multi-media website called Boldfacers.com that showcases Boston's talents and personalities.

Watch this video as a preview of what is on my recital this Tuesday night!

Help us keep this Boston chamber orchestra alive by making a small donation to this link. The Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra has been in Boston for over 30 years and it doesn't only give Boston wonderful concerts and programs but also jobs to a lot of professional musicians in the area, including me! Your help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your support!

I would like to share this video that I made from a teaching trip that took me deep into the Amazon forest of Venezuela. Watch a group of indigenous children form an orchestra and perform Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 3. Truly fascinating!!!

Last Friday morning, I was in Tennessee accompanying Boston Philharmonic conductor Ben Zander in a presentation to a YPO retreat. We had lunch after the presentation, then they flew us back to Boston in a charter jet, so that I could make this great Friday night concert, with music by Boston based composer Tony Schemmer.

The recent opening of an after-school music program in the city of Everett was featured today in the Everett Independent Newspaper. We are very happy to see the community involved and wanting to support this project.

I am happy to announce the launching of a pilot after-school music program in Everett, MA. In collaboration with the United Parish of Everett, La Comunidad Inc., my wilfe Meena Malik, our friend Atsuko Jozaki, and I, we are starting classes on September 26th. We are meeting once a week for 15 sessions on Monday afternoons. At the moment we are teaching three classes: Intro to Music, Choir, and Instrumental Ensemble. Under La Comunidad Inc.'s non-profit status, we are accepting donations to purchase instruments, and operation expenses. For more details feel free to contact me any time.
Yours truly,
Aristides

Watch this setlist of 6 pieces forming a program called Spanish Cello, including the Baroque spanish dance Sarabands in Bach cello suites, a piece by spanish composer Cassado, two Argentinian tangos, and a Venezuelan valse.

I am pleased to announce the launching of our youtube concert series. Every Thursday visit out blog to watch a pre-recorded live performance by each of the members of the Julian Lage Group.

Read the Teaching section on my website for information about private cello lessons. Contact me with any questions!

I am selling a cello bow by Prager. Visit the link for more details.

There is a tour to the West Coast starting on June 15th. I will be performing with the Julian Lage Group, featuring our new record "Gladwell". Visit the concert dates to find a venue near your town.

Watch the Voci Angelica Trio youtube EPK or visit our new website at www.VociAngelicaTrio.com

To all friends and family,

All upcoming performances through the month of May are up in the Concerts link, including performances with the Boston Philharmonic and a tour through Europe with the Julian Lage Group. Check the dates and locations and let me know if you can come by. But don't stop there, you can also tell a friend about it.

Hugs,
Aristides

The new album "Gladwell" was released today, April 26, and received a reviewed by the Boston Globe. The album can be purchased on iTunes and Amazon.

Interview by the Boston Philharmonic on the upcoming concert, featuring cellist Natalia Gutman.

When I think back to January 2010, it really seems like more than a year’s worth of events that have passed since. A year completely filled with music, travels, tears, and laughter. However, what really sticks in my memory, are the moments I shared with friends and family around continents.

Being a freelance musician and entrepreneur is not an easy life-style. It requires a lot of planning and organizing, and that alone sucks a lot of time and energy. And then after organizing the calendars with a combination of teaching, rehearsals, tours, recordings, you have to show up and be prepared for all of it and be able to “kill it,” as my dear friend Tupac says it. It really is enough work for at least two full time jobs. But the rewards can be absolutely worth every minute of the effort you put into it.

For me it is hard to separate my private and personal life from my career, because in many cases, they are the same. For example, if I go to Venezuela on a “family” trip, there is no way to avoid some kind of performance or at least a musical party. Everybody, besides my relatives, is a musician and people that I grew up with in El Sistema. And in a way, we might not be related by blood, but we are family through music, and I am closer to some of my music friends than I am to many relatives (I have 3 brothers, 3 sisters, and 23 nieces and nepnews, last time I counted).

While these lines are mostly for myself, I hope that as you read them, please forgive my very poor writing skills, especially in the English language. Now I would like to list a few important events that marked my life in one way or another in the year of 2010.

In early February 2010, in the middle of a tour in a very snowy Germany, I received news from my attorney in Boston that my Green Card had been approved. This email took so many pounds off my shoulders. And what I believed impossible happened: German beer and Cuban cigars suddenly tasted much better. I had been working on the application for over a year and at that moment, my wife Meena and I became Permanent Residents of the United States of America. The moment I landed back in Boston we went salsa dancing in celebration. Shortly after that, in March, we traveled to Japan to visit my in-laws. Again, a family trip included two performances with Meena in the city of Urayasu, in the outskirts of Tokyo. But not everything was work about this trip. I really enjoy every minute I spend in Japan. I especially love the food and the warmth of my dear parents-in-law Rabinder and Kimiyo. Other than that fact that I speak no Japanese, when I go to Japan, I feel like going home. My knowledge of Japanese extends to gokiburi and onaka suita, which means “cockroach” and “I’m hungry”.

A couple of hours after landing back in Boston, I took a plane to Miami to perform at the IDEOBOX Art Space, run by my friend Tanya Capriles-Brillembourg. The event was a special collaboration with Fabiana Cruz, the grand-daughter of the renown Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez. I was so thrilled to collaborate with his great artist and to meet Carlos. However, I cannot think of another time that I felt so disoriented by the lack of sleep and the horrible jetlag. The performance was a success, and nobody notice my lack of sleep. But I suspect that the cocktail hour in a beautiful spring night in Miami had something to do with taking the pressure off. Back in Boston for a few days and I was off to Norfolk, Virginia to perform a chamber music concert with mi pana (Venezuelan-Spanish for “my dear friend”) and exceptional violinist Pavel Ilyashov, at the Norfolk Chamber Consort. We did two piano quartets by Brahms and Schumann. A real treat to play these magnificent works with wonderful artists and really fun people. During this visit I was hosted at the home of my instant friends Allen and Glenis Shaffer, a most sweet and beautiful couple.

Not too long after my return from Virginia, at the beginning of April, I had the pleasure to play with Pavel again, this time to celebrate the life of our departed and most beloved Marylou Speaker-Churchill. Whatever I try to say about Marylou won’t give her justice. But will attempt to share that she was one of the most inspiring, loving, and intelligent musicians and human beings that I have had the privilege to know. She had the gift to teach and find out where her students’ true self was, even if it meant switching instruments. For me, while living at the Churchill’s home during my conservatory years, besides giving me extensive lessons on orchestral repertoire, she discovered that my favorite fruit was the banana, shouting in the mornings, as I was walking out to go to the conservatory, “bananas for Aristides”, reminding me to take my snacks. The concert took place at her own home, the Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory. I also had the pleasure to play with my friends Colombian clarinetist Benito Meza and Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero. Musicians poured into Boston from all over the world for this celebration, and Mark Churchill did an amazing job at not only staying so calm but also at giving everyone an opportunity to participate and thank Marylou for the gift of her friendship. My group alone would represent the Youth Orchestra of the America family, film composer John Williams, with an introduction by Yo-Yo Ma, which was kind of nice!!!

The following month was extremely challenging in terms of energy and schedule. Because of my repeated touring I had to be super creative in order to fulfill my teaching duties. It all worked out, but I feel a little sorry since I was not able to give enough consistency to my young students.

The next adventure took us to Venezuela. I had not been home for two years and I didn’t only brought myself home but also my wife and her parents. What a trip!!!!! I cannot say that it was easy, because it wasn’t. But boy have I memories of it! My skills as a tour planer, driver, translator, son, husband, were tested. It was however a truly memorable experience. We visited rain forest of Canaima, and attempted to see the Angle’s Fall but it was too cloudy and the airplane just turned around. My family loved Meena and her parents, and my mother, who had met them at our wedding a year before, was extremely happy to have everyone home. Or better in her own beautiful and simple words: “I think I would be very happy if you all lived here with me”

The rest of the summer was very busy touring with the Julian Lage Group in US, Canada and Europe. I have already written about this highly experimental project, but please indulge me to say that I have found not only a job with them, but also an opportunity to grow personally and musically in an environment of trust and friendship. It has opened my mind and made me rethink about the whole purpose and concept of being an artist. We recently recorded our second album, to be released in the spring of 2011.

Another CD under way is with the Voci Angelica Trio. In only our second year together, we performed 26 concerts in 2010, including the Longfellow Summer Festival in Cambridge.

The fall was quite more civilized in terms of schedule. In order to stay sane, I decided to resign to a couple of teaching positions, leaving a little of more time to practicing, organizing, and just being able to have a more balanced life. I even have time to write…

To summarize, I played 104 concerts and travel to 13 countries in the year of 2010. I could not be happier, healthier, or in better company than that of my beautiful wife, Meena. To all my friends and family, I thank you for your kindness, support, and friendship. I may have not written about you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you and appreciate your impact in my life. May the next year bring us more times together, and the wisdom and health to enjoy every moment as if it was the last.

Happy New Year 2011!!!


Love,

Aristides Rivas

I have just uploaded a few videos from very recent performances on the "solo" section of my videos. I hope you enjoy them!

Read the latest updates on concerts, projects, and stay tuned.

Manténgase informado de las últimas noticias sobre conciertos, proyectos y mucho mas.

Aristides Rivas debuts in Tanglewood with the Grammy nominated Julian Lage Group. The Julian Lage Group performs at the closing night of the Tanglewood Jazz Festival.

"Sounding Point", Julian Lage's first album as a band leader was released last March. We have been touring with the Julian Lage Group ever since, promoting the album as well as new songs. A few days ago the Album was nominated for the Grammy Awards!!!

Special article about Julian Lage and the Julian Lage Group in the Boston Globe.

After our show at Scullers in Boston last September 17th, the Phoenix published a praising review of the performance.

Review of the Julian Lage Group after our show at Scullers in Boston.

It is my pleasure to announce that I will be joining the University of Massachusetts in Lowell as an Adjunct Cello Faculty beginning in the fall of 2009. I am very excited and looking forward to meeting the students and collaborating with other faculty members on all kinds of musical projects.

Last summer Aristides was invited to join the Julian Lage Group and be part of the album "Sounding Point" which will be released this coming March 24th, 2009.

Aristides Rivas is featured in the cover page of the magazine Diversity as an insert of the Sunday Boston Globe. To download the whole article in PDF, go to "Downloads" and click on "Press"

This Year the "Q" Prize was given to Jose Antonio Abreu and Gustavo Dudamel for their valuable social work done in the communities of Venezuela through music.