ME2/orchestra, a Vermont-based classical-music ensemble for individuals with mental-health issues and the people who support them, will perform its first concert on December 14 at North End Studios in Burlington, Vermont. Ronald Braunstein is music director and conductor of the orchestra, which launched in September and currently has 30 members, ranging from students and schoolteachers to professional musicians and medical workers. At the December 14 concert, which is free, Floyd Nease, executive director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health and Addiction Recovery, will speak about his organization and provide information for audience members who wish to become mental-health advocates. Braunstein, who won the gold medal in the Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition in 1979 and has conducted orchestras worldwide, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1985. He launched the orchestra to support others who struggle to maintain good mental health. For more information about ME2/orchestra, visit http://www.ME2orchestra.org.
Posted December 13, 2011
