Rhonda Larson and Jude Rittenhouse (ASOS Grad)
After winning first prize in the National Flute Associations Young Artists Competition at the age of 22, Rhonda Larson was invited to join the Paul Winter Consort and thus began a global journey which led six years later to winning a Grammy Award. Her performances have been described as transformative as she “wields her instruments like a blow torch.” A Montana native, she has charmed audiences across the country and abroad. She plays a variety of flutes from around the world including ones made of glass. And she has perfected the unusual technique of producing vocal sounds while playing the flute using the voice as melody and flute as harmony. With home base now in Killingworth, CT, she has become a mentor for the next generation of flutists while keeping a full performance schedule. The local community is very fortunate to have her appear in Chester at the Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek Synagogue on an auspicious date—March 8th happens to be International Women’s Day.
Jude Rittenhouse, poet and counselor, has spent decades in the fields of trauma recovery and domestic violence, using writing with her clients as a source of empowerment. Poet, short-story and non-fiction writer, she is also a teacher, speaker, mental health professional and lifelong activist. Her poems have appeared in Tiferet, Nimrod, Connecticut River Review, Cutthroat and Dove Tales among others. She was featured in The Tiferet Talk Interviews, along with Julia Cameron, Edward Hirsch, Robert Pinsky and Dr. Bernie Siegel (2013). Awards include a Writer’s Grant from the Vermont Studio Center, second place in the 2023 Margaret Gibson Award, Honorable Mention in the 2025 Joy Harjo Awards and finalist for Nimrod’s Pablo Neruda Prize and the Tiferet Poetry Prize. In fluid language, Jude’s poems merge feminine imagery with nature and will be a perfect pairing with Rhonda Larson’s music, especially on International Women’s Day. A day of Healing and Hope.
