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DMA Orchestral Conducting, Haitian


I grew up in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where the styles of music are compa, voodoo, racine, zouk and troubadour. I did not know much about classical music until I attended l’Ecole de Musique Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Music School), the most well-established
 music school in Haiti, where I was given the privilege to begin my musical training. I started learning the violin at the age of eight. After joining the National Philharmonic Orchestra and earning an advanced certificate at the Festival Summer Music Camp in 2002, I became a violin instructor at Holy Trinity. At that point I felt like my musical skills and knowledge were limited; but my devotion to music earned me a full scholarship to come to the United States to further my musical studies at the University of XXXX in 2005.

It was there that I got exposed to a wider range of different styles in the orchestral repertoire and had the opportunity to go see, for the first time in my life, a professional orchestra–the Duluth Superior Symphony. I remember at one of their concerts they performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica,” and that piece began to speak to me in a way I’d never experienced. I anxiously listened, and at the moment in the first movement’s recapitulation where the C sharp becomes D flat enharmonically (which Beethoven had revolutionarily written at the end of a main theme in E flat in the opening); everything seemed to open up.  At that moment, I felt the desire to unify musicians, and to create music such as this. I, spontaneously, wanted to be a conductor.

My studies have directed me on this trail. I have kept a wide array of musical preferences and opportunities for personal development. Since 2006, I’ve been volunteered as a staff member at the Festival Summer Music Camp in Haiti where I coach chamber music and teach music theory, conducting sectionals, and violin lessons. I also had the opportunity to apply my conducting skills and techniques by conducting the intermediate chamber orchestra (Petit Orchestre de Chambre). This past summer, I was placed in charge of the ensemble, artistically and administratively. Due to my aptitude for choosing the appropriate repertoire and having the ability to adjust musically to such difficult conditions, especially in a country that was devastated by a huge earthquake, I believe that my experience as a conductor was enormously beneficial to the music program at Holy Trinity, and that it confirmed my dedication to continue studying conducting and leadership.

I want to get my DMA in orchestral conducting because I believe the more I know the more I can give back to other Haitian musicians. Thus, I feel strongly that the University of XXXX's diverse campus and student body and creative and dynamic faculty is a perfect match for my high level of motivation. I am highly aware of the superb reputation of your school, and my conversations with several of your alumni have served to deepen my interest in attending. I am looking forward to learning with a great deal more about conducting than I already know with Professor XXXX. I hope you will give me the privilege of continuing my studies at your fine institution. 

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