 Alumni
Interviews:
Scott Dunn, M.D.
A Two Track Virtuoso
" I’m never completely happy with one
thing or another...I have to have both sides of my head going at
once to feel fulfilled."
A knack for seeing patterns, an ability to temper intellect with
intuition, and a good deal of manual dexterity have served Scott
Dunn, MD, well throughout his career. Throughout both his careers,
in fact.
Dunn balances passions for music and medicine as a part-time
ophthalmologist in Los Angeles and an acclaimed pianist and conductor
in New York and around the world. Today he makes indulging two
loves sound easy, but it hasn’t always been so.
" I went to the UI in 1972 on a full-ride music scholarship,
taking pre-med courses on the side," the Eagle Grove, Iowa,
native recalled. "Then I went to New York, studied at Julliard
and got onto the competition circuit before I became completely
frustrated. I shelved the idea of a music career."
Looking back, Dunn attributes his early disillusionment to the
doubts of a small-town Iowa boy, however talented, among sophisticated
and connected East Coast kids. Medicine and maturity ultimately
would set the stage for his second chance at music nearly 20 years
later.
Dunn completed pre-med study at the University of Southern California
and returned to the UI for medical school, graduating in 1981,
then did his residency and a research fellowship back at USC and
entered private practice. He continued to play and study music
throughout his medical training, though he’d largely lost
interest in public performance.
That changed once he presented a charity concert to raise funds
for a surgical mission to Guatemala. An L.A. Times critic gave
Dunn’s performance a rave, emboldening the pianist to enter—and
win—a couple of competitions. The successes rekindled his
interest in professional music, and in 1994 he took a hiatus from
medicine.
" I was playing at a high level, but when I left L.A., I
didn’t really know how bad my odds were," he said, describing
his return to New York to study orchestration and composition and
make himself known. Fortunately, his luck was good—incredibly
good. He debuted at Carnegie Hall in 1999 and performed there again
in 2001. He’s also made numerous commercial recordings and
been associate music director for the Music Festival of the Hamptons
and assistant conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
His music career established, Dunn felt drawn back to medicine. "I
have a big concert every month, sometimes two a month, but there’s
a lot of downtime in between," he said, so last fall he returned
to practice. His schedule whips him back and forth across the country,
with frequent stops in Iowa City on family business, but he wouldn’t
have it any other way, at least for now.
" I’m never completely happy with one thing or another," Dunn
said. "I have to have both sides of my head going at once
to feel fulfilled."
For more about Dunn’s music career, visit his Web site
at www.scott-dunn.com
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