MUSIC-LOVING DOCTORS PLAN CHARITY CONCERT; PRIZE-WINNING GUEST ARTISTS TO JOIN PHYSICIANS IN HOLIDAY EVENT TO BENEFIT FREE CLINIC.

Byline: Patricia Hesselbach Special to the Daily News

The best gifts are the ones that keep giving long after the ribbon is untied and the box cast aside.

The Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra will present a holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday to benefit the Free Clinic of Simi Valley. The performance will take place at the Moorpark College Performing Arts Center.

Proceeds from the concert will help the clinic provide ongoing quality medical services and counseling for community residents with limited access to health care. The clinic also provides legal assistance.

``It's a good community effort for a good cause,'' said Dr. Alvin Miller, a Thousand Oaks pediatrician who plays in the orchestra. `` I don't know where else people can go if they can't afford health care.''

Miller, who has played in the string section for 44 years, coordinated the benefit concert.

Performing along with the symphony will be the quartet, Kaleidoscope, that won the 1996 California Harmony Sweepstakes sponsored by the Sweet Adelines organization. The singers - Theresa Carey, Linda Ragsdale, Bron Latta and Peggy Hels - are known for their funny, on-stage antics as well as their four-part harmony.

``It's exciting to be on the bill with a symphony orchestra,'' said Peggy Hels, bass singer in the quartet. ``We like to do benefit performances. It's nice to be able to perform - and perform a community service.''

Sharing the stage, more than 70 musicians, singers and conductors hope not only to give an audience-pleasing concert, but also to focus attention on the clinic.

``Our main goals are to increase funding to support the program and to recruit more professionals to administer it,'' said Simi Valley Free Clinic board member Nicolette Munoz.

Much of the demand on clinic resources comes from part-time workers who receive no medical benefits from employers. Munoz said she believes corporations that employ part-time workers without health insurance should voluntarily help support the clinic.

The Simi Valley Free Clinic already gets some sponsorship from Amgen, Kaiser Permanente, United Way, Simi Valley Hospital & Health Care Services, Guardian Products, local Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs and the Wood Claeyssons Foundation.

Board members say more funding is essential, however, to maintain quality care.

``The staff is totally volunteer, and the clinic is totally dependent upon community support,'' said Miller. ``In addition to paying for a concert, the $25 admission pays for equipment and other necessities for the facility,'' he added.

Dr. Ivan Shulman conducts the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra. An oboist who has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Shulman also has been a guest conductor for the Topanga Philharmonic and the Beach Cities and West Coast Symphony orchestras. Dr. Alvin Mills, founder and music director of the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Orchestra, will share podium as guest conductor.

The Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1953 to provide fellowship in both medicine and music for its members, contribute culturally to the community and help raise funds for charities through its concerts.

Previous concerts have benefited the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the Coalition for the Homeless, AIDS support groups and the Sickle Cell Association.

Guest artists who have performed with the orchestra include Leonard Pennario, Jan Peerce, Jerry Lewis, Dinah Shore and Jeffrey Kahane. Some of the younger orchestra soloists in earlier decades became famous performers.

Three young pianists - Qing Wang and Dennis Leung, both 12, and Reena Esmail, 14 - will be soloists at the Free Clinic concert. They were winners in the Music Teachers Association of California West Los Angeles competition for young artists.

``It's kind of nice to see a 12-year-old, still wearing braces, pounding away at the piano like she's a concert artist,'' said Miller.

The concert will include a popular Leroy Anderson song, ``Sleigh Ride''; the melodic Carmen Suite by Georges Bizet and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Works by Mills, Mozart and Adler are also scheduled to be performed.

Tickets will be available at the door just before the concert. Post-performance coffee and dessert will be served in the Moorpark College Performing Arts Center foyer.

The facts

WHAT:Free Clinic of Simi Valley Holiday Concert

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

WHERE: Moorpark College Performing Arts Center, 7075 Campus Road.

COST: $25.

INFORMATION:Richard Holloman, [phone]; Dr. Alvin Miller, [phone]; Sheri Wechsler, [phone].

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO The Kaleidoscope quartet will sing with the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra Saturday in Moorpark.