Nathalie Joachim is “an edgy multi-genre performing artist who has long been pushing boundaries”. (The Washington Post) She regularly combines her exceptional performance skill as a flutist with her creative talents as a composer, vocalist and producer, navigating genres ranging from classical and jazz to indie-rock and electronic. Ms. Joachim is flutist of the four-time Grammy winning contemporary chamber ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, and co-founder of the critically acclaimed urban art pop duo, Flutronix.
As a composer, Joachim writes in a signature electroacoustic style. Upcoming works include Discourse, an evening length performance, community engagement and social change initiative commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts, set to premiere in the 2019-20 season. Joachim's 2018 centerpiece Fanm d’Ayiti (Women of Haiti), an evening-length work for flute, voice, string quartet and electronics, 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. Commissioned by St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music series, Fanm d'Ayiti will be released on New Amsterdam Records and will tour nationally in the 2019-20 season with Grammy-nominated ensemble Spektral Quartet.
Other recent projects include Land Bridge, an evening-length score for Helen Simoneau Danse (2016), and Dam Mwen Yo for solo cello written for Amanda Gookin’s Forward Music Project and featured in a TEDX Talk. (2017). Ms. Joachim is Director of Contemporary Chamber Music at the Perlman Music Program, and a visiting faculty member at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Dam mwen yo for cello and recorded voices (2016)
Dam Mwen Yo in Haitian creole simply translates to “these are my ladies”. In Haiti, the cultural image of women is one of strength. They are pillars of their homes and communities, and are both fearless and loving, all while carrying the weight of their families and children on their backs. As a first-generation Haitian-American, these women - my mother, grandmothers, sisters, aunts - were central to my upbringing and my understanding of what it means to be a woman. In Dantan, Haiti-Sud, where my family is from, it is rare to walk down the countryside roads without hearing the voices of women - in the fields, cooking for their loved ones, gathering water at the wells with their babies. This piece and the voices within it are representative of these ladies - my ladies. And the cello sings their song - one of strength, beauty, pain and simplicity in a familiar landscape.