Emily Rideout, an engaging performer on both modern and Baroque viola, is in demand as a specialist in period-instrument performance. She was twice winner of the Boston University Bach Competition, and plays regularly with period-instrument ensembles including Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society, Lyra Baroque Orchestra (MN) and Mercury Orchestra (TX). She served as principal viola at the 2019 Academy of the American Bach Soloists in San Francisco, and has been a featured soloist in concertos of Bach, Telemann and Mozart.
Ms. Rideout’s period instrument activities have included a tour of Japan with Cambridge Concentus and Joshua Rifkin; recording a soundtrack for the PBS documentary “Seeing in the Dark”; and touring Poland with Boston Baroque. She is a founding member of Folk Baroque, a string trio that combines their love of period instrument performance with both Baroque and traditional music; and has been featured as a soloist performing unaccompanied Bach on NPR station WBUR. On the modern viola, Emily has appeared as guest violist with the Muir, Emerson, and Avalon String Quartets, and plays routinely with Grammy-nominated ensembles such as Boston Modern Orchestra Project and A Far Cry.
Emily is a frequent lecturer on topics including the intersection of period performance and string teaching; she was invited to speak at the 2012 National Suzuki Conference, and has presented at Suzuki Institutes across the U.S. and Canada. Emily is also an enthusiastic folk musician, appearing as fiddle player in the bands Three Tall Pines and Fort Point Ramblers.