Dr. Richard Kogan: The Mind and Music of George Gershwin

Psychiatrist and concert pianist Dr. Richard Kogan will give a presentation that explores the impact of psychological forces and psychiatric and medical illness on the creative output of the great American composer George Gershwin (1898-1937). The program will include excerpts from Gershwin’s masterpieces Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy and Bess.

Bio: Richard Kogan has a distinguished career both as a concert pianist and as a psychiatrist. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and Artistic Director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program, he has been praised for his "eloquent, compelling, and exquisite playing" by The New York Times, and The Boston Globe wrote that "Kogan has somehow managed to excel at the world's two most demanding professions." Dr. Kogan has gained renown for his lecture/concerts that explore the role of music in healing and the influence of psychological factors and psychiatric and medical illness on the creative output of composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Gershwin, Bernstein, and Joplin. A master storyteller, he has given these programs at concert series, music festivals, medical conferences, and scholarly symposia throughout the world. Kogan is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music Pre-college, Harvard College, and Harvard Medical School. Check out Kogan's TEDMED Talk, "Can Music Heal What Medicine Can't?"