The Grammy-nominated Haitian-American composer, singer, and flutist – current composer with Opera Philadelphia – who came up through Juilliard’s weekend programs as a kid and now teaches on the faculty at Princeton. I love her music. It’s the perfect fusion of classical complexity with the laid-back vibes of contemporary soul, all held together with the glue of her Haitian heritage
Born in 1983 in Brooklyn, she effectively grew up at Juilliard through all three of their main programs, studying classical flute and doing a lot of singing at home. But she did not want to be an orchestral flutist, something she announced at the outset of college and everybody looked at her strangely. Nor did she think of herself yet as a composer. What she did want to do was collaborate with students from other schools, other disciplines, and made such a success of it that they created an award on the strength of it and gave it to her when she graduated.
That was 2005. Study followed in sound design and electronics: touring with Eighth Blackbird, founding her flute duo Flutronix; her Carnegie Hall debut, her appointments to Yale and Princeton, all the while honing her unique compositional voice. It was her Fanm d’Ayiti of 2019 that won her her Grammy nomination, for world music, inspired by the women of her Haitian heritage and particularly her grandmother who created stories with her, in song. This, Ki moun ou ye, came out in 2024.
Who are you? It means in Kreyol. “For a very long time I didn’t feel comfortable calling myself a composer”, she says, “because the people for whom that title was reserved did not look, or live, or create music that was anything like mine. But now, standing in the truth of my artistry has become central to my existence. I am – a black woman, a Haitian American, and a creative artist”
Nathalie Joachim (1983 –)
MUSIC: Ki moun ou ye
Nathalie Joachim, voice & flute
Yvonne Lam, violin
Jason Treuting, drums
Presented by Anna Clyne
Written and produced by Charlotte Wilson for WMHT
