Healing Through Music with Sydney Guillaume

Sydney Guillaume is a good friend of mine so this episode sounds more like a conversation between friends than an interview... because that's what it is.

Sydney leads by example

Praised by the Miami Herald for their “impressive maturity and striking melodic distinction”, Sydney Guillaume’s compositions are known to be intricate, challenging, and yet highly spirited. They promote human values and are full of heart and passion. His compositions continually enthrall choirs everywhere and have been performed around the world. They have been featured at numerous conferences and international festivals like the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the World Choir Games, and Ireland’s Cork International Choral Festival. . Guillaume also writes film music – he has written original film and documentary scores for the Los Angeles based company Loyola Productions.

Originally from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sydney Guillaume is currently residing