Brothers follow similar paths in music and medicine
Daniel Zhang co-founded the Penn Medicine Symphony Orchestra in 2016 and served as its founding conductor. When moved into residency training, his brother David stepped up; he is the orchestra’s current music director and conductor.
2 min. read
The Penn Medicine Symphony Orchestra has brought together physicians, nurses, students, and administrators across the health care spectrum in Philadelphia since its founding in 2016. Two brothers, Daniel “Dan” Zhang, and MD-Ph.D. student David Zhang, have played key roles in its success. Dan served as founding conductor and music director. Then, as Dan moved into residency training, David stepped up to conduct; he is the orchestra’s current music director and conductor.
David (left) and Dan Zhang at Dan’s Match Day celebration in 2023.
(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News)
When Dan arrived at the Perelman School of Medicine in 2015, he settled in quickly but soon realized his new life lacked something. “Music has always been a part of my life, and I missed it when I came to Penn,” he says. “My co-founder, cellist Gina Chang, and I sensed an interest in assembling an orchestra in our health care community and immediately knew we should pursue this special opportunity.”
Since 2016, the orchestra—which has presented two concerts per year, except for a hiatus early in the pandemic—has expanded dramatically, rising from approximately 30 players initially to more than 120 now. What’s more, those players include trainees, staff, and attending physicians and come from all of Penn’s health sciences schools, as well as those of Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University, and Temple University.
Despite the rigors of pursuing both MD and Ph.D. degrees through Penn’s Medical Scientist Training program, Dan threw himself into leading the orchestra from its inception, when he was a first-year medical student, until he was almost finished with medical school. “Every orchestra rehearsal is the equivalent of a performance for the conductor, as it is the culmination of exhaustive preparation,” he says. “My preparation for rehearsals directly affected the quality of our concerts. I felt responsible to make the absolute most out of our time together.”
The demands of clinical training eventually overwhelmed Dan’s ability to carve out regular time for musicmaking. Fortunately, David, his younger brother by five years, and also a violinist and conductor, arrived at Penn in 2020. In 2021, when the orchestra resumed rehearsals and Dan’s clinical rotations resumed after a pandemic-imposed hiatus, David was available to help lead the orchestra. The brothers shared conducting duties for two years. David has been the sole conductor and music director since Dan graduated from medical school in 2023.
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