Intrepid and eminent American cellist Rhonda Rider presents a program of unaccompanied works for violoncello.  Ms. Rider has commissioned all of these works to align with a theme of the Grand 
Canyon, and premieres them in Barness Hall at USF. 
 
Rhonda Rider earned her B.M. from the Oberlin Conservatory and her M.M. from the Yale School of 
Music. She has completed studies with Aldo Parisot, Richard Kapuscinski, Zara Nelsova, Robert Koff and Louis Krasner.

Rider is a founding member of the Lydian Quartet, which has won the Naumburg Award, Evian, Banff 
and Portsmouth prizes and several awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) awards. The Lydian Quartet has also received Meet the Composer and Copland 
Fund grants. Rider is a current member of the Triple Helix Piano Trio, which earned recognition as Artists of the Year from The Boston Globe. Annually, Rider gives an average of 60 concerts in 
venues such as Kennedy and Lincoln Centers, Wigmore Hall, American Academy Rome, Moscow Conservatory and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She has premiered numerous works by John 
Harbison, Lee Hyla and Steve Mackey and performed chamber music with Robert Levin, Kim Kashkashian, David Krakauer and Mstislav Rostropovich. Rider was the recipient of the Concert 
Artists' Guild Award and has given masterclasses at Yale, Oberlin and the New England Conservatory (NEC). She is also a panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), the American String 
Teacher Association (ASTA) and Chamber Music America and is involved in summer festivals such as Music from Salem, Green Mountain, Tanglewood and the Asian Youth Orchestra (Hong Kong).

Rider has made 20 recordings on Harmonia Mundi, Centaur, New World, CRI and Nonesuch record 
labels and has earned Grammy nominations and "Critic's Choice" awards from The New York Times.