Aristides Rivas

A unique mix of talents, cellist Aristides Rivas embodies a rich culture from South America combined with western repertoire to delight audiences. The exquisite balance of sounds, storytelling, and flavors, invites you to a new experience of live concerts. Rivas’ multi-style career has brought him to share the stage with world renown artists in jazz and classical music, including living jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera, Yo-Yo Ma, and jazz virtuosic guitarist Julian Lage. He has performed at a wide range of international music venues and festivals such as Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, Caramoor Music Festival, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, Newport and Montreal Jazz Festivals, the Barbican in England, Sejong Center in South Korea, and Teatro Colon in Argentina, among many others.

As a chamber musician, Rivas has collaborated with an array of artists in North America, Europe, South America, and Asia, performing recitals and chamber music alike. In 2018, Rivas performed the complete cello works by Beethoven with pianist Spencer Myer in Cambridge, MA. The following year, he released his album Laberintus, in collaboration with pianist Victor Cayres, featuring music for cello and piano written by Latin American composers. As an avid teacher, Rivas has been a guest faculty in numerous music festivals and music schools throughout the world, including the Vivace Vilnius Music Festival in Lithuania, performed As an orchestral cellist, Rivas has been the principal cellist of many groups in the United States, including the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Boston Philharmonic, Dallas Chamber Symphony, and the A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, to mention a few. Rivas is currently the cello faculty at California Baptist University and the University of Redlands, as well as the principal cello of the Redlands Symphony Orchestra.