Performance - Struggle, Resistance, and Hope: Music by Haitian Composers

A performance of works by Haitain composers by Crossing Borders Music

April 25, 2025

7:00-9:00pm

Doors at 6:30pm

Sliding Scale, Pay-what-you-can tickets: $5-$15
Please use the "Donation" option or you can choose from the following suggested ticket prices:

$10 Student - use code STUDENT at checkout

(Valid Student ID will be requested at the door)

$10 IMSS Members Presale - use code IMSSMEMBER at checkout

(Valid IMSS Membership card will be requested at door)

$15 GA Presale

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$15 Student & IMSS Members (With valid ID & Membership Card) at Door

$20 GA at Door

Please email Lisa at lisa@imss.org with any questions or concerns about ticketing.

Crossing Borders Music shares string quartets by Haitian composers in this moving program of resilience, resistance, and hope. The program includes one of the first-ever performances of Incertitudes! and Haiti's Lecture by Haitian composer Dickens Princivil, commissioned by Crossing Borders Music after Dickens was kidnapped and released. The program also includes Rudy Perrault’s “Exodus” string quartet dedicated to all people forced to leave their homeland, “Chrysallis devient papillon” ("Chrysalis Becomes Butterfly") which is a metaphor for positive transformation by Sabrina CD Jean Louis, plus hopeful music showing the incredible talents of Haiti’s next generation of musicians, and more!

This project is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

This project is supported, in whole or in part, by federal assistance listing number, 21.027 awarded to the International Museum of Surgical Science by the US Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the amount of $125,000.00, representing 83% of total project funding.

This project is partially supported by a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

The International Museum of SurgicalScience acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

About the Composers:

Performer, conductor and composer, Jean R. (“Rudy”) Perrault is Director of Orchestras and Professor of Music at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he earned his Master’s degree in Music Performance from Temple University, under the tutelage of Helen Kwalwasser. Rudy has conducted numerous ensembles including Sinfonietta de Paris, the Karelia State Conservatory Orchestra(Russia), the Conservatoire de Paris région Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris, France), members of the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory of Palermo (Sicily, Italy) and the Hacettepe Conservatory Symphony Orchestra (Ankara, Turkey). He traveled to Venezuela where he worked closely with members of “El Sistema” organization (FESNOJIV) conducting master classes and workshops in many of the nuclei surrounding Caracas. He is a frequent panelist on national and international, instrumental and conducting competitions, and has participated in many prestigious music festivals including the International Music Camp, Aspen, Tanglewood, and Chautauqua.

Dickens Princivil, born on July 19, 1961, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was destined for a life steeped in music, art, and culture. Coming from a family of four children, Dickens was raised in a household where music and religion held profound importance.

His familial connection to music was evident early, as his grandfather served as a clarinetist in the prestigious National Palace brass band. This legacy inspired Dickens to begin his musical journey as a cellist at seven. Over the years, his dedication and passion for music grew, leading him to master the double bass and electric bass guitar by age fifteen.

Dickens's illustrious career saw him perform alongside renowned Haitian musical artists such as Ansy Dérose, Guy Durosier, Raoul Guillaume, and many others. His talents extended beyond instrumental proficiency, as he distinguished himself as a solo singer in esteemed choirs such as La Schola Cantorum, “Voice and Harmony.”

Haitian composer Sabrina Claire Detty Jean Louis writes music to capture emotions and provide outsiders an accessible entry to Haitian culture. As a student of the Dessaix Baptiste School of Jacmel, Haiti, she composed the cello quartet Clair de Lune (“Moonlight“) at age 14, before she knew the word “composer.” She heard melodies, harmonies, and accompaniments in her head and wrote them down. Then, she creatively searched for ways to hear how the parts sounded together; she sang one part into her phone and taught her mother to sing another, while she sang a third part.

Jean Louis wrote Plainte d’un Rescapé, (“Survivor’s Lament”), capturing her feelings in the immediate aftermath of the devastating Haitian earthquake of January 12, 2010, which she describes as the most terrifying moments of her life. In 2015, she was commissioned by Crossing Borders Music to write new works for its 2016 album.