Three Choirs Festival

British Jamaican composer Eleanor Alberga OBE (B.1949) is the second of our featured composer profiles for the Gloucester 2023 festival.

Alberga has an extensive list of works to her name, including music for orchestra, piano, voice and chamber groups.

Alberga decided at the age of five to become a concert pianist and also began composing short pieces. She studied music at the Jamaica 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 in London.

After completing her studies, she performed as a concert pianist. In 2001 she ended her career as a performer to concentrate full-time on composition and was awarded a NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) Fellowship.

Alberga was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours List for services to music.

Alberga married violinist Thomas Bowes in 1992. They live in Herefordshire and perform together as a duo called Double Exposure, touring across the world. You can listen to more of Alberga's works with Bowes below, in her Violin Concerto No.2 - "Narcissus" - Recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conducted by Joseph Swensen.