VA-National Medical Musical Group (VA-NMMG), a non-profit organization, is  the largest medical musical group in America, with the membership of its chorus and orchestra spanning almost every state in the Union.  Many are associated with the Department of Veterans Affairs--or with medical practice, teaching, or research.  VA-NMMG performances have been at Carnegie Hall (New York), Kennedy Center and Constitution Hall (Washington, DC), Symphony Center (Chicago), Davies Hall (San Francisco), the Las Vegas Hilton Theater (Las Vegas), St. Andrews Cathedral Honolulu (Hawaii), as well as for the US Congress, the United Nations, and at the White House. 

  VA-NMMG's mission is to perform "Music with a message" - a message of inspiration, healing, and national unity. US concerts highlight health problems of concern to veterans and the general public, and are usually held close to Flag Day in June, and Veterans Day in early November, preceded by 3 to 4 days of intensive rehearsals.  VA-NMMG has also performed  overseas--in Australia, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy (and the Vatican), New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Spain and Sweden.  Overseas tours, which follow immediately after the November US concert, aim at promoting global harmony through music, in line with VA-NMMG's mission. This year the Group is planning to perform in Nashville TN, followed by a concert tour in Germany.

Their founder and music director:

Victor Wahby, MD, Ph.D.

Dr. Wahby is a Renaissance man: physician, musician, scientist, poet, and conductor. Educated in both medicine and music, he studied conducting with Joseph El-Sissi, the Vienna-trained conductor of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra.

During his tenure at the Mayo Clinic he conducted the Mayo Medical Chorale and Orchestra, and while on the Yale Medical School faculty he conducted the Yale Medical Musical Group, the forerunner of the current national group he founded.

The Washington Post praised Dr. Wahby for his "sincere interpretations of music." 

http://www.va.gov/vlc/cgi-bin/aboutvlc_intronew_int.asp a Video with him about his work,
the message of the video in text: http://www.va.gov/vlc/cgi-bin/WahbyGreetingtxt.htm 

November 2006:

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