S THE CROW FLIES, THE DISTANCE between New York City and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is more than 1,500 miles. The flight crosses the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and takes approximately five hours. But the Altino brothers, Nerva and Robenson, will attest that the journey that brought them from a two-room cement house their father built in a poverty-stricken area of Haiti to the stages of the most prominent concert halls in the world was a much longer passage: it was a trip that lasted almost two decades and defied seemingly impossible odds.

One virtuoso pianist in a family is rare; two are virtually unheard of. On April 3, 2005, the Haitian-born and New York-bred Altino Brothers (as they are known) made their Avery Fisher Hall debut. Their genre-blending program entitled "No Boundaries" featured works from the classical repertoire and the gospel canon, and was accompanied by a full orchestra and the 100-singer-strong Altino Brothers Concert Chorale. They performed to a nearly sold-out house, drawing more crowds than the average concert of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, which is in residence at the same hall.

The concert marked a milestone for the brothers, and is only a harbinger of things to come for Nerva and Robenson. In April of this year they released their CD No Boundaries, which features religious favorites such as "The Lord's Prayer," "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," a Haitian folk song, and classical works by Chopin and Pachelbel.

"Our musical mission is as deep as God telling us to go out and teach the gospel," states Nerva Altino, 31, the older of the two. "I always wanted to be a pianist, ever since my early childhood. I was obsessed with the idea of it."

This is surprising, given the fact that they did not even know that pianos existed anywhere but in churches, and neither took a piano lesson until they emigrated to the United States in 1983. In Port-au-Prince, where they were born, they were lucky to have running water, much less a piano, in their house. "We were very, very poor," says Robenson. "Our bathroom was a hole in the ground, and poverty was everywhere. There were no hot showers, and we bathed in a bucket."

Piano Lessons in Queens
In such an environment music had a way of sneaking into the subconscious. Their father, Jean Lecome Altino, played songs from the French hymnal for them at church, and a passion for music was instilled in the brothers very early. So much so that as a child Nerva dreamed in the night of running his fingers up and down the piano keys, and upon awakening was disappointed to realize that there was no piano there.

When Nerva was 3, and Robenson a year old, their father moved to Queens, New York, to work in construction in order to support his family, still in Haiti. They were left in the care of their mother, Ruth Altino, and their grandmother, Olivia Joseph. Ruth Altino joined her husband a few years later, and in 1983 Jean Lecome had earned enough to bring Nerva and Robenson to the U.S. The two boys, aged 8 and 10, were thrilled at the two-room basement apartment, which had a toilet that flushed and hot water, relative luxuries in comparison to their previous abode.

They were even more elated to see the upright piano in the living room.

They had their first lesson the next day.

Under the tutelage of their father, an amateur musician, they began their musical education. A year later they began lessons with George Davis, a member of the Linden Seventh-day Adventist Church.

"I don't think they ever missed a lesson," declares Joan Davis, present president of the Altino Brothers Concert Chorale and the wife of George Davis. "They were so appreciative to be able to learn."

Tough Times, Hard Workers
But life in New York was turning out to be as arduous as in Port-au-Prince. In 1983 the crime rate in the city was rising, and Nerva and Robenson often found themselves the victims of racial prejudice on the streets of Queens.

"We spoke Creole, and hardly any English, and we were picked on for being Haitian," says Nerva. Street fights became the norm and reached a culmination when Nerva turned 18, and broke his hand in a fistfight.

"He broke his right hand, and the next day he vowed to practice piano with his left hand religiously, until the other one healed. He was very dedicated," says Mrs. Davis.

Robenson, on the other hand, looked up to his older brother and was playing a Mozart sonata every morning without fail. His prodigious talent was evident early; by the age of 13 he was already giving solo performances and teaming with Nerva in a piano duo. Robenson went on to attain his bachelor's and master's degrees in piano performance at the Manhattan School
of Music.

Nerva earned his bachelor's degree at Atlantic Union College in South Lancaster, Massachusetts, where he studied with piano professor Kaestner Robertson. "He was a hardworking student, and always had the intention of being a concert pianist in a field where there is so much competition," says Robertson. Nerva also graduated from Manhattan School of Music with a master's degree in piano performance.

Ravel and Reggae, Beethoven and the Blues
In 2002 the Altino brothers formed the Altino Brothers Concert Chorale with the intention of performing one concert. But popular demand encouraged the brothers to make the 100-voice choir a permanent part of their musical family.

"The mission of the chorale is to uplift humanity," stipulates Mrs. Davis. "Its purpose is to give the best to the Master, and to bring people to the Lord." The chorale performs works ranging from Handel to contemporary gospel and spiritual music.

