Humanities West presents Greenberg Among Friends: Mozart, a program of music and discussion with music historian Robert Greenberg and pianist Lino Rivera celebrating the life, times, and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. For centuries the great composers have been worshiped as gods, thanks to the magnificent musical gifts they have provided. But that same worship can put their all-too-human music at arm’s length by rendering it as something divine. This unique lecture/performance will explore Mozart’s personality and life experiences, as well as his amazing musical contributions, in an effort to understand the living, breathing person behind the music. Robert Greenberg lectures and Lino Rivera plays Mozart on piano.
Robert Greenberg holds degrees from Princeton University and the University of California, at Berkeley where he received a PhD in music composition in 1984. His works have been performed across North America and Europe, and he has received commissions from a wide variety of organizations including the Koussevitzky Foundation and Library of Congress. Greenberg is currently music historian–in-residence for San Francisco Performances and a best-selling creator of courses on music for the Great Courses.
Lino Rivera has performed as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and accompanist on three continents. He makes it his mission to advocate and premiere contemporary works; to explore and meet the artistic, creative and technical challenges of piano transcriptions; and to discover and perform less known solo piano repertoire throughout the ages. Rivera is a celebrated performer for Composers, Inc. an organization based in San Francisco that is dedicated to promoting works by contemporary American Composers. Rivera is a professor of music at the Performing At Department at Saint Mary’s College of California. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from University of Santo Tomas, a Master of Music from the University of Hawaii, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Maryland.