Rhoda Tillett says she knows the opening performance of the 14th annual Classics in the Garden concert series "is in good hands."
Obviously, that would be the hands of virtuoso violinist Thomas Bowes and acclaimed pianist-composer Eleanor Alberga, performing as the duo Double Exposure, as audiences and critics throughout the world have agreed.
But also the hands of master of members of the board of Arts Alive, which presents the annual series in Tillett Gardens, and of master of ceremonies Bill Grogan and sound technician Steve Richman.
They'll be doing extra duty promoting, preparing for and carrying off the Double Exposure concert on Wednesday, Oct. 25, because Tillett isn't around to handle the details. She's laid up in Raleigh, N.C., recuperating from a broken kneecap sustained in a fall at a friend's home in New York.
"Make it sound humorous," she said from her bed in a New York hospital Monday, the day before she was to fly to North Carolina, where her sons, Boris and Eric, and their families live. Grogan was thinking of spreading the word that she took her spill while swing dancing.
But seriously. . .
The Oct. 25 concert promises to be memorable in its own musical right. The London-based Bowes, who is English, and Alberga, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica, bring impressive credentials to their premiere performances in the Virgin Islands. (In addition to the Classics in the Garden concert, Double Exposure will also appear at the St. John School of the Arts on Thursday, Oct. 26, and at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College on Tortola on Friday, Oct. 27.)
Bowes, one of Britain's most sought-after violinists, and Alberga, one of the foremost black female composers and classical pianists, happen also to be husband and wife. They were so, in fact, for some years before they began performing as a duo in 1994.
Bowes, who studied at the Trinity College of Music, has recorded with the London Philharmonic and performed with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra on its historic 20th anniversary U.S. tour in 1998. His violin is a 1659 Amati.
In recent years, he has premiered numerous violin concertos, including one by Alberga commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In 1990-94, he was concertmaster and director of the London Mozart Players. He has worked with Sir George Solti, Michael Tilson Thomas and other leading conductors and has frequently been invited to lead Britain's major orchestras, including the London Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic.
Alberga left Jamaica at the age of 20 to study on scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her background, in addition to pursuing classical studies in piano and voice, includes having performed as a member of the Jamaican Folk Singers and of an African dance company. She was the "ghost pianist" in the British film "Truly, Madly, Deeply."
Her credentials as a composer include works commissioned and performed by the London Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, London Chamber Symphony and the European Women's Orchestra. Her works encompass a broad range of Western and Eastern instruments, including the sitar.
Their repertoire also shows an interest in folk music forms, from Manuel de Falla's "Suite Populaire Espagnol," to the Central European sources of Bela Bartok's Rhapsody No. 2 for Violin and Ravel's "Tzigane," to Alberga's "Jamaican Medley," a tribute to her island music influences–all on their St. Thomas program. The duo will also perform Alberga's "No-Man's-Land Lullaby," an emotion-rending requiem for those who died in World Wars I and II that incorporates a motif from Brahms' "Lullaby," and Sir Edward Elgar's Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor, Op. 82.
Critics have lauded the riveting emotional impact of "No-Man's-Land Lullaby," which Alberga composed in 1996 after visiting a number of European battle sites on the 50th anniversary of the Allies' victory in the Second World War.
Having "each established an eminent career on their own," a Washington Post reviewer wrote, Bowes and Alberga together "radiate an irresistibly engaging musical presence. Add to that a knack for imaginatively conceived programing."
Earlier this month, Paul Griffiths in The New York Times called Bowes playing "passionate and fiery."
In a review of their recital at New York's Weill Hall, Griffiths said, "He has an excellent range of color, from bleached tones to a full earthiness, and he throws off double stops and harmonics with aplomb. So though, do all virtuosos. Things that more distinguish Mr. Bowes are his rhythmic suppleness and his command of subtle microtonal tuning."
An Arizona Republic reviewer also lauded the duo for playing Elgar's sonata "without a hint of the fussiness that sometimes goes with Elgar, and with plenty of the rhythmic intensity that rarely does."
A San Mateo (Calif.) Times reviewer praised the duo's gypsy fervor in both the Bartok and Ravel pieces. And in the de Falla suite, the Washington Post reviewer said, "the duo charged each passing mood with poetic nuance."
When, where, how much
Double Exposure performs on Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 8 p.m. in Tillett Gardens. Tickets are $25, with reserved seating. Season tickets are still available at $160 for the four classics concerts plus the four Tillett Garden Series non-classical performances, and at $135 for your choice of any six of the eight.
Polli's Restaurant in the garden caters a three-course dinner before the performance . Patrons remain seated at their tables for the concert. The dinner, featuring cuisine that reflects the ethnicity of the evening's artists, is a prix fixe $30 excluding bar service and gratuity.
Reservations are required for dinner and recommended for the concert only. They may be made by phoning (340) 775-1929, faxing to (340) 775-9482 or e-mailing to tillett@islands.vi.