Joan Singh, a member of the chorale since its inception, has known the brothers since they were in their teens. "I was very inspired by them, which is the reason that I joined the chorale. Our whole focus for the chorale is to bring souls to Christ, no matter what denomination. If we go out to sing and we can bring one person to Christ, we have achieved our goal."

"God is using us," states Robenson. "This is our calling, to bring this type of art at a very high level to a mainstream audience."

True to their tagline, "Where Beethoven and Ravel meet Reggae, Blues, and Gospel," the program at their Avery Fisher Hall concert included Ludwig van Beethoven's Choral Fantasy; Maurice Ravel's piano Concerto for the Left Hand; "Yellow Bird," a Haitian folk song featuring electric bass, piano, electric guitar, African hand drums, congas and drum set; and various Christian spirituals such as "Amazing Grace" and "Joshua Fit the Battle."

Glen McElwain, a percussionist and the producer of their latest album, says that the key word for the Altino brothers is "inclusion." "They try to include as many people as possible, playing R & B, classical, gospel, [and] Caribbean music so that fans of all those genres can broaden their horizon." McElwain, the founder of the B.U.M.P. music production company, sees the correlation between their music and their spirituality. "Their whole mission is about 'No Boundaries,' as their album title asserts. It's about people and equality. Listeners hear the music content, and it opens their eyes to the spiritual content."

"Many people are confused about music," affirms Nerva. "Church music is changing, and we have to show young people that there is another side of music you can worship God with, not just with religious rock or R & B. Anthems and classical music are just as--or more--effective."

Robenson believes that every style of music has its time and place. "It's up to us as Christians to know when to apply it." In their concert in Alice Tully Hall (one of the most prestigious concert halls in the country) they performed a mixed-genre program including standard classical works by Liszt and Balakirev, a set of 10 variations on "Holy, Holy, Holy," written by Nerva and introducing classical and jazz idioms, and an inventive arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon featuring congas, erhu (a native Chinese instrument), electric bass and guitar, and two pianos.

McElwain, who is not an Adventist, plays many concerts with the Altino Brothers, and sees the value of the spirituality in the Altino Brothers' music. "By exposing people to their rendition of hymns such as 'Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,' there is a tremendous amount of good. It moves people, no matter what they believe in," he declares.

A Church That Nurtures
Yet for the Altino brothers there is an amount of skepticism in their minds concerning the role of music in the Adventist Church.

"A part of the problem is that the church does not take music seriously," says Nerva. "Good musicians in the church work in Sunday churches because the Adventist Church does not invest wisely in music. Sometimes they pay, but it's rare." Nerva is the music director of the Alexandria Presbyterian Church in Milford, New Jersey, and Robenson works at the Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Queens, New York. According to the brothers, the pay scale at the Sunday churches is often more than three times higher than they would receive at an Adventist church.

"Adventists enjoy music at camp meetings and in the worship hour, but in financial terms they do not tend to support it very much," says Kaestner Robertson, Nerva's piano professor at Atlantic Union College. "We have institutions that prepare young musicians, but in terms of opportunities to work, there are very few in the local church." Robertson attests that other denominations have recognized the need for professional musicians, while the Adventist Church to some extent does not.

Regardless of what the church in general does or doesn't support musically, the Altino brothers place a significant importance on their faith. They are third-generation Adventists on their mother's side. (Ruth Altino passed away in September 2002 at the age of 55, a few months after hearing her sons' Alice Tully debut in May of that year.)

Since their arrival in the United States Nerva and Robenson have been members of the Linden Seventh-day Adventist Church in Queens, New York, a church community that, according to them, puts an extraordinary importance on music and nurtures the talents of the many singers and instrumentalists in their congregation.

"We couldn't ask for a more supportive church family," states Robenson about the church, whose members make up a majority of the singers in the Altino Brothers Concert Chorale. "For more than 20 years they have watched us grow in our spiritual and musical experience and have been behind us every step of the way." "I'm very proud to be affiliated with them," declares Mrs. Davis. "They have come so far."

The distances in that journey were evident in their Avery Fisher Hall concert this past April. The orchestra members onstage marveled at the throngs of people coming into the parquet section. "It's miraculous to see what these brothers have done, and it's moving to hear the spirituals and then the breathtaking music by Beethoven and Ravel," said Karlos Rodriguez, a professional cellist who performed with Nerva and Robenson in the No Boundaries Symphony Orchestra. "It's very impressive to hear so many styles of music in one concert and know that they are dedicating it to God."

"We were singing 'Come, Thou Fount,' and I felt as if I were being lifted up into the heavens," recalls Mrs. Davis of the April 3 performance. "I forgot that I was singing. The moment was so beautiful, being so close to the Lord through the music."

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Jennifer Mae Barizo is a performing artist and writer. She lives in New York City.