Music Lessons: A Foundation for Student Success

All parents are invited to join us for a 90-minute discussion with A. Ramon Rivera, BMS’ Teaching-Artist in Residence. BMS Executive Director David Tierney will facilitate a conversation about the comprehensive social and intellectual advantages to children from studying music, and what parents can do to help their child be fully engaged and successful in studying music.

Meet the Artist in Residence, A. Ramon Rivera

Brookline Music School is pleased to announce that renowned teacher and pedagogue A. Ramon Rivera will be the school’s Teaching Artist in Residence for the 2025-2026 school year.  Mr. Rivera has had a distinguished career as a pianist, teacher, and pedagogue, serving as Director of the Preparatory Division at the New England Conservatory of Music and as Director of The Rivers School Conservatory, where he founded the internationally acclaimed “Seminar on Contemporary Music for the Young,” which has become the model for similar programs around the world. He has taught piano at both schools, was Chair of the Piano Department at Rivers, and taught Piano Pedagogy in the college division at NEC.  He has also been an advisor to the National Guild of Community Arts Schools and was the first recipient of their Van Cliburn Award in 1995.

He has performed with The Boston Pops, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Tanglewood Music Festival, and he has been honored with fellowships at Tanglewood and Castle Hill. He has also taught masterclasses throughout the United States and served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), and other granting organizations. 

Mr. Rivera will be collaborating with BMS faculty, working with parents, and giving piano masterclasses as part of his residency with Brookline Music School.