by Patrick Neas

KC Arts Beat, editor

Destiny Mermagen is a thoughtful performer. Not only is she extremely caring of her audience and the musicians she works with, but she is also just plain thoughtful. She thinks a lot about important matters. 

One of those matters is mental health and how music can make it better. She has started a new series called “Wellness Wednesday,” which aims to give audiences a musical mental health break at noon the third Wednesday of every month. The first free program will be held Sept.18 at Old Mission United Methodist Church.

“I thought a nice way to give back to the community would be to try this idea of a wellness series and have it be interactive with the audience,” Mermagen said. “I’m excited about the first concert. It’s about joy and sorrow. I’m going to do three Viennese dances by Fritz Kreisler, ‘Love’s Joy,’ ‘Love’s Sorrow’ and ‘Schön Rosmarin.”

Kreisler, one of the great violin virtuosos of the 20th century, composed  countless violin miniatures. These are three of his most popular. A vein of melancholy runs through these delightful works, even “Love’s Joy.”

"In between each piece, I’m going to talk to the audience, and they can talk to me, too,” Mermagen said. “I have this handout for the audience, and it’s theirs to keep. It’s the program, but on the back I have a quote about finding joy in sorrow, and how you need sorrow to experience joy. There’s a prompt after the quote, if the audience would like to write down their thoughts. It’s an interactive mental health experience. It’s far cheaper than therapy — in fact, it’s free!”

Mermagen says she got the idea for Wellness Wednesday by noting how audience members would react after her concerts.

"When I perform, the thing that means the most to me is when people come up to me and say, ‘Aargh! I was having a really bad day, and your music really made me smile, your music made me feel better, or something along those lines,” Mermagen said. “Those compliments mean a lot more to me than, ‘You got that note in tune!’ Who cares? I do care because I’m a perfectionist, but still.”

Mermagen says she found her perfectionism was a stumbling block to appreciating what really matters.

“And in music, what matters is to actually make people feel better and provide a great emotional outlet,” she said. “I volunteer at the V.A. and they had a volunteer appreciation event a couple of years ago, and all the volunteers were there. One of the things that the director said was that every time I come and play, requests for pain medication go down. That really opened my eyes to — I know it sounds cliché — the healing power of music.”

In addition to healing others, Mermagen has needed to heal herself. She grew up in traumatic circumstances, and it was only through music that she was able to find emotional solace.

“For the longest time, I was emotionally challenged. I didn’t really know what was OK to feel,” Mermagen said. "It finally started making sense to me when I would play a piece of music that was sad, and I felt sad, and when I played something happy and I felt happy. It was, like, oh, this makes sense. So music became my teacher, and I saw music as a way to express my emotions without words. Nowadays, there are so many words bandied about everything. It’s kind of nice to have a safe space where you can feel your feels, and it doesn’t matter because they're yours and no one can take them away from you.”

Mermagen will be accompanied by pianist Nicholas Dold, who runs Kansas City Young Chamber Musicians, a nonprofit that pairs students together to make chamber music. Darin Goodman, a high school junior, who plays classical guitar and piano, will also take part.

“Darin is really perceptive, which is perfect because these pieces are not just for the violin to show off,” Mermagen said. “It’s a lot to throw a student a piece of music where you have to predict what the violinist is going to do. You have to be really sensitive to catch what’s going on, and this kid is so good at it. He’s just a natural.”

Mermagen, who is also the evening classical host on Kansas Public Radio, hosts a YouTube channel, DestinysMusings, which also deals with mental and physical health issues and other topicsl. She says she was prompted to start the channel by a personal health crisis.

“I had gotten really sick just before COVID, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to play the violin anymore because I couldn’t play for more that five minutes without pain,” Mermagen said. “It was a rough time. So eventually when I figured out a lot of the chronic illness and health stuff, I obviously knew I still wanted to play the violin.”

At the time, violin superstar Hilary Hahn started a YouTube 100 days of practice challenge, and Mermagen decided to take part. 

“Lots of violinists were posting videos of themselves playing amazingly well, and I thought  for my first video, I’ll probably be able to play for 30 seconds, but then my arm will fall off. So I would just post ridiculous violin videos, but it was really cathartic because throughout that time, I was able to build my practicing back up. So I expanded the channel to talk about mental health issues, and chronic illness issues. I’m getting new subscribers every day. It’s fun. I’m so introverted in private, yet my whole life is on display on YouTube.”

Mermagen has varied interests and is engaged in multitudinous activities, but for this thoughtful, caring musician it all comes down to helping people have more meaningful, pain-free and joyous lives.

“I don’t know if it’s being a Gemini or being a violinist or being dramatic or what it is,” Mermagen said, “but some times I wonder what the purpose of life is. But I do feel that I have a purpose.”

Wellness Wednesday. 12 Noon. Wed. Nov. 20. Old Mission United Methodist Church, 5519 State Park Road. Free. prairieclassical.org/wellnesswednesday.