"Within the human condition we experience both mania and depression," said Justin Rudelson, the organizing director of the show and senior lecturer in the Asian and Middle Eastern languages and literature department. "Summer represents mania, fall represents the falling of emotions, winter represents depression, spring represents coming out of that depression into a time of hope. We've chosen music and poetry that represents all these four seasons."
The performances were grouped in accordance with the seasons. An interpretation of a Chopin piano composition by Jiayi Hao '08, played under the fall category, drew a particularly enthusiastic round of applause from the audience, and a performance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge" by Peter Schwab '11 and Daniel Steffensen '11 was also a crowd-pleaser.
"We have been fortunate to have some of the top musicians at Dartmouth College performing tonight," Rudelson said.
The diverse choices of music surprised the organizers, Rudelson said.
"All the composers chosen suffered from mental illness sometime in their life," he said. "The list goes from Mozart and Schubert to Clapton and Hendrix. Every performance is preceded by a short bio of the composer or the poet so that the audience gets a small understanding of what the person has suffered."
Taylor Dryman '09, president of Active Minds, said the event aimed to showcase the achievements and talents of composers and poets who struggled with mental illness throughout their lives.
"Decreasing stigma is one of our primary goals, and this particular program has the potential to reach out to a wide number of students," she said. "Music is something that really appeals to every person and is a way to interact with the individual in a unique way."
Music is a common factor that could potentially link the artist to the listener, helping people to connect to others who are different, Dryman added.
Active Minds is a relatively young organization and is still working to establish itself as a presence on campus, she said. This event was Active Minds' biggest project focused specifically on undergraduates, she added.
Rudelson's inspiration for the concert came from a Writing 5 course he taught, titled "Manic Depression in the Creative Process." In 2006, the 18 students in the class decided to form an ensemble to perform works by poets and composers who had suffered from mental illness.
"When people listen to music, they don't really care about what produced the music. Here we have the idea that the mental illness could be driving the music, the production of the music," Rudelson said.
This year Rudelson collaborated with Active Minds to expand the program.
"I realized how important it was to work with Active Minds. Active Minds is an extremely powerful force on campus as well as throughout the country," Rudelson said. "My hope is that the concert becomes a model for the Active Mind chapters around the country so that all schools can put on these types of concerts."
