MUSIC

Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Krista River and pianist Stephen Porter perform works by Grieg, Debussy, Rorem and more

Mezzo-soprano Krista River has appeared as a soloist with the Boston Symphony, the Santa Fe Symphony, Handel & Haydn Society, the Florida Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, Emmanuel Music, the North Carolina Symphony and the Pittsburgh Bach and Baroque Ensemble. Winner of the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and a 2007 Sullivan Foundation grant recipient, her opera roles include Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Annio in La clemenza di Tito, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Anna in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins, and Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring. For Ms. River’s New York Recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the New York Times praised her "shimmering voice…with the virtuosity of a violinist and the expressivity of an actress.” 2010-11 performances include appearances with the Charlotte Symphony, Boston Musica Viva, Serenata of Santa Fe, Back Bay Chorale, and the New York premiere of Tom Cipullo’s Insomnia with the Mirror Visions Ensemble at Weill Hall. Ms. River began her musical career as a cellist, earning her music degree at St. Olaf College. She resides in Boston and is a regular soloist with Emmanuel Music’s renowned Bach Cantata Series.

Stephen Porter has performed extensively in the U.S., Italy and Turkey, and recently was the featured guest soloist with the Amadeus Orchestra of London at LSO St. Luke’s, chosen from a field of 32 pianists. His live performances this season have been critically acclaimed as “an amazing sound” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) and “the most exciting and appropriate Beethoven Appassionata” (Slate magazine). Solo recital venues where he has appeared include Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, the Rockefeller Foundation Study Center at Lake Como, Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, Amherst College’s Buckley Recital Hall, the Frederick Historic Piano Collection, and Albert Long Hall in Istanbul. Steinway & Sons selected him to give five solo recitals as part of the Legendary Instruments of the Immortals Tour, as well as to present the Art Case Collection and give lecture-recitals on the Horowitz piano. In December Steinway chose him to give a Boston recital on the unique Walden Woods Concert Grand. His many chamber music activities include appearances with members of the St. Louis Symphony, and with concertmaster David Halen at the invitation of the Missouri Fine Arts Academy. This spring he has appeared as guest soloist with members of the South Florida Symphony in Fort Lauderdale, and with conductor David Hodgkins and the New England Classical Singers. Mr. Porter graduated magna cum laude from Oberlin College, and from the New England Conservatory of Music with Distinction. His teachers were Peter Takacs, Jacob Maxin and Paul Doguereau, the protégé of Ravel. He has judged piano competitions and given masterclasses at several schools, including Washington University and Boston University, and this year was invited to judge the MTNA National Piano Competition and the final rounds of the New England Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition and the Longy School of Music Concerto Competition. Stephen Porter has been on the piano faculties of Webster University and Phillips Andover Academy, and the chamber music faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He is a past winner of the prestigious Artist Presentation Society auditions.


All proceeds go to benefit the Winchester Unitarian Society's youth/adult service work in Appalachia