John Karly Fils Menard

We first met John in 2015 At the CEMUCHCA Institute of Music in Cap Haitian when BLUME Haiti Executive Director, Janet Anthony, gave him several piano lessons as well as his start on the double bass. He had left his job teaching French because he LOVES music and was desperate to learn to play. After only one and a half years on the bass John, who practiced hours and hours a day, had progressed enough to win a spot in the first two Haitian Orchestra Institutes in 2017 and 2018! However, even as John was making spectacular progress on the bass, he felt drawn to the cello and he has since become a very serious student of that instrument. 

With your help, we have given John scholarships to attend multiple summer camps since 2015 and, for many of these, he was in Janet’s music theory class. Eventually, he became so adept at the material that he began to teach theory at the music camps, in addition to conducting young string orchestras and helping with the nascent string program at the State University of Haiti - Limonade. In 2018 we had a composer in residence at one of the camps and...John was hooked! 

He has dedicated himself to composing ever since and has had remarkable success. Lately he has been working with the renowned Haitian American composer, Sydney Guillaume, and he is well on his way to finding his personal voice.

The most recent performances of his works have taken place in Montreal, Canada (under the auspices of the Society for the Research and Diffusion of Haitian Music) and in Park City, Utah (as part of a benefit concert headlined by Hilary Hahn in support of the Haitian Orchestra Institute) - heady stuff! You can hear performances of some of John’s pieces through this link - enjoy. 

As he puts it, music has allowed John to find himself; it helps make the daily realities of life in Haiti less overwhelming. Through composing, John can participate more fully in “this wonderful world” and he has found a language in which he can truly express himself. In music, he says there are no borders and, particularly in Haiti, music brings “understanding, acceptance of oneself and others, collective support and, above all, discipline” both musical and personal.

You can hear performances of some of John’s pieces through this link - enjoy!