Riverside Symphony to Feature Works from Four Centuries at Lincoln Center, 2/4

Music Director George Rothman will lead Riverside Symphony in a program bridging the Renaissance to the present day on Saturday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. The program will open with a rare performance of Vivaldi's Concerto in D for Lute featuring the young Mexican virtuoso Dieter Hennings in his New York concerto debut. Hennings has won such prestigious competitions as the Aaron Brock International Guitar Competition, Eastman Guitar Concerto Competition, and the Villa de Petrer, Alicante International Competition.

In a tribute to Benjamin Britten, the program will also showcase Riverside Symphony principal violist Sarah Adams in a performance of Lachrymae, preceded by a rendering for soprano and lute of John Dowland's English Renaissance song, Flow My Tears, upon which Britten's work is based.

The New York premiere of the acclaimed Mexican composer Zohn-Muldoon's striking tour de force, Pluck.Pound.Peel., inspired by Mexican poet Raúl Aceves' evocative aphorisms, sports an exotic array of plucked instruments, harpsichord, strings and percussion with voice. Bach's iconic Brandenburg will close the program.

The performance of Pluck.Pound.Peel. is made possible by generous grants from The Howard Hanson Fund of the Eastman School of Music and the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York. This concert is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Sarah Adams, violist, performs with the New York Chamber Ensemble, the Claring Chamber Players, the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, the Friends of Mozart, and the Saratoga Chamber Players. She is principal violist of the Riverside Symphony and the Brooklyn Philharmonic and violist of the Cassatt Quartet. Ms. Adams is a member of the American Ballet Theatre and performs with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, the New York City Opera Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. She has appeared as soloist with the Jupiter and Riverside symphonies in Alice Tully Hall as well as in recital with the New York Viola Society. Ms. Adams' festival appearances include the Bard Music Festival, the Hartwick College Music Festival, the Cape May Music Festival, the Windham Music Festival, the Sherman Chamber Music Festival and the Catskill Mountain Foundation concerts. Ms. Adams has been teaching viola and chamber music at Columbia University since 1993.

Dieter Hennings's musical activities encompass new music for guitar, early music for lute and baroque guitar and theorbo. He has worked with composers Mario Davidovsky, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Juan Trigos and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and has premiered works by Jake Bancks, Wes Matthews, John Aylward, Beth Wiemann, Hebert Vazquez, Luca Cori, Juan Trigos and Scott Worthington. Recent engagements include concerts with pop-singer Natalie Merchant and baroque vioinist Monica Huggett as well as appearances at the Mexican Embassy in Rome; Festival SpazioMusica of Cagliari; Conservatorio de las Rosas in Morelia, Mexico; and the University of Chicago. Mr. Hennings is a resident artist at the East Coast Composers Ensemble and the Eastman Broad Band Ensemble. Current recording projects include an album of works by Silvius Leopold Weiss for baroque lute and the guitar works of composers Juan Trigos and Luca Cori. Hennings received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona School of Music in Guitar Performance and a Master's degree in Early Plucked Instruments from Eastman School of Music. He has recently completed the residency for his doctoral degree in both Guitar Performance and Early Plucked Instruments at Eastman and is a member of the Music Faculty at the University of Kentucky.

George Rothman, Riverside Symphony's music director and conductor since its incep­tion, has led orchestras throughout the United States, in South America, Asia and Europe. He has been active as pianist and lecturer in a wide variety of musical settings, including appearances with leading American composers in workshops and seminars. Mr. Rothman served as Music Director of the Grand Junction (Colorado) Symphony in 1986-87, Director of Music Performance at Columbia University and conductor of its orchestra from 1988-2000 and Music Director of the Yale Symphony Orchestra from 2004-2005. He is currently Music Director and Conductor of Brooklyn College's Conservatory Orchestra and Associate Professor of Music.
A native New Yorker, Mr. Rothman received his undergraduate training at the Manhattan School of Music and his Masters degree from Queens College, where he also served as Associate Lecturer and Conductor. In 1979, Mr. Rothman was awarded a scholarship to study conducting at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa.

Riverside Symphony, now in its 31st season, was co-founded in 1981 by George Rothman and Anthony Korf. Its founding focus on discovery- discovery of young artists, unfamiliar works by the great masters and important new pieces by living composers from around the world-informs all of its programming choices. Critically acclaimed for its vibrant performances of music from all periods, the orchestra counts this city's finest instrumentalists among its membership. Riverside Symphony's CDs include a recent release by Bridge Records of music by artistic director Anthony Korf. Forthcoming is a release devoted to major works by the French master Marius Constant. The orchestra's six previous CDs have brought international acclaim, including a 2000 Grammy nomination and Editor's Pick from Britain's Gramophone and The New York Times.