Jewish story with 
The Faygo Book. It delves into the 
development of the popular pop and 
the Feigenson family that launched 
the business locally. 
Elaine Weiss has 
preceded the 100th 
anniversary of women’
s 
suffrage (March 2020) 
with The Woman’
s Hour: 
The Great Fight to Win 
the Right to Vote. She 
tells about the peo-
ple and the persistence. Her book 
will be adapted for TV by Steven 
Spielberg’
s Amblin Television, with 
Hillary Clinton as an executive pro-
ducer. 
Cecile Richards, a former leader 
of Planned Parenthood, encourages 
activism with Make Trouble: Stand Up, 
Speak Out and Find the Courage to Lead.
Elizabeth George, the force 
behind the Inspector Lynley series 
set in Britain, takes luncheon guests 
away from reality by discussing her 
latest edition, The Punishment She 
Deserves, about a respected deacon 
suddenly accused and then found 
murdered in police custody. 
The 94th luncheon schedule 
begins with early book sales at 11 
a.m. and moves into lunch at noon, 
speakers at 1 p.m. and signings 
afterward. For details on tickets, at 
$40, call (586) 685-5750 or go to 
bookandauthor.org. ■

music
arts&life

NINA SUBIN

Elaine Weiss

