Violinist carries on playing during conscious brain surgery

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

This is the extraordinary journey of a violinist in the Minnesota Orchestra, who played his instrument during conscious brain surgery to heal a tremor disorder.

Roger Frisch has been playing violin with the Minnesota Orchestra for over 40 years and is currently their associate concertmaster.

But in 2009, he was diagnosed with a tremor disorder that halted his career.

The disorder, called an ‘essential tremor’, caused Frisch to lose control of muscle movements in his hands. As a string player, this meant he was unable to bow without shaking.

In March 2010, Frisch made the decision to undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS), a process involving the implantation of an electrode in the brain to normalise the signals the brain sends to movement centres.

Read more: Opera singer performs Schubert while undergoing brain surgery >

Roger Frisch carries on playing violin during brain surgery. Picture: Mayo Clinic

During the procedure, surgeons at the Mayo Clinic used DBS to stimulate parts of Frisch’s brain while he played his violin (side-note: doctors often prefer to keep patients awake during brain surgery, to check they’re not disrupting normal brain functions).

Surgeons designed a special bow with a three-axis accelerometer (an electromagnetic tracking device), so that they could monitor the tremor on a screen as they worked to eliminate it.

Read more: These musicians keep on making music… in the middle of major surgery >

After the surgery, Frisch made the news by returning to the stage within three weeks of his DBS treatment.

Frisch was playing professionally again three weeks after surgery. Picture: Mayo Clinic

Now back performing with the Minnesota Orchestra, Roger can turn his electrodes on and off at the touch of a button. Skip to 03:26 in the video above to see the difference.

Frisch now says his tremor is ‘non-existent’.

This isn’t the first time a musician has performed during brain surgery. Naomi Elishuv, a violinist in the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, played Mozart throughout surgery for an essential tremor.

Plus, Slovenian tenor Ambrož Bajec-Lapajne sang Schubert while undergoing surgery for a brain tumour at the University Medical Center in Utrecht.

The brain of a musician is a wonderful thing...