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Sydney Symphony and music4health program

About the Sydney Symphony's music4health program

Did you know that music can decrease the need for pain relief in some operations and may also be useful for pain control in intensive care units? Studies show it can also have an overall positive effect on a patient's emotional state of wellbeing and can even improve physical and mental symptoms in patients with chronic diseases such as osteoarthritis and cancer.

The Orchestra wanted to explore ways of bringing music out of the concert hall and into the community, in particular to hospitals and to bring music to people who were unable to experience live classical music due to limited mobility, illness or other circumstances. It is from these ideas that the Sydney Symphony's music4health program was born.

The program enables musicians from the Sydney Symphony to perform in hospitals, creating interactive opportunities for patients and staff and highlights how music plays a part in improving the physiological processes of relaxation and healing, as well as communication, interaction and emotional expression.

Building on its presence in hospitals, the music4health program now extends to working with other organisations such as the Autism Advisory Support Service, performing in aged care facilities in both metro and regional NSW and recently was involved in a pilot program with the Royal North Shore Hospital and its ADAPT program which focuses on pain management.

The Sydney Symphony looking for corporate support to be to continue to perform these community events - please contact Julia Owens on +612 8215 4695 or julia.owens@sydneysymphony.com for further information on how you can be invovled.

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