Richard Kogan has a distinguished career both as a concert pianist and as a psychiatrist. A graduate of Juilliard and Harvard Medical School, he is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Artistic Director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program. He has been praised for his “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-recitals that explore the role of music in healing and the influence of psychological forces and psychiatric and medical illness on the creative output of composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Scott Joplin. He has given these programs at medical conferences, music festivals, concert series, universities and other venues throughout the world. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and recorded the DVD “Music and the Mind” for Yamaha. Yo-Yo Ma wrote of this DVD “I came away from this extraordinary lecture and performance deeply moved by a fascinating presentation that only Richard Kogan, psychiatrist and concert pianist, can deliver.”
Dr. Kogan’s presentations are extraordinary, one of a kind performances. He tells vivid stories about famous composers who suffered from mental problems - frequent among highly creative people - while illustrating the composer’s work through magnificent playing of their musical masterpieces. From composers such as Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Scott Joplin, Dr. Kogan humanizes medicine as he shares an insight and journey into some of the most creative minds. Dr. Kogan will open your eyes to the symphony that is humanity, music and medicine.