RTA Summer Sunset Concert Series 2025!!

July 12 – Richard Baratta 

Richard Baratta has worn many hats over the decades: master drummer, Grammy nominee, film producer, musician, but his latest headwear takes us down a nostalgic road of classic rock and soul recordings from the mid to late 1960’s. Baratta returned to his original love, music, after a very successful 35-year career in the film business. With over 50 years of experience as a jazz drummer he enjoys the free flowing innovative sensibility that he applies to his work in the film industry. As 30 year member of the Directors Guild of America, as well as the Producers Guild of America, Baratta has worked on many Academy Award nominated films, including Donnie Brasco, The Wolf Of Wall Street, The Irishman, Joker, and others

Since 2020 Baratta has recorded five projects, most notably the album Music in Film featuring Grammy nominated track Chopsticks, with his current working band of Vincent Herring, Bill O’Connell, Paul Bollenback, Michael Goetz and Paul Rossman. Music In Film The Sequel, is a similar follow up, building and exploring more film compositions. Off The Charts, the fourth project was a critically acclaimed, audience favorite, looking back at some of the classic B- sides of Jazz from the 1970’s, with musicians John Patitucci, Jerry Bergonzi, David Kikoski, and Paul Rossman. All three of these recording spent many weeks on Jazz Week, the definitive guide to national airplay.

For this performance, his band members, Bill O’Connell on piano, Craig Handy on saxophone, Michael Goetz on Bass, Paul Rossman on percussion, Paul Bollenback on guitar, and Carroll Scott on vocals.

Waterfront sunset concerts sponsored by the Riverside Tennis Association. The FREE concert evenings are highlighted by picnics and good company as live entertainment enthusiasts gather on the north lawn to enjoy a variety of musical acts as listed below. The Sunset Concert Series is a prime example of how the RTA aims to provide community engagement experiences for all. All shows start at 7 pm. Please call 212 – 978 – 0277 in advance if there are any questions about the weather. See you at The River as the Sun Goes Down!

July Summer Series at The Riverside Church
Fissures of Hope

Sundays | July 13, 20, 27 | 9:30 AM
In Room 20T & Online via Livestream

Join us for a powerful three-part summer series exploring how hope persists and emerges in the cracks of despair, injustice, and political uncertainty. Fissures of Hope brings together theological reflection and literary insight to help us imagine new possibilities in troubled times.

Session 1 – July 13
Valley of the Dry Bones: The Possibility of Hope in Impossible Times
With Dr. Andrea C. White & Ayana Mathis

Session 2 – July 20
Hope Against Hope: Resurrection Hope and Divine Promise
With Dr. Andrea C. White

Session 3 – July 27
The World’s Fast Burn: Hope in the Face of Political Upheaval
With Ayana Mathis

About the Presenters

Dr. Andrea C. White is Associate Professor of Theology and Culture at Union Theological Seminary, an ordained American Baptist minister, and the Theologian-in-Residence at The Riverside Church. Her teaching and research fashion a nexus between womanist theology, Black critical theory, and phenomenology. A sought-after preacher, scholar, and speaker, Dr. White has lectured across the U.S. and internationally on issues of race, gender, and faith. She has published extensively, including contributions to AAR’s Reflections, Theology Today, and edited volumes on womanist and global theologies. Dr. White has taught and preached many times at Riverside, and she and her husband, The Rev. Richard Landers, are members at Riverside, as are their children, Mara and Chloe Landers, who have shared their gifts as violinists and liturgists in worship.

Ayana Mathis is the author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie and most recently, The Unsettled (available in our Riverside Bookstore), which was the inaugural winner of McSweeney’s Gabe Hudson Prize and a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Foundation’s Legacy Award. The book was named a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book of 2023 and included in year-end best lists from The New Yorker, Publisher’s Weekly, Oprah Daily, and Kirkus Reviews. Mathis received her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and went on to become the first African-American woman to serve as an Assistant Professor in that program. She currently teaches in the MFA Program at Hunter College. Deeply invested in the intersections of theology and literature, Mathis is a candidate for the Master of Arts in Religion with a concentration in Theology at Union Theological Seminary. Her current work reflects a growing focus on theology of the literary imagination, exploring how spiritual narratives are shaped—and reshaped—through storytelling and lived experience.