Staff
Cynthia Peterson, Artistic Director, Chamber Series
Pianist Cynthia Peterson draws from a broad solo, chamber, and contemporary repertoire. She has performed at the American Academy in Rome, throughout Canada, and in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Virginia and Minnesota. She has appeared at many venues in the New York area including the Metropolitan Museum, Yale University, Brooklyn Museum, Garden State Center for the Arts, Alice Tully Hall, The National Arts Club, and the Museum of the City of New York. As prize-winner of concerto competitions she performed with the Philharmonic Symphony of Westchester, the Virginia Beach Pops Orchestra, including radio broadcasts in Virginia and Washington, D.C., the Yonkers Civic Orchestra, and the Westchester Youth Symphony. Recently, Cynthia appeared with the Chappaqua Orchestra performing a Mozart and the Schumann piano concertos. She has collaborated with players from the Berlin Philharmonic, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the Chicago Symphony, and Orpheus. Cynthia has worked closely with, and performed music by John Corigliano, Vincent Persichetti, David Amram, among other contemporary composers. Cynthia earned her doctorate at the University of Connecticut, where she was invited to be a guest lecturer on the Colloquium Series, presenting a lecture/recital on Debussy. She has received fellowships to Tanglewood, the Banff Centre, Festival at Sandpoint, and the Ravinia Festival. She also holds a Masters degree from Juilliard, where she was awarded the prestigious Irwin Freundlich Memorial Scholarship. As an under-graduate, she attended Binghamton University receiving both the Music Department Faculty Award and the SUNY Foundation Award. Her primary teachers include Beveridge Webster, Walter Ponce, and German Diez; she has been coached by Leon Fleischer, Gunther Schuller, Menahem Pressler, and other luminaries. A dedicated educator, Cynthia has served on the faculties of Lehman College/CUNY where she headed the piano faculty, SUNY/New Paltz, the Barry Tuckwell Institute at Gettysburg College, where she performed with renowned horn player and conductor Barry Tuckwell, Mercy College’s degree program at Ossining Correctional Facility, and Dutchess Community College where she performs frequently. Cynthia is Artistic Director of the Chappaqua Orchestra Chamber Music Series, and has spearheaded the GraceNotes Outreach program, bringing chamber music groups to perform for inmates at prisons in New York. Cynthia was a recent guest performer at Skinner Recital Hall, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie.
“Fine pianist” -- NY Times
“Ivories were ticked to perfection by Cynthia Peterson” – Inside Chappaqua/Bedford
“electrically charged performance… natural exuberance… Mendelssohn’s varied passages were handled superbly by the pianist” – The Journal News
“played magnificently… gorgeous… extraordinary” – John Corigliano
“Wonderful performances… marvelous playing” – Gunther Schuller
“Her performance… can top those of any pianist”– Vincent Persichetti
David Restivo, Executive Director
David grew up in Houston, Texas and started playing violin in school at the age of 11. While in high school David was a member of the National High School Honors Orchestra where they played at Kennedy Center in Washington DC and Helsinki, Finland. David received a scholarship to Texas State University for Music Performance studying with Dr. Stephen Redfield. While in college, the orchestra toured Europe performing in Warsaw, Vienna and Prague. After 2 years David changed his major to Sound Recording Technology. He continued with violin lessons throughout college and received his bachelor’s degree in 1997 in Music/Sound Recording Technology. After college David moved to Boston working in the music business. There he met his wife, and after a short time in Dallas, where their daughter was born, they moved to Long Island where he began his career of programming Crestron with Audio Video Systems. At that time David started playing with the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble in Manhattan where he was a board member for 3 years. After several moves all over NY and Westchester, they settled in Chappaqua. David and his family have lived in Westchester County since 2006. In 2007 he began violin lessons with Elliot Magaziner at the Westchester Music Conservatory. He also plays with several local groups throughout Westchester that include the Chappaqua Orchestra, the St. Thomas Orchestra, the Collegium of Westchester and the Croton Chorale. David often plays chamber music with the numerous local musicians in the Westchester County area. David finds it a privilege to be a board member of the Chappaqua Orchestra. He looks forward to exploring new ways to bring classical music of all shapes and sizes to the residents of Westchester County.