Doctor and patient perform impromptu concert at Glendale Memorial
It was going to be just another routine surgery for Dr. William Sloan to perform, but instead of reaching for an operating instrument, the first thing he grabbed was a violin bow.
Last month, Sloan performed an impromptu concert in a preoperating room at Dignity Health Glendale Memorial, where he played the violin while his patient, musician Sergio Vigilato, strummed a nylon-stringed guitar.
“We had the surgeons and nurses all around, so we played a little tune for them,” Sloan, a urologist, said. “It was exactly what we hoped for, everyone was appreciative. When you work in surgery, you never get a treat like that.”
Sloan has played the violin since childhood, while Vigilato, an Italian from Brazil, has played professionally for 60 years.
Vigilato said he enjoyed the short performance, but, like most pros, couldn’t help having some self-critique afterward.
“I just wished I was in better shape, and I wished that we had rehearsed different songs, but that’s my professional perception as a musician,” he said. “But I did go into the operating room feeling very comfortable.”
Much like any surgeon-patient relationship, Vigilato first met with Sloan at the doctor’s office. During the visit, they found out they were both musicians.
That’s when they decided to jam together before the operation. Once they had their instruments at the hospital, and once Vigilato got a sense of Sloan’s playing style, he decided the song to play would be the classic country-western tune, “Tennessee Waltz.”
Sloan said he wasn’t nervous heading into a gig with an experienced player, but rather a little cautious.
“You try not to get in their way when you’re with a pro,” he said. “You do your little art and don’t interfere with their nice performance.”
However, the doctor said at times Vigilato would point to him to take the lead.
His self-criticism aside, Vigilato said the experience was soothing, and he viewed Sloan differently at that moment.
“He was no longer a doctor in my eyes. He was a friend,” he said.
Vigilato said he would relish the opportunity to play with Sloan again someday, but outside of a “surgery situation.”
He would even like to volunteer at Glendale Memorial and perform songs on his guitar for patients.
The idea of jamming again was mutual on Sloan’s end as well, and he said Vigilato was more than just a patient he operated on — there’s a lot of getting to know each other leading up to an operation.
“Very often, when you have people come into your office, you become a personal friend and a confidant,” he said.
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Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com
Twitter: @ArinMikailian
