A Concert in Haiti - and an Update from Jeanne

While I'm getting ready to do a pre-concert talk here in Harrisburg for Concertante Friday evening about Schubert, Frank Bridge and Bruckner, I've been thinking a lot about my friend Jeanne Pocius (see photo, right) who was in Haiti getting ready for a rehearsal when the earthquake struck.

Mariano Vales, one of many musicians who's worked with the students at the Ste. Trinité Music School in Port-au-Prince, posted this item about a concert in Haiti this Friday at the “Friends of Ste. Trinité” Facebook page:

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The musicians from Sainte Trinité are preparing a concert for this Friday February 5th at 4pm at the Kay Nou center in Bel-Air. Kay Nou is a culture-sports center build by Viva Rio, a Brazilian NGO, and now it is hosting tents with thousands of displaced.

Our musicians were able to rescue some instruments from the school’s rubble, and the idea behind the concert is to bring hope to the displaced people living there and to re-launch OAS’s orchestra program for youths at risk. The concert is going to feature the string orchestra, the brass ensemble, and the Petit Chanteur.

President Preval and Minister Delatour are expected to attend, also Yele Haiti people. I will try to get there but it is not going to be easy. Please help spread the word, it is important to give media coverage to the event.

The coordinates for Kay Nou are:
Address: 67, Boulevard Jean Jacques Dessaline, Portail...... Saint Joseph, next to La Saline, Port au Prince
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Janet Anthony, a tireless supporter of the school there who teaches in Wisconsin and who's been indefatigable in keeping us informed about friends and loved ones in Haiti following the earthquake, posted this on Jeanne's Facebook page:

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Just spoke with Jeannie - she's fine!

She's in rehearsal right now (how cool is that!) ...There will be a concert with members of Holy Trinity on Friday at 4pm in BelAir, PAP.
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After talking with her sister by phone (finally - direct 1st-hand contact!), Jeanne posted this note on Facebook via Janet Anthony:

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Hi, Everybody:

just a short note to let you know I am alive in Haiti.... survived having the auditorium fall ON me during the earthquake (soft tissue damage and bad bruising to my head, my right arm and ribs, my legs), but am on the mend and starting to play trumpet again (couldn't for a couple of weeks -- hurt too much!).

Don't know when I'll be back in States, so please keep me (and all of us here in Haiti) in your thoughts and prayers.

Mark Schwartz and Bonnie Lowell and Marty Rooney are running Instrumental Change, Inc, while I'm here, so donations are VERY much appreciated and needed (especially tents and camping supplies and baby-wipes, since water is in short supply and the dust from the demolished and destroyed buildings is very much a factor -- just walking gets you very dirty very quickly).

Address for donations (tax-deductible):

INSTRUMENTAL CHANGE, INC
301 Newbury St, S-142
Danvers, MA 01923

I love and miss you all very much and don't know when I'll be able to get internet access again...

Blessings,
Jeanne
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Good news - and an address now to send donations to!

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According to Deacon Ormonde Plater, there is one mural left standing in the beautifully painted Cathedral of Ste. Trinité (see photograph, left), the Baptism of Christ. This is only one out of many in this outstanding building, once a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For more photographs of the incredible artwork in this cathedral, now mostly destroyed by the earthquake, go to this page.

This video was taken five days after the quake in the area of Kay Nou, the sports and cultural center built by Brazilians (where Friday's concert will take place) in the section of Port-au-Prince known as BelAir, a region described in this Wikipedia entry as “the most devastated area of Port-au-Prince after the 2010 Haitian Earthquake”.



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Jeanne is busy working with the brass players from Ste. Trinité for Friday's concert. Please send hopeful thoughts and prayers to Haiti during the concert (if you can't be there in person) which starts at 4pm EST. Let's hope this bit of good news – and video coverage from the concert – makes it onto the TV news programs and on-line!

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UPDATE: Jeanne posted this on Facebook this afternoon (2-04-2010)

"...donations can be sent to Bishop Jean Zache Duracin, Epsicopal Diocese of Haiti, Petion Ville, HAITI THANKS! Watch CNN Friday night for coverage of concert Friday afternoon (warning: I'm not in great shape playing wise, only started back yesterday, still have bruised ribs). Also interviewed today by NPR, will air on Saturday morning."
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(For earlier posts about the Earthquake in Haiti, begin here.)

- Dr. Dick