Fanm d’Ayiti (Women of Haiti) is an evening-length work for voice, flute, string quartet and electronics developed by composer/performer Nathalie Joachim. Commissioned by St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music Series, Fanm d’Ayiti is a celebration of some of Haiti’s most iconic yet under recognized female artists, as well as an exploration of Joachim’s Haitian heritage. The project features original songs incorporating the recorded voices of Joachim’s grandmother and the girls choir of her family’s home farming village of Dantan; new arrangements of songs by some of the greatest known female voices in Haitian history; and recorded interviews with these artists about their lives fighting for social justice and uplifting the people of Haiti. Developed in a two year Liquid Music Virtual Residency, Fanm d’Ayiti premiered in March 2018 with members of SPCO in St. Paul, MN, and will be presented in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 season with Spektral Quartet.

Flutist and composer Nathalie Joachim (Eighth Blackbird, Flutronix), “an edgy multi-genre performance artist who has long been pushing boundaries with her flute” (The Washington Post)

SPEKTRAL QUARTET actively pursues a vivid conversation between exhilarating works of the traditional canon and those written this decade, this year, or this week. With the New York Times writing that “they have everything: a supreme technical command that seems to come easily, a capacity to make complicated music clear, and, most notably…an ability to cast a magic spell”, Spektral is known for creating seamless connections across centuries, drawing in the listener with charismatic deliveries, interactive concert formats, an up-close atmosphere, and bold, inquisitive programming.