(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Westminster Choir College faculty recital series opens with a performance by tenor Eric Rieger and pianist J.J. Penna on Sunday, September 18 at 3:00 pm in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton. The program, titled “A Poet’s Journey,” will feature Benjamin Britten’s Winter Words, Op. 52 and Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Op. 48. Admission is free.
Eric Rieger has enjoyed success performing opera throughout Europe where he has sung under such conductors as John Elliot Gardner, Stefano Ranzani, and Franz Welser-Möst. His career has led him to the opera companies of Zürich, Luzern, Basel, Trier, Regensburg, Kaiserslautern, Bremerhaven, Osnabrück, Nordhausen, Konstanz, and Novara, as well as Zomeropera Alden Biesen, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Citizens Theatre, and Everyman Palace Theatre. Known for his interpretations of Rossini, Donizetti, and Mozart, Dr. Rieger has excelled in such roles as Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte. His large repertoire spans from the Baroque to the 20th century.
Pianist J.J. Penna has performed in recital with such eminent singers as Kathleen Battle, Harolyn Blackwell, William Burden, Amy Burton, David Daniels, Denyce Graves, Kevin McMillan, Florence Quivar, Andreas Scholl, Sharon Sweet, Christopher Trakas, Indra Thomas and Ying Huang. He has been heard at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Weill Hall, Zankel Hall and Merkin Recital Hall in New York City, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Wigmore Hall in London, as well as on concert tours throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, the Far East, South America, and the former Soviet Union. Devoted to the performance and study of new music, he has premiered song cycles by William Bolcom, Ricky Ian Gordon, Richard Hundley and Lowell Liebermann.
Westminster Choir College is located at 101 Walnut Lane in Princeton, N.J. To learn more, visit: www.rider.edu/arts.
