Above: Pianist James Rhodes performs Rachmaninoff's haunting Prelude in C-sharp minor at London's Barbican Centre. James Rhodes is no stranger to mental illness. The English concert pianist has spoken openly about his past hospitalization for mental health issues. Now Rhodes, 38, has returned to a psychiatric hospital, this time to help patients heal, according to The Telegraph. In James Rhodes: Notes from the Inside, a documentary to be aired on British television later this month, Rhodes returns to a psychiatric hospital with his Steinway grand piano to play for patients there, to trade stories with them and to see how music might be able to aid in their recovery. Rhodes says he knows that music alone can't heal serious mental illness. But psychiatrist Dr. Peter Byrne told The Telegraph that music and exercise can definitely help people with psychiatric problems. According to Byrne, "They are not the icing on the cake. They are the cake." Read more:
- James Rhodes: Out of the Concert Hall and Back into the Asylum (Telegraph)
- James Rhodes: 'I Hate the term "Classical Music"' (Guardian)
- Notes from the Inside with James Rhodes (channel4.com)
