A Very Special Musical Connection, from Utah to Haiti. And Back.

By Yuki MacQueen, Musical America April 13, 2018

SALT LAKE CITY, UT–As our plane gained altitude, I glanced out at the brilliant azure of the Caribbean and the lush dark green of the hills surrounding Cap Haitien, Haiti. I could still see the grid pattern of the streets, and some of the larger opulent homes nestled in the hills. The dusty cinder block structures with exposed rebar, the large open sinkholes in the middle of the streets partially filled with trash and rainwater, were quickly becoming a memory, and what I saw now was only the breathtaking beauty of the blue of the sky, the green of the hills, and the turquoise of the water. Along with 16 other musicians of the Utah Symphony, plus Music Director Thierry Fischer, two luthiers, and several guests, I was on my way home from the orchestra’s second annual National Orchestra Institute (NOI) in the historic town of Cap Haitien, in Northern Haiti. Partnering with Building Leaders Using Music Education (BLUME Haiti), we had designed an ambitious plan for a 95-member all-Haitian student orchestra to perform Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 after just one week of coaching. My use of the word “student” may be misleading; many of these musicians were teachers at their own schools. Their goal is to someday create the first national orchestra for Haiti.

In the beginning

In July of 2016, three musicians from the Utah Symphony—cellist John Eckstein, oboist James Hall, and myself volunteered to teach at a summer camp hosted by the Sainte Trinite Music School for one week. John had been intrigued by the dedication of his longtime friend Janet Anthony, president of BLUME Haiti. Janet has been coming to Haiti for over 20 years, teaching, delivering instruments, raising scholarship funds, and inviting college and professional musicians to volunteer to teach there. We went to the summer camp out of curiosity, and left stunned by the talented kids who exuded joy and passion through classical music. The conditions at the camp weren’t ideal, but the connection we felt with the students was undeniable.
After leaving the camp we visited the lovely seaside town of Jacmel, the art capital of Haiti. John started to imagine our colleagues in this environment. Perhaps an orchestra of advanced music students from throughout Haiti could be gathered in Jacmel when it wasn’t so hot, to work with some (more) of our orchestra members. Janet had connections with a network of 30 music schools throughout the country, and could identify the dedicated and talented young musicians who would benefit the most. Returning to Salt Lake City, we began tossing the idea out to our friends. Soon we had potential volunteers for every instrument. John mentioned the concept to our maestro, mainly to inform him that a large contingent of his orchestra was planning a teaching mission in Haiti. To our utter amazement, Thierry not only approved of the project, but wanted to come and conduct the orchestra himself! Eight short months later, in March of 2017, the first NOI was held in the town of Jacmel. Movements from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, Bizet’s Carmen, and Grieg’s Peer Gynt were performed to a full house.
After the week, Janet conducted a survey to gain insight from the students. The response was wildly positive. They were clearly proud of their accomplishment, and ecstatic to not only work with the faculty, but also to play with other music students from throughout Haiti that they had never met before. Without question, they wanted this to be an annual event, so planning for the 2018 NOI began almost immediately.

The 2018 NOI

Once we had this year’s teaching personnel in place, the structure of the week-long Institute followed the familiar blueprint of summer music camps in the U.S. The participants were chosen by audition (held by Janet) and came from 23 different music schools representing seven out of the ten sections of Haiti. As in the previous year, we brought a luthier program to teach the fundamentals of string repairs (luthier John Paul Lucas and bow maker Evan Orman), and a high level administrator to teach a music management seminar (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Executive Director Scott Harrison, who also happens to be a BLUME Haiti board member). All of us paid our own expenses, with additional funding coming from private donors in Utah as well a notable contribution from musicians of the Cleveland Orchestra. With these funds, the Haitian students were able to attend the NOI under full scholarship, including room and board, and round-trip travel from their hometowns. The mornings were dedicated to sectionals, lessons, and individual practice, and the full orchestra rehearsed in the afternoons. Since a large group of professional classical musicians is an incredible rarity in Haiti, we performed a faculty recital on Thursday night for the students and guests. The week culminated on Friday night in a free public performance by the student orchestra at a large church in downtown Cap Haiten.
Rather than the luxury of regular private lessons and individual feedback, Haitian students learn their craft (should they have internet access) by watching YouTube videos of famous instrumentalists for inspiration and instruction, and use IMSLP to download music they want to learn. Since the start of the institutes, several students have sent video clips to their mentors for critique, and we do our best to respond.

