Anthony Letai

Tony Letai has been playing the violin since he was six, back when gas was 40 cents a gallon. He played violin in all sorts of orchestras everywhere he went since then including the Mercer County Symphony Orchestra, the Princeton University Orchestra (with cellist Judy Tsui!), and the University of Chicago Symphony. He was a founding member of the now-defunct Cicada Quartet, so named because it performed publicly only about once every 17 years. The rigors of medical training and supporting a young family dictated that he take a little time off (about 20 years) from playing the violin. In 2010, he decided enough was enough, and leaving the kids to fend for themselves, he re-engaged with his violin. He considers himself tremendously fortunate to be assisted in his musical rehabilitation by his excellent teacher, Julianne Lee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, whose guidance has helped restore to him the great pleasure to be found in playing.

Tony is an oncologist and runs a cancer research laboratory at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (http://research.dfci.harvard.edu/letai/) where he tries to figure out how to kill cancer cells better. At home in Medfield, he lives with his patient wife, Jean, and plays electric bass, when they let him, in a rock band with his three wonderful children, Kate, Andy, and Julie.