crea
mentors
2021-2022

Nathalie Joachim

Nathalie Joachim is a Grammy-nominated flutist, composer, and vocalist. The Brooklyn born Haitian-American artist is hailed for being “a fresh and invigorating cross-cultural voice”. (The Nation). She is co-founder of the critically acclaimed urban art pop duo, Flutronix, and comfortably navigates everything from classical to indie-rock, all while advocating for social change and cultural awareness. Her authenticity has gained her the reputation of being "powerful and unpretentious." (The New York Times).

Ms. Joachim, a 2020 United States Artists Fellow, has performed and recorded with an impressive range of today’s most exciting artists and ensembles including Bryce Dessner, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Richard Reed Parry, Miguel Zenón, and the International Contemporary Ensemble, and is the former flutist of contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird. As a composer, Joachim is regularly commissioned to write for instrumental and vocal artists, dance, and interdisciplinary theater, each highlighting her unique electroacoustic style. Current commissions include Discourse, an evening-length performance, community engagement and social change initiative commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts; new solo instrumental works for cellist Seth Parker Woods and violinist Yvonne Lam; and larger scale chamber works for So Percussion, Lorelei Ensemble, Duo Noire, and The Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

Joachim’s current touring project, Fanm d’Ayiti, is an evening-length work for flute, voice, string quartet and electronics that celebrates some of Haiti’s most iconic yet under recognized female artists, and explores Joachim’s personal Haitian heritage. Commissioned by and developed in residence through St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music series, Fanm d’Ayiti was recorded with Chicago-based ensemble Spektral Quartet. The work, released in 2019 on New Amsterdam Records as Joachim’s first featured solo album, received a Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album.

Ms. Joachim is Director of Contemporary Chamber Music at the Perlman Music Program; holds rotating faculty positions at the Bang On a Can Summer Festival and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; and is a guest teaching artist for The Juilliard-Nord Anglia Performing Arts Programme.

David Sanford

Composer David Sanford received degrees in theory and composition from the University of Northern Colorado, New England Conservatory and Princeton University. His works have been performed by the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra under Marin Alsop, the Berkeley Symphony under Kent Nagano, the Detroit Symphony under Leslie Dunner, the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center, Dinosaur Annex, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and the Chicago Symphony Chamber Players, and he has received commissions from the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, the Da Capo Chamber Players and Castle of our Skins among others. His honors include the Rome Prize and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Radcliffe Institute. He is currently Elizabeth T. Kennan Professor of Music at Mount Holyoke College and the director of the David Sanford Big Band, whose album A Prayer For Lester Bowie featuring Hugh Ragin was recently released on Greenleaf Music.