RenMentality: Renaissance Men's Third Commercial Album

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Through music, our vision is to enrich and unite our community, and deepen our collective connection to the human experience. Our performances evoke emotions, and elicit both thoughtful reflection and new conversation. 

Our newest album, RenMentality, features music from composers who suffered from mental health afflictions - ranging from Claudio Monteverdi to Kurt Cobain. The climax is a new composition by Jay Mobley, When I Look Back: Theme and Variations. RenMentality de-stigmatizes and illuminates the realities of mental health challenges, and offers comfort to those whom relate. The program has been performed in concert series, college workshops, and psychiatric centers across New England.

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THE MUSIC

• A concert in three acts, each introduced by a Kurt Cobain song from Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York album.

• Sacred and secular works from composers historically known to have suffered from mental health afflictions, such as Claudio Monteverdi, Robert Schumann, Pytor Tchaikovsky, Charles Ives, and Brian Wilson.

• The centerpiece: a co-commission with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Massachusetts, Jay Mobley’s When I Look Back: Theme and Variations. Mobley interviewed people with lived experience, who gave him permission to use unaltered testimony as poetry set to music of all different styles and genres, including collegiate ‘A Cappella,’ musical theatre, and contemporary bluegrass.

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PRODUCTION

With support from grantors and individual donors, we recorded RenMentality in the studio in April 2022 with Grammy-winner Producer/Engineer team Tyler Graham Chester (Grammy-nominated: Madison Cunningham, Sara Bareilles, Sara Watkins) and Alex Venguer (Grammy and Latin Grammy award winning, Sting, Aretha Franklin, John Legend). 

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The following grantors supported the recording of RenMentality:

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Alice M. Ditson Fund, Columbia University in the City of New York 

City of Boston Opportunity Fund

Choral Arts New England 

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SUPPORT

 

You can support the completion of RenMentality through a donation via GiveButter, or mail a check to:

Renaissance Men, Inc.

c/o Peter C. Schilling, Business Manager

15 Milk St. Westwood, MA, 02090

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Renaissance Men, Inc. is a non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.  All donations are tax deductible.  Renaissance Men, Inc.’s tax ID is 82-1719415.

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