Company orchestra buoys spirits

COLUMBUS (AP) — A water-cooler discussion more than a decade ago prompted Ron Reich, along with another violin-playing employee of Cardinal Health Inc., to host occasional performances in his living room.

Word of the gatherings spread, and many others wanted to play along.

Today, the Cardinal Health Orchestra — featuring strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion — boasts 65 members.

“I was just thrilled to see it take off,” said Reich, a program analyst for the Dublin supplier of medical products and equipment.

Through the years, he kept his expectations simple.

“My objective here is that everybody has fun and shows up. I’ll handle the rest.”

Since 1998, Reich has done just that: selecting music, planning concerts, accommodating new members and overseeing many other details.

The orchestra wasn’t officially connected to Cardinal Health by name until 2000, after the mother of Cardinal Health founder Robert Walter heard the musicians and told her son about the efforts of his employees.

(About half of the members work for Cardinal Health; the others learned about the ensemble secondhand.)

Two years later, the group played in the company lobby as a way of introducing itself to the 3,000 employees. The performance served as a recruiting tool of sorts, with the orchestra membership swelling afterward.

The lobby concerts have continued twice a year, coinciding with the spring and winter seasons.

Outside the office, the ensemble performs free (or for donations) at schools, community venues and assisted-living facilities.

The musicians spend two months rehearsing before each season — through a weekly full-group practice at night and a weekly practice with similar instruments at lunch.

Then, for a month after each rehearsal period, the orchestra performs as many as 10 times.

The pursuit reflects well on Cardinal Health, said Jessica Lineberger, manager of community relations, but the company-employed musicians benefit, too.

“It takes them out of the day-to-day routine [of work] and brings them a little bit of reality,” Lineberger said. “It’s not all about the computers, desks and books.”

As part of its spring repertoire, the orchestra has presented the U.S. premiere of a piano concerto by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich: “The Assault on Beautiful Gorky” from the suite “The Unforgettable Year 1919.”

When he sought the work after hearing it on Internet radio, Reich found Russian records from 1986 showing that no orchestra in the United States had bought or played the composition.

Gorky is one of four selections that the group is performing this season.

“It’s a really beautiful piece,” said cellist Robin Coolidge, an information-technology architect for Nationwide who joined the orchestra 10 years ago after a friend told her about it.

“You know, it has this virtuosic piano music. And it’s really great.

“I mean, how often do amateurs get to do that? Not that often.”

Residents of Worthington Christian Village have repeatedly requested visits from the ensemble since it first performed there in 2007, said Sally Pickard, program coordinator for the retirement home.

Most recently, the musicians played there on May 14 for a crowd of 75 people.

“They’re still talking about it, and they’re still thanking me,” Pickard said a week later. “We have a lot of entertainment come, and not all of it has the same effect.”

Sarah Wurdlow, a flutist and music teacher who retired a decade ago, relies on such outreach, she said.

“Music is so important to me; it’s like breathing,” said Wurdlow, a Columbus resident. “This is one way I can share that with the community.”