Life

Eleanor Alberga was born in Kingston

Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

, Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

. She decided at the age of five to be a concert pianist and began composing short pieces. She studied music at Jamaican School of Music and in 1970 she won the biennial West Indian Associated Board Scholarship which allowed her to study at the Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy of Music

The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. After completing her studies, she performed as a concert pianist. In 2001 she ended her career as concert pianist to concentrate full-time on composition and was awarded a NESTA Fellowship.

Alberga works as a guest lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She has been pianist and Music Director for the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and a member of the Jamaican Folk Singers and an African dance company. Her music has been performed by the Royal Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, London Mozart Players and the Women's Philharmonic of San Francisco, and in countries including Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

.

She married violinist Thomas Bowes and performs with him in a duo called Double Exposure.

Works

Selected works include:

Ochestra:

• Roald Dahl's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"
• Violin Concerto (dedicated to Thomas Bowes)
• Mythologies

Chamber Orchestra:

• Sun Warrior
• Chamber ensemble version of Roald Dahl's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

Chamber Music/Ensemble:

• Nightscape (The Horniman Serenade)
• Animal Banter
• Dancing with the Shadow
• String Quartet No. 1
• String Quartet No. 2
• Glinting Glancing Shards
• Remember
• Clouds
• On a Bat's Back I do Fly
• Suite from Dancing with the Shadow
• String Quartet No. 3

Solos/Duos:

• Resolution
• Duo from Dancing with the Shadow
• The Wild Blue Yonder
• No-Man's Land Lullaby

Piano Solos:

• Jamaican Medley
• Ice Flow
• Only a Wish Away
• Fizz
• If The Silver Bird Could Speak

Piano, 2 to 6 players:

• 3-Day Mix
• Two-Piano Suite
• Hill & Gully Ride
• Chasm

Vocal: Chamber Pieces

• Her Lament: One Cezanne Apple

Vocal: Choral

• De Profundis
• My Heart Danceth

External links

• Official site