Music and Medicine with Concetta Tomaino

This is a program presented by Close Encounters with Music at The Mount.

Close collaborator of Dr. Oliver Sacks, author of the breakthrough book Awakenings (made into a movie starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams), Concetta Tomaino has done groundbreaking research on the uses of music in the neurological rehabilitation of patients living with the effects of autism, dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as stroke and trauma. She is executive director of the Institute for Music and Neurological Function and a faculty member at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her work has been featured in A Matter of Dignity by Andrew Potok, The Mozart Effect by Don Campbell, Sounds of Healing by Mitchell Gaynor and Age Protectors (Rodale Press) and covered on the BBC and CBS News. She is the recipient of numerous awards, most notably the Award of Accomplishment from Music Therapists for Peace at the UN; the Touchstone Award from Women in Music, and the Zella Bronfman Butler Award for “outstanding work on behalf of individuals with physical, developmental or learning disabilities.”

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC stands at the intersection of music, art, and the vast richness of Western culture. Entertaining, erudite, lively commentary puts the composers and their times in perspective to enrich and enlighten your concert experience.