The students

Violinist Guerlyn Esperance, who served as concertmaster of the National Orchestra Institute (NOI) in both 2017 and 2018, is one of seven siblings. Five of them now live and work in the U.S., but Guerlyn plans to stay. “I love Haiti. It is my country,” she says simply. A dedicated violin teacher in her early 40s, based in Port-au-Prince, Esperance has single- handedly influenced several generations of violinists, some of whom have gone on to music schools in the US. Trumpet player Renau Thervil could not attend this year’s NOI because he couldn’t leave his sick mother in a medical facility in the Dominican Republic for a whole week, so he took an all-day bus to travel to Cap Haitien just for one lesson with our associate principal trumpet Jeff Luke this year. John Carly Menard has been playing bass for three-and-a-half years, and is mostly self taught. After two weeks of initial lessons with Janet Anthony, he has been on his own. After much trial and error and struggling to learn the mechanics of his instrument, he has started teaching others, in hopes that they would not have to go through the same circuitous path. John told me that by having NOI professionals right there working with him, he was able to learn new concepts about relaxing certain muscles while playing, and a new thumb position. He is then able to share these tips with his own students.
When a music student’s only interaction with a professional on their instrument is a few weeks per year, every comment takes on a huge significance. As teachers, we felt a real responsibility, a sense of urgency to impart as much knowledge as we could to these students. Their great hunger for learning and new information was palpable.

Their equipment

The Haitian musicians’ equipment is woefully substandard. I saw badly warped violin bows, the horse hair so slick with dirt and grease that they could barely draw a sound. BLUME Haiti does its best to bring a constant stream of instrumental teachers, sheet music, and supplies from the U.S. and abroad, but it is an impossible game of catch up. Strings break and bow hair needs to be replaced periodically. So we hand-carried as many instruments and supplies to Haiti as we could manage and were able to change out some of the worst of the bows. We heard the same kinds of complaints from the wind and brass teachers, who spent much of their time helping students get their instruments at least in minimal playing condition. And yet the music was everywhere. During breaks from sectionals, students would spontaneously break out into jam sessions of pieces from the Suzuki violin method, Haitian folk songs, or even pop music. The final orchestra concert was riveting. Collectively, somehow, the students rose above their own level of playing and gave a thrilling performance that left the audience and coaches cheering and teary eyed. The foot stomping and standing ovation that Maestro Thierry Fischer received was a testament to the love from the Haitian students who clearly realized the significance of an international conductor taking a personal interest in their music making.

A local news channel report on the National Orchestra Institute in Haiti

For John and myself, trying to organize this endeavor, which involves two countries, multiple languages, fundraising, and months of planning, has been an incredible challenge, especially as we carry on with our day jobs as dedicated symphony musicians, chamber musicians, and music teachers. But since that fateful first trip in July 2016, it has not been an option to turn our backs on our new friends. We couldn’t resume our regular lives back in Salt Lake City, say “good luck,” and leave it at that. These kids are passionate, charismatic, and compelling. We recognize ourselves in them. Their dedication to music is exactly the same as ours, perhaps even more urgent because of the lack of other options and opportunities. The materials and professional teaching that we have in the States are simply not available to them. And yet they mentor each other and they identify strongly as musicians. Meeting these students and keeping them in our hearts make us want to continue to strive for excellence in our own musical journeys while fostering a strong empathy for the world around us.