CSO records a new score for a video game designed to foster blood donation

Giving blood saves lives, but the process often seems daunting for potential donors, especially those who feel anxious in medical settings. Abbott Laboratories, a medical technology and pharmaceutical company based in Chicago’s northern suburbs, aims to make the experience more comfortable through an initiative that combines interactive video games with original music. As part of this project, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has recorded a new score by composer Joe Clark to accompany “Intergalactica," a mixed-reality video game specifically designed to aid with blood donation.

Working with Blood Centers of America, Abbott developed the project in response to the need for more effective blood-donor recruitment strategies. Donating blood typically requires a time commitment of one to three hours (depending on the type of donation) and involves completing a thorough questionnaire, having vitals checked by a medical professional and spending 15 minutes or more with a needle in an arm, followed by a brief recovery period in which water and snacks are provided.

There’s an urgent demand for donors. Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. Even so, fewer than 3 percent of eligible adults donate each year, and donor participation among people under 30 has declined steadily over the past decade. These two issues have become critical, especially on World Blood Donor Day, which is June 14.

“The truth of the matter is there’s a lot of people who don’t donate blood because they don’t understand the experience, or they’re scared of needles, or they’re scared that they might just not [tolerate] it,” said Miguel Carrazza, global product manager for the mixed reality for blood-donation product in Abbott’s transfusion medicine division. “We want new, innovative and fun things to get more people to donate blood, and to love the experience of donating blood so that they keep coming back.”

The project team sought to achieve these goals by employing mixed-reality technology, which blends an individual’s real-world perceptions with 3D images and holograms. In 2023, the team launched “Zen Garden,” a product that allows users, equipped with lightweight headsets, to plant a holographic garden as they donate blood. A subsequent medical study with two U.S. blood centers showed that 68 percent of donors reported reduced anxiety, and 89 percent said that the improved experience made them more likely to donate again.  By 2025, “Zen Garden” was being used in 29 nations and was available in 15 languages.

Mark Almond, who studied medicine and became a doctor in the United Kingdom and is now the CSO’s principal horn, explained why it’s so important for blood centers to attract and retain donors. “Blood donations really do save lives. In fact, one donation can save multiple lives,” said Almond, who began his music studies at age 9 and continued during his medical education at Oxford and Cambridge. “Blood is used in so many different scenarios in the hospital setting, from major trauma to chronic blood conditions like hemophilia, sickle cell disease, with cancers, and even elective operations.

“I think this is a really great initiative, to be honest, because the storage life of blood is relatively short. We constantly need to replenish those supplies, so anything that can be done to encourage people to donate blood is truly welcome.”

The success of “Zen Garden” prompted the development of “Intergalactica,” an interactive video game set in outer space. When Clark — a Chicago-based composer and a lecturer/ensemble director at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music — agreed to compose the score, Carrazza encouraged him to dream big. Clark has written for the Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, including its Once Upon a Symphony, Orchestra Explorers and CSO for Kids programs.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Clark told the Abbott team that his “pie-in-the-sky, best possible scenario” would be for the full Chicago Symphony Orchestra to record his score. Clark grew up attending concerts in Orchestra Hall and later studied with CSO second trumpet John Hagstrom, so the CSO “has meant a lot to me.”

Happily, Clark’s wish came true; in May, the CSO recorded the “Intergalactica” score onstage in Orchestra Hall, conducted by Conner Gray Covington.

Carrazza explained the reasoning behind Abbott’s partnership with the CSO: “Music has a really important effect on how we feel and how we process emotions, so to give blood donors the best experience, [we felt like] we should work with the absolute best musicians in the world to create the best soundtrack possible.”

During a break in the recording session, Covington shared his thoughts on Clark’s score, which reflects the composer’s jazz background and also evokes classic soundtracks from the “Indiana Jones” and “James Bond” film franchises. “It’s really some fantastic music that he wrote for this project,” said Covington. “My job as a conductor is trying to realize the vision of the composer, and the fact that we have the composer here is a huge luxury.”

Clark’s own preparation for the project included donating blood for the first time, so he’d be more familiar with the intended setting for his music. “It’s a very humbling thing; you’re very aware of your body and your health and the passing of time,” he said of the experience. While writing the music for “Intergalactica,” he tried “to come up with something that engaged with the passing of time in an interesting kind of way, either as a meditative endeavor or as something that piqued one’s interest and curiosity, in terms of working the mind during that period.”

Reflecting on the project, Clark chose a space metaphor to convey the significance of donating blood. “There’s a paradox in space exploration that only a few can do it and that it takes some bravery,” he said. “All the astronauts have the same ‘pale blue dot’ effect when they see the planet, and they see humanity, and they see that they’re part of something bigger and larger. And I keep thinking of that with blood donation — it takes a little bit of courage, and I’m hoping that this will help make people realize the heroism that they’re undertaking, more than anything else.”