About Ria 

Ever since she can remember, Ria has had an affinity for music. Growing up in a latin household, she fondly recalls always being surrounded by something playing on the radio - whether it be salsa classics, broadway, jazz, or opera. She equates her expansive repertoire and curiosity to learn different styles of music to the early exposure to various genres she had as a child.

 

Her ”debut” was at the age of 4 when she spontaneously performed “Hakuna Matata” from the Lion King (that age’s special interest) at her local county fair. From that moment on, she had the bug for performing. Ria started her first formal musical lessons through the St Cecilia children’s choir program, which served as her introduction to the importance of sight singing and sacred music. At age eleven she began seriously studying voice with Matthew Surapine.

 

Throughout middle and high school she was involved in her choral and theatre programs, her precocious musical abilities and control of the voice always earning her the featured and lead roles. Ria continued her sacred music studies at St John church where she sang with the late Ogden Booker every sunday. Her summers were spent participating in community theatre productions, and festivals including the Curtis Summer Program. She later went on to earn her bachelor of music degree from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Neil Rosenshein, and shortly after graduating took her first Choral directing position at St Maurice Church. Ria now teaches and mentors children underrepresented in the arts, and is in demand for regular gigs throughout the tri-state area.

​

​