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Pianist Joy Cline Phinney and L’Étoile Violin Duo Perform on St. John on Friday, April 8

The St. John’s School of the Arts is presenting pianist Joy Cline Phinney with L’Étoile Violin Duo in concert on Friday, April 8 at 6 p.m.

(Submitted photo)

The program should delight chamber music audiences who revel in lyrical melodies, impeccable timing, and gorgeous tone.

The trio will perform Vivaldi’s celebrated “Concerto in A Minor, Op 3,” Harry Thacker Burleigh’s traditional “Southland Sketches,” Manuel de Falla’s rapturous “Suite Populaire Espagnole,” and Maurice Moszkowski’s more contemporary “Suite for Two Violins and Piano in G Minor, Op. 71.”

Tickets are $50 and can be purchased through the St. John School of the Arts’ website or at the door if space is available. Audience members are required to wear masks.

Fundraising for the School of the Arts was curtailed again this year by COVID-19 restrictions, but local fine-dining establishments have stepped up to support arts education for children by donating dinners to benefit the school following the concert.

St. John School of the Arts. (Photo by Amy H. Roberts)

The participating restaurants for “Dinner at Eight” are 18º64º (regular menu); Dave & Jerry’s Island Steakhouse (special menu); Extra Virgin (regular menu); La Tapa (menu to be announced); The Lime Inn (regular menu, gratuity included); and The Terrace (special menu).

Participants will draw a ticket to determine which restaurant they’ll be dining in prior to the concert. Tickets to “Dinner at Eight” cost $150 per person and are available by clicking here.
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The restaurants have pledged to donate the entire amount of the tickets to the school.

The April 8 concert in Cruz Bay is the final one in the 2022 Sis Frank Concert Series, but it is not Phinney’s first appearance at the St. John School of the Arts. She last performed there and at Tillett Gardens on St. Thomas 20 years ago.

But her roots go back a lot farther than that. Her great-grandfather, Charles Sumner Duke, was the supervising engineer in the Virgin Islands with the federal government’s Public Works Administration 1946-51, according to the V.I. Source.

“He administered a $10 million capital improvements project for the construction of a water and sewer system, the first highway across the island of St. John, hospitals for Frederiksted and Christiansted, and a hospital and the high school in Charlotte Amalie,” Phinney stated in the article.

The daughter of a renowned piano teacher, Phinney, started playing when she was four. She earned Bachelor and Master’s of Music degrees from the Juilliard School and a Doctorate of Ensemble Arts from The Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

Phinney has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals across the United States and in Europe. Notable recent concerts include a return engagement on the New York Philharmonic Merkin Hall Concert Series; annual performances as a member of the faculty at the Sarasota Music Festival, Easton Chamber Music Festival, and Cremona International Academy in Italy, to name just a few.

L’Étoile Violin Duo was created by violinists Hsin-Lin Tsai and Miguel Pérez-Espejo Cárdenas as a result of their love for chamber music and, in particular, to explore, develop and expand the violin duo literature.

They perform extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. In addition to their performing, L’Étoile Violin reaches audiences of all social and cultural backgrounds, fostering communication and understanding through a kaleidoscope of extraordinary music.

For further information, contact the St. John School of the Arts at 340-779-4322 or at https://www.stjohnschoolofthearts.org.

The St. John School is supported by Virgin Islands Council on the Arts, the V.I. Lottery, the National Endowment for the Arts, and numerous kind donors.

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