SOV-Express: music in the Children's Hospital UZ Gent
The music we make is a basic right for everyone. Flanders Symphonic Orchestra is socially committed and also looks at the world outside the concert hall! Under the name FSO-Express, our musicians go out and build bridges through music.
Flanders Symphony Orchestra and UZ Gent join forces. The musicians will visit the different departments of the children's hospital and the child and adolescent psychiatry department. Throughout the day, they will surprise children and young people with intimate mini-concerts and interactive music workshops. With enthusiasm, we immerse them in our world of creativity and imagination.
Outside of the concert hall
This project is part of a series of outreach initiatives during which the musicians of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra go outside and use music to build bridges.
General director Frederik Styns:
“The music we make is a basic right for everyone. We have to play a social role and therefore do not only focus on the audience that we can reach from the stage, but we also like to include those whom, for various reasons, we cannot reach in the concert hall. With a lot of pleasure, enthusiasm and a warm heart, we plunge the children who are staying in the Children’s Hospital of the UZ Gent into our world of imagination and fantasy. What we offer is not a cure, but we hope it will bring a (healing) smile to their faces. Among other things, UZ Ghent is known for the quality of its care and services. Our music also serves to provide care to our fellow human beings. I am very pleased that, from our shared values, we can mean something to each other.”
The outside world inside the Children's Hospital
UZ Ghent has a good care plan for children who are admitted to the Children's Hospital or in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department: daily, pedagogical employees prepare the children for examinations and treatments, in a playful way ... But when an organization such as Flanders Symphony Orchestra applies, it is welcomed with open arms: bringing music to a hospital really takes the mind off being sick.
Prof. Sabine Van daele, head of the Children's Hospital: “I think everyone feels that art is comforting and can trigger a lot. It often puts a big smile on our little patients' faces. We also find it important to bring the outside world inside the hospital. This allows classical live music to become accessible here too. ”
© Thomas Verfaille
About UZ Gent
UZ Gent is one of the largest and most specialized hospitals in Flanders with over 3000 patients a day and almost 6000 employees. Patients can trust in highly specialized, quality care in a full range of medical expertise. As a university center, UZ Gent makes targeted investments in quality, scientific research, training and customer-friendly services. The hospital works closely with the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Ghent University. More information on www.uzgent.be.
Outreach
Music knows no boundaries and Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen takes this quite literally. With the SOV-Express, we go out in groups to bring music to people's living environment, far beyond the walls of the concert hall. Our playing domain for these outreach projects is the residential area of Nieuw Gent. We have already been guests at the children's hospital, the nursary, the primary schools, the open house for young mothers and the social restaurant in the neighbourhood. Our aim? To break down barriers, stimulate curiosity and make classical music accessible to all.