The Bristol Symphony Orchestra will bring the sound of the human heart to life in a special concert to help fund our life-saving research.

More than 500 people are expected in St George’s Bristol on Saturday 23 November for the world premiere of Heartbeat, a concerto for percussion and orchestra.

The architect behind Heartbeat is Robert Tulloh, Professor of Congenital Cardiology at the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) and Director of the Bristol Symphony Orchestra.

Music, like our heartbeat, has a vital pulse

As a violinist, Professor Tulloh will bring together his three passions of medicine, cardiology and music for an experience like no other. The program will explore all aspects of the heart – physical, emotional and metaphysical – and its relationship to music.

Heartbeat will present this new work specially commissioned by William Goodchild – who is also the Orchestra’s conductor – for percussionist Harriet Riley and Bristol Symphony, the concert culminating with a performance of Rachmaninoff’s magnificent Second Symphony.

As one of our former Junior Research Fellows, Prof Tulloh chose to donate the money collected from the nightly ticket and bucket collections to help the BHF and provide the IHB with the most equipment. recent, better facilities and more innovative research.

Professor Tulloh, Clinical Manager of Pediatric Cardiac Services at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, said: “Because I went to school in Bristol and played the violin in the orchestra that I help conduct. , I wanted to leave a legacy to the music of Bristol and to combine my medical work (cardiology), the city of Bristol and our orchestra all together.

“So it made sense to commission a work based on the rhythm of the heart. This will highlight the orchestra, the BHF and also the Bristol Heart Institute, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. ”

Orchestrate more research

Our Fundraising Manager, Sarah Standing, added: “We are proud to partner with the Bristol Symphony Orchestra for this heartfelt performance – raising funds to help our researchers make more discoveries and make it beat more hearts.

“Music, like our heartbeat, has a vital pulse. It has the ability to resonate throughout our body which can have a calming influence and help lower blood pressure.

In Bristol alone, around 44,000 people live with the daily burden of heart and circulatory disease, 760 of whom die each year. This is why we are currently injecting £ 21million to fund vital research in 75 projects at the University of Bristol.

The Bristol Symphony Orchestra also supports Above and Beyond – the official charity of the IHB. Above & Beyond recently finalized the BHI appeal, which raised £ 830,000 for the hospital.