Reichhold Center for the Arts, Virgin Islands

The Reichhold Center for the Arts, is an open air venue associated with the University of the Virgin Islands located on St.Thomas.

This past Friday night I had the pleasure of attending a preformance of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and the Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra.

The Puerto Rico Symphony's  inaugural concert was held in 1958  in Mayaquez and  was directed by Maestro Pablo Casals. The current musical director is the Chilean Maestro Maximiano Valdes. The symphony has a long and elustrious history.

The Rising Stars program was started in 1981 as a vision of the Honorable Judge Emeritus, Verne A. Hodge as a way to positively engage youth on island, keeping them in school and out of trouble. Since their inception the group has become Goodwill Ambassadors for the Virgin Islands traveling as far as Taiwan and Japan. They have preformed in many spectacular venues like the Lincoln Center the Capital building in Washington D.C. and on the Skyline stage in Chicago. They are my favorite part of Carnival each spring here on St.Thomas during the battle of the steel bands as well as the parade.

The program Friday, included:

J. Brahms - Academic Festival Overture Ob. 80

Rimsky Korsakov - Procession of the Nobles

Von Suppe - Light Cavalry

Tchaikovsky- Marche Slav

Mozart - Figaro

Love on Top

Gracia por la Musica

L.V. Beethoven - Symphony no. 5

Please notice that the Rising Stars do not have any sheet music in front of them.  They played from memory.  This is an outdoor venue, so you will hear the frogs and crickets give their own concert along with the musicians and my photograpy skills leave a lot to be desired.
 


If you would like to explore being a buyer or seller in the Virgin Islands please give me a call at 340 344 2959

Building or Renovating in The Virgin Islands

In the virgin Islands, like in most place, home owners are constantly working on their property.  With all renovation  you have to consider the impact on the value of your home. We have recently decided, to update the decking system on our home. Well, correction, it was a decision made a long time ago, the logistics of making it a reality was a bit challenging in the Virgin Islands.

We purchased our home in 2004, prior to our purchase the deck on the home was torn off by a hurricane.  Although I have lived on St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands for almost nine years, thankfully,  I have not experienced a full hurricane. After seeing the damage created by hurricane Sandy, I know our home would not have been here to purchase had the storm that took the deck been close to the level of Sandy. But I digress.

To restore the deck on our home, permits are required in the Virgin Islands. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources requires architectural drawings rendered or approved by a local architect, as well as a copy of the as built survey of the home.The licensed contractor who is going to do the work is required to  attach an estimate of what it is going to cost to do the work.  Once you have obtained these and submitted them and paid a fee, it takes a few months for the review to be completed and if there are any issues you may be asked to alter the drawings or make a further explanation of what you want to do. This may take a while depending on what else you are asked to submit and then that documentation starts the review process anew. Once started in earnest, this process took us 5 months.

Once your permits are in hand, (you should make a laminated copy of them and post them prominently the closest electrical pole works) the job can begin. There are stages which require inspections to make sure building codes are being adhered to. The slide show is a pictorial of the progress of installing our decks. I still have to order the stainless steel  cording to complete the banister and of course the staining is left to do.

If you are interested in building a home in the Virgin Islands I can help you with locating the perfect lot. Building cost vary from $200 per sq. ft to $500 per sq. ft. depending on the level of finishing you select.