Sergio Mims: Eleanor Alberga String Quartets to be released by Navona Records in June

Eleanor Alberga

String Quartets 1, 2 & 3

Ensemble Arcadiana

Navona Records

Sergio Mims writes:

Navona Records has announced that it will release the first recording of British composer Eleanor Alberga's three String Quartets in June.

Naxos Direct

Jamaican-born British composer Eleanor Alberga stuns listeners with her spellbinding Navona Records debut: ALBERGA STRING QUARTETS 1, 2 AND 3, a carefully thought out yet naturally flowing example of Alberga’s creative genius, performed by the unmatched Maggini Quartet. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Alberga decided at the age of five to be a concert pianist, though five years later she was already composing works for the piano. In 1970 she won the biennial Royal Schools of Music Scholarship for the West Indies which she took up at the Royal Academy of Music in London, studying piano and singing. But a budding career as a solo pianist – she was was among the 3 finalists in the International Piano Concerto Competition in Dudley, UK in 1974 – was augmented by composition with her arrival at The London Contemporary Dance Theatre in 1978. Under the inspirational leadership of its Artistic Director Robert Cohan, she became one of the very few pianists with the deepest understanding of modern dance and her company class improvisations became the stuff of legend. These in turn led to works commissioned and conceived for dance from the company, most notably the piano quintet CLOUDS (1984). Alberga later became the company’s Musical Director, conducting, composing and playing on all LCDT’s many tours.