The Mind and Music of George Gershwin

Psychiatrist and concert pianist Dr. Richard Kogan is renowned for his lectures/concerts that explore the influence of psychological factors and psychiatric and medical illness, on the creative output of the great composers. A master storyteller, he has captivated audiences with these programs at music festivals, concert series, medical conferences, and scholarly symposia throughout the world. Dr. Kogan is clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, and artistic director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program. The New York Times has praised him for his “eloquent, compelling, and exquisite playing” as a pianist. About his distinguished career as both a concert pianist and a psychiatrist, The Boston Globe wrote, “Kogan has somehow managed to excel at the world’s two most demanding professions.”

Dr. Kogan is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College, Harvard College, and Harvard Medical School. He has won numerous honors and awards in both music and psychiatry.

A winner of international competitions, Tong Yan has claimed first prize at the International Music Competition of Union Francaise des Artistes Musiciens in Paris, International Violin Competition in Kazakhstan, International Chinese Violin Competition in New York, and string winner at the Gisborne International Orchestral Instruments Competition in New Zealand. She has also placed in the top three at the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition in Italy and the Brahms International Violin Competition in Austria. Yan has had many recitals and solo performances with orchestras in Austria, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, China, Canada, and the United States.

Yan is currently an active chamber musician and has participated in festivals such as the Summer Strings Academy in Australia, Canada’s Morningside Music Bridge, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Bar Harbor Music Festival in Maine, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Spoleto Music Festival in South Carolina, Britt Music Festival in Oregon, and the Meadowmount Summer School in New York.

Yan joined the Houston Symphony in 2012 while pursuing her Graduate Diploma at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Donald Weilerstein. She also holds a Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory, and a split bachelor’s degree from the Vienna University of Fine Arts, Joseph Haydn Conservatory, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Her teachers include Elisabeth Kropfitsch, Klaus Maetzl, and Marilyn McDonald.