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Music in the Atrium

All patients, their families and visitors as well as NIH staff are invited to attend these performances. The north atrium is a comfortable, welcoming gathering place at the center of the Clinical Center. These concerts are intended to support the Clinical Center's environment of care and healing.

"I love that NIH hosts concerts in the Clinical Center atrium. A tangible way that artists and scientists help make each other better, literally." - Barbra Streisand (Guest Speaker at the May 2018 NIH J. Edward Rall Cultural Lecture)

The NIH Clinical Center has resumed scheduling concerts that include wind instruments and vocal performance. Please note this is subject to change at anytime.

If you are interested in performing in the Clinical Center atrium, please submit a request.

Please check back often for new performance dates.


Upcoming Performances

  • The Dulcetones
    Mar. 12
    12:30 – 1:30 pm

    The Dulcetones are an intergenerational all-Arlington musical project featuring Paul Saunders on hammered dulcimer, David Roth on guitar, Phyllis Shea on violin, Mary Hynes on bass, and Tim Felker on vocals. The group enjoys creating fresh and unique takes on pop, rock, jazz, classical and folk classics, highlighting both their varied backgrounds and a shared love of musical collaboration.

  • Loudoun Youth Guitars
    Mar. 15
    Noon – 1 pm

    Loudoun Youth Guitars is a unique ensemble made up of selected middle and high school students and led by Dr. Miroslav Lončar. The ensemble has been in existence for fifteen years and many of its former members went on to study music or are professionally engaged as musicians. The ensemble rehearses weekly and gives four concerts a year. Loudoun Youth Guitars has performed at the Kennedy Center, on the Marlow International Guitar Concert Series, as well as at the Croatian Embassy. Loudoun Youth Guitar has appeared in concerts with such internationally renowned guitarists as Ana Vidović and the GRAMMY awarded artist William Kanengiser. The ensemble plays a variety of classical music from various periods and parts of the World.

  • Whiskey Before Breakfast Band
    Mar. 25
    2:30 – 3:30pm

    Whiskey Before Breakfast Band (WBBB) is an Irish folk instrumental group based in Alexandria, Virginia. Comprised of seven talented musicians (including three Celtic dancers), they are a spin-off of another local band, the Irish Breakfast Band, which has been playing Irish music every Saturday morning for the past 40 years. They have played live events at local bars and breweries, as well as concerts including the Fairfax County Summer Entertainment Series, Alexandria’s Art on the Avenue Festival, and First Night Alexandria. During COVID, the band began recording YouTube videos and released their first studio album “Vol. 1: At Home” in December 2022.

  • The Tacy Foundation
    Mar. 26
    Noon – 1pm

    The Tacy Foundation empowers children and teens in the Nation's Capital and surrounding areas to share hope with hospital patients, senior citizens, and disadvantaged youth through the power of music.

  • JazzyCopia
    Mar. 28
    12:30 – 1:30 pm

    Formerly known as the UMD Jazz Combo, this group plays an array of old and new jazz standards, bringing a sense of the classic and the contemporary to a live jazz setting. Faculty members, students and alumni make up the group.

  • Trio Touché
    April 11
    12:30 – 1:30 pm

    "Trio Touché" is a Towson University faculty piano trio specializing in compositions for piano 6 hands at ONE piano. This program includes light classical selection such as overtures by Rossini transcribed for piano/6 hands.

  • The Manchester String Quartet (in Masur Auditorium)
    April 15
    12:30 – 1:30 pm

    The quartet will perform Mendelssohn String Quartet in D Major, Opus 44#1.

    The Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences sponsored this performance.

  • Vivo Flutes
    April 17
    12:30 – 1:30 pm

    Flutists Klodina Kabashi Morina, Andrew Tomlinson, and Judy Sammel are a flute trio performing as 'Vivo Flutes' in the Baltimore, Maryland area. Their successful debut performance was at Villa Assumpta in Baltimore in November 2023. Individually, the members of Vivo Flutes have performed as soloists and members of various chamber ensembles, orchestras, and wind ensembles throughout the US and internationally. Their repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary classical, as well as lighter works from popular literature. They perform on piccolos, concert flutes, alto flutes, and sometimes on bass and contrabass flutes.

  • The Manchester String Quartet
    May 6
    12:30 – 1:30 pm

    The quartet will perform Mendelssohn Octet in E flat Major, Opus 20.

    The Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences sponsored this performance.

  • The Tacy Foundation
    May 14
    Noon – 1 pm

    The Tacy Foundation empowers children and teens in the Nation's Capital and surrounding areas to share hope with hospital patients, senior citizens, and disadvantaged youth through the power of music.

  • Haskell Small
    May 29
    12:30 – 1:30 pm

    Composer and Pianist Haskell Small has been critically praised for the exquisite blend of sound and silence in his compositions and for his prodigious technique and subtle touch at the piano. His discography includes over a dozen releases of his own compositions as well as Bach, Mompu, Gershwin and more on the MSR, Naxos, Centaur and 4Tay labels. On national and international tours he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts, and Spoleto USA, among others, and has received commissions from the Washington Ballet, Georgetown Symphony, Three Rivers Piano Competition, and more. After suffering a stroke in February 2021, Mr. Small has used his rehabilitation journey as a creative muse. He began arranging classical masters for the right hand alone and composing his own work, Diary of a Stroke: The Adventures of Herb and Pete.

  • The Tacy Foundation
    June 13
    Noon – 1 pm

    The Tacy Foundation empowers children and teens in the Nation's Capital and surrounding areas to share hope with hospital patients, senior citizens, and disadvantaged youth through the power of music.

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This page last updated on 03/07/2024

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