For over two decades, cellist Rhonda Rider was a member of the Naumburg Award-winning Lydian Quartet and Triple Helix Piano Trio. Rider’s many chamber music and solo recordings have been nominated for Grammy Awards and cited as Critic's Choice in both the New York Times and Boston Globe. With the Lydians she was awarded numerous prizes at Banff, Evian and Portsmouth Competitions. As a soloist, she won the Concert Artists Guild Award as well as an Aaron Copland Recording Grant. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Corcoran Gallery, Wigmore Hall, Symphony Space, Library of Congress, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and has been a guest artist with the Boston Chamber Music Society, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Castle of Our Skins, Chatter ABQ, Radius Ensemble, New Gallery and Shelter Music Boston. Rider has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, the Aaron Copland Fund and adjudicated at the Fischoff, Stulberg and Concert Artists Guild Competitions. An advocate of contemporary music, Rider has premiered works by composers including John Harbison, Lee Hyla, Yu-Hui Chang, Reena Esmail and Raven Chacon. Her interest in bringing classical music to unusual places, has led her to artist residencies at Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest National Parks. During the summer, she is found at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, The Cello Seminar, Music from Salem, Tanglewood and the Harvard Music Festival. Rider is Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at Boston Conservatory at Berklee where she directs BoCoCelli a cello octet specializing in the premieres of new works. Rider was twice awarded Outstanding Teacher of the Year/Best of Berklee. www.rhondarider.com