After an award-winning conductor was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he started his own orchestra to erase stigma of mental illness

There have been plenty of high and low notes in life for the musicians of the Me2/Orchestra, but as they perform together at Boston's storied Symphony Hall, there is simply harmony.

Ronald Braunstein was once a music director at The Juilliard School and conducted around the world. 

"I was able to learn and memorize complete symphonies overnight," he told CBS News. "Music brings to my life everything."

But then, the award-winning conductor was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which he says cost him work. 

"It was a constant up and down, up and down until I realized I just want my own orchestra, and I just want an orchestra with people like me," Braunstein said. 

Braunstein and his wife started the Me2/Orchestra for people with mental illness and those who support them. 

"Playing music is so powerful when you are all joined by a common mission," Josh Santana, a musician with Braunstein's orchestra, told CBS News. 

The New England-based orchestra has expanded to include ensembles around the country that all have the same focus of ending the stigma around mental illness. 

"We aren't trying to be the greatest orchestra in the world. We are just trying to create a community," Braunstein said.