This UR alum found a way to have the best of both worlds
Alumni
Nick Yeutter (whose last name rhymes with spider) admits that Richmond became his college of choice because he wouldn’t have to choose between pre-med and music, unlike with other schools he was considering. The 2015 UR graduate double-majored in chemistry and music composition.
“I had so much support for both those pursuits from the faculty and staff at the University of Richmond,” he remembered. Wade Downey, his chemistry research professor, played in a faculty band and encouraged him to pursue music in addition to chemistry.
Growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, Yeutter developed an appreciation for music from his mother, a former concert pianist. At 15, he discovered he had relative pitch, meaning he could hear a song on the radio and replicate it on the piano. One day, the teenager hit a wrong note while playing Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” and ended up composing an original three-movement piece.
At the same time, Yeutter developed an appreciation for medicine.
“Believe it or not, I was never a science kid growing up, but something in high school with some of my chemistry and bio classes just clicked,” he said.
After graduating from UR, Yeutter moved to Manhattan to pursue the graduate program in music theory and composition for screen scoring at New York University’s Steinhardt. He also applied to study medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and was accepted. UNMC held his spot for a year through deferred admission, which allowed him time to complete his NYU master’s degree.
Yeutter said Steinhardt grad students often collaborated on projects with students at the Tisch School of the Arts, which is how he ended up composing the music for a sitcom pilot called “Shady Pines.” Although the networks didn’t pick up the show, that experience taught him how to work with a director to bring a creative vision to life.
Once in Nebraska, Yeutter initially considered being an anesthesiologist, but patient interactions felt too limited. “They put their patients to sleep and wake them up, barely much time for interaction in between,” Yeutter said. So, he pivoted to internal medicine.
“Some exciting symptoms or cases roll in, but you also get to connect with people.”
Staying true to his desire to make music, Yeutter returned to New York, during UNMC spring break in 2019, to score the short film “Greta,” directed by his friend and UR Class of 2015 alum Sparkman Clark. A few months later, Yeutter said that several indie film festivals had picked up the comedic film about depression. He also scored Clark’s 2022 film, “Something Unseen.”
Outside of work, he plays clarinet for the Nebraska Medical Orchestra, a group comprised of healthcare professionals from Omaha hospitals. They perform at various venues around Omaha, including the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Gene Leahy Mall, the Holland Performing Arts Center, and the Buffett Cancer Center at UNMC.
“Music and medicine are my whole life,” Yeutter said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Yeutter, who transitioned from a fourth-year medical student to an internal medicine resident at UNMC, witnessed the immense strain on patients, families, attending physicians, and co-residents in his ER and ICU rotations. The experiences led him to dig up an old NYU assignment that resulted in a string composition about a turbulent time and reimagined it for the Nebraska Medical Orchestra. Yeutter was in the audience when the piece, “Distant Reality,” was performed. He dedicated the composition to healthcare workers around the world.
“That was perhaps the most rewarding blend between the medicine and the music,” he reflected.