To best understand a composer’s music, it helps to know the mental state that produces the melody. No one, perhaps, knows this relationship better than Dr. Richard Kogan.
A Juilliard-trained pianist and Harvard-educated psychiatrist, Dr. Kogan will present “Creativity and Mental Illness – The Music of Robert Schumann,” a lecture with piano performance on Sunday, February 13 at 7;30 p.m. at Dingeldine Music Center, 1417 W. Barker on the Bradley campus. The event is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by Bradley University and the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts thanks to funding from the John Barrett-Bradley University Charitable Trust, the Intellectual and Cultural Affairs Committee of Bradley University and the Peoria Symphony Orchestra.
“While all great performers provide unique interpretations, Richard Kogan offers us a rare look into both the art and the mind of great composers. A consummate artist and a well-known psychiatrist, his recital and lecture on Robert Schumann will take listeners to a new level of connection with music and how the joys and struggles of the mind help create it,” said Peoria Symphony music director George Stelluto.
Following his initial symposium on musical creativity and mental illness for the American Psychiatric Association 10 years ago, Dr. Kogan now gives performance-lectures worldwide to diverse audiences, including the World Economic Forum in 2009. In addition to his public appearance, he will also meet with both psychology and music students at Bradley on Monday, February 14.
On Saturday, February 19, the Peoria Symphony Orchestra will present two of Schumann’s works. On the first half of the program is his Cello Concerto in A Minor, performed by guest soloist Joseph Johnson, the principal cellist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The second half of the concert will feature the last symphony Schumann composed, his Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major. The concert takes place at 8:00 p.m. in the Peoria Civic Center Theater; tickets can be purchased by calling 671-1096. Tickets start at $22, and student tickets are available for $11.