Cellist John Winninger and pianist Diane Rivera will help kick off the MTSU School of Music’s fall 2015 free concerts with their performance set for Sunday, Sept. 13, in the university’s Wright Music Building.

Cellist John Winninger and pianist Diane Rivera will help kick off the MTSU School of Music’s fall 2015 free concerts with their performance set for Sunday, Sept. 13, in the university’s Wright Music Building. (photo submitted)

The duo will perform works by Handel, Mendelssohn, Damase, and Brahms in their 7 p.m. concert inside Hinton Music Hall. They’ll be joined by MTSU flute professor Deanna Little for “Sonate en Concert” by the composer Damase.

Winninger is a charter member of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and served as its principal cellist for 35 years, as well as principal cellist in the Bloomington Pops Orchestra. He has been playing his instrument, a French Bernadel violoncello dated 1885, since 1962.

Rivera has taught piano in numerous collegiate programs, including the University of Evansville, University of Richmond and Drake University, as well as in Baltimore’s Peabody Preparatory community school for the performing arts and the pre-college Young Pianists Program at Indiana University. As a soloist, Rivera has performed in recitals across the country and collaborated with singers, woodwind players and string players.

Click on the graphic for more School of Music concert information.

Winninger and Rivera met through the Community Chamber Music Association and formed a duo in 1993.

For more information on this and other concerts in the MTSU School of Music, call 615-898-2493 or visit the “Concert Calendar” link.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)