Award-Winning Conductor Creates Orchestra to Erase Stigma Toward Mental Illness

 

Ronald Braunstein is the music director of Me2/, which is the world’s only non-profit classical music organization created for individuals with mental illnesses and those who support them.

Braunstein was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1985. He launched Me2/ because of his passion for music and desire to support others who struggle to maintain good mental health. 

Previously, he studied at The Juilliard School, Salzburg Mozarteum, Fontainbleau, and the Tanglewood Music Center. “I was able to learn and memorize complete symphonies overnight,” he told CBS News. “Music brings to my life everything.”

Straight after graduating from Juilliard, he won the Gold Medal in the Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition and was mentored by Karajan the following four years. He also later became Juilliard’s music director.

He has conducted the San Francisco Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Swiss Radio Orchestra, Israel Sinfonietta, Auckland Philharmonia, Kyoto Symphony, Osaka Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, and the Oslo Philharmonic. 

However, due to his bipolar disorder, he lost job opportunities. “I knew that I would never get a conducting job again,” he told Gabe Howard, an Inside Mental Health Podcast host. “It wasn’t like a decision. [I just felt] that I [had] run out of options. So I had to create a new option, which was to make my own orchestra made of people like me,” he continued.

After experiencing decades of stigma in his professional life because of his diagnosis, he decided in 2011 to create a safe, stigma-free zone for musicians living with mental health conditions. 

Working with his wife Caroline Whiddon, a classically trained French horn player living with depression and an anxiety disorder, they founded the Me2/Orchestra in Burlington, Vermont.

There are no auditions to join any of the Me2/ ensembles and there is no participation fee. It is open to those with or without mental health conditions and it does not require anyone to share diagnoses. All ages and ability levels are encouraged to take part. 

The New England-based orchestra has since expanded to include ensembles around the country that all aim to combat the stigma around mental illness. “We aren’t trying to be the greatest orchestra in the world,” Braunstein said. “We are just trying to create a community.”

“Playing music is so powerful when you are all joined by a common mission,” Josh Santana, a Me2/Orchestra member, told CBS News. 

 

 

In the beginning, the first few people who joined just came in to tell their stories, and gradually over a few weeks, a level of trust had developed. Slowly, the group grew and it became a safe place to be and play music together.

Before the onset of COVID-19 which made it difficult to hold live performances, the Me2/Orchestra put on three to four concerts annually at traditional concert venues as well as correctional and rehabilitation facilities to reach those living with mental health challenges, according to The Mighty.

The performances create opportunities for Me2/ to share with and educate the public about the realities of living with mental illnesses and to support those seeking treatment. 

When asked about the origin of the organization’s title, Braunstein explained that the name “superseded the women’s movement [#MeToo] by about 10 years.” Many people came to Me2/ thinking they were a #MeToo organization and Braunstein encountered many looking for the women’s movement. 

“We got into real conversations about mental illness with about a quarter of them,” Braunstein said. “And we’ve kept in touch with them, so, it’s best to keep your identity and then find intersections with people.”

For more information or if interested in joining Me2/, click here.

The podcast episode between Braunstein and Gabe Howard on the Inside Mental Health Podcast can be listened to below.