8059: Culture in Davenport (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Anez14u@aol.com

My Haitian son & I live in an area that is remarkably lacking in 
opportunities for him to continue to maintain an identity with his homeland.  
With the exception of a surprising number of people who travel to Haiti on 
missionary trips and an excellent and large collection of Haitian Art and at 
the local museum, there is no representation of Haiti here at all.  My thrill 
when reading the following news release leaves me unable to resist sharing it 
with my many friends on the list.
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                                              Jean Montes
                                        conductor, S.A.U.S.O.
Jean Montes is currently pursuing his doctorate of music arts in orchestra 
conducting at the University of Iowa under the widely renewed leadership of 
Dr. William LaRue Jones.  Growing up in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he studied the 
cello at the Holy Trinity School of Music.  In December 1990, Mr. Montes left 
Haiti after winning a full scholarship to pursue his bachelors degree in 
cello performance at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  In 
August 1995, he received an assistantship at the University of Akron in Ohio 
where he went to complete his masters in music education.  Mr. Montes then 
spent four years in the Fox Valley area of Wisconsin where he was the 
orchestra director for the Kaukauna Area School teaching K-12 string 
instruments and ensembles.  He was also a cello specialist at the Lawrence 
University Arts Academy.  Additionally, he conducted several youth orchestras 
including the Green Bay Concert Orchestra.  He also coached youth orchestra 
cello and viola sections in Oshkosh, Appleton and Green Bay while performing 
in cello recitals at the Lawrence University Conservatory and with the Fox 
Valley and Green Bay Symphonies.  Mr. Montes shares his talents with his 
homeland by frequently conducting the Orchestre Philharmonique Ste Trinite 
and the Holy Trinity Youth Orchestra.  He spends his summers teaching and 
directing ensembles at summer music camps including the Holy Trinity Music 
Camp in Haiti where he is the assistant director.  Since his arrival in Iowa 
in August of 2000, Mr. Montes has been managing the orchestra for the 
University of Iowa, CO-directing the all University String Orchestra and 
directing the Iowa City High Cello Choir.  He is looking forward to directing 
next year the newly founded St. Ambrose University Symphony Orchestra in 
Davenport.
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Thanks for letting us share this thrill
Tommy & Sthomas Henderson