ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Praised for her "delicacy and artistry" and for her "seemingly effortless control," Amelia Seyssel's recitals have been described as "a truly delightful and enriching musical experience." Inspired by her mixed Spanish, Mexican, French and English heritage and nurtured by her love of fine poetry as well as the poetic impulses inspired by the folk music genre, she has acquired a repertoire that includes both Spanish and Mexican composers as well as a variety of English, American, and some little performed French song composers. Her collaboration with Ms. Maria Rivera White has invigorated her passion for the Spanish language Art Song repertoire and has inspired a continual and persistent research in that area allowing for an ever-widening variety of recitals in Spanish.

Ms. Seyssel holds a Master of Fine Arts in Music Performance from Mills College in California where she was awarded both a Hellman scholarship and an academic scholarship for outstanding achievement. Her performing debut was in California while studying with Dame Donna Petersen, a world-renowned San Francisco Opera and Metropolitan Opera Audition Judge for the West Coast. While at Mills, Ms. Seyssel also studied with visiting professor Jane Manning, a distinguished exponent of contemporary vocal music and author of the book 'New Vocal Repertory'.

Since moving to the East Coast she has continued her vocal studies at the Manhattan School of Music Vocal Arts Institute, including workshops with Nico Castel, Cynthia Hoffman, Lou Galterio and Margaret Hoswell, and at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, including a vocal master class with Dalton Baldwin. She is currently studying with Joyce McLean of The Juilliard School's Evening Division, and is a regular soloist at The Reformed Church in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Praised by San Juan's El Nuevo Dia for her "impressive technique, great clarity, and expressiveness," and by the San Juan Star for her "excellent rapport" in collaboration, Maria Rivera White has recently performed in such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin, Steinway, and Alice Tully Hall.

Ms. Rivera White began her study of the piano in England, her birthplace, at the age of five. At the age of eight, she won first place in her own age group in a competition of the Royal Academy of Music at Oxford. By age thirteen, she had given her first solo performance with orchestra. At that time she won eleven competitions, most notably the Baldwin National Piano Competition, both at the state and regional (9 states) level as the youngest competitor in her age group. Ms. Rivera White studied four years in Naples, Italy, with Nunzio Zappulla, professor at the Naples Conservatory of Music. She subsequently received her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music, after studying with Barbara Lister-Sink and Blanca Uribe. In May of 1998 she completed a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano at The Juilliard School, and also was invited to perform at an international music festival in Kyoto, Japan. She was Adjunct Instructor in Piano at Vassar College for almost a decade and currently has a thriving private studio.

In 2004 Ms. Rivera White performed the world premiere of Vassar composer Suzanne Sorkin's solo piano piece Falling through Crimson and Lead at Merkin Hall, NYC, which she later recorded. She recently performed the Copland Piano Variations on the Vassar College Modfest and appeared with flutist Emily Gerace on the Rhinebeck Chamber Music Series, NY. She continues performing throughout the US both in a new series of concerts with her sister Natalia as the Rivera Piano Duo, which began in July of '04, as well as with the operatic duo of Nina and Stefano Tanchietti.