Orchestra Connects with Special Audiences

MADISON, Wis. -- Music belongs to everyone — which is the reason violinists Suzanne Beia and Laura Burns, violist Christopher Dozoryst and cellist Karl Lavine are out and about on a chilly winter afternoon, heading to the Central Wisconsin Center with their instruments and a thick folder of music.
The musicians make up the string quartet HeartStrings, an outreach program of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Since 2006 the group has made the rounds of nursing homes, retirement centers, the children’s hospital, family resource centers and facilities for people with developmental disabilities such as Central Wisconsin Center to perform a live, interactive program grounded in the principles of music therapy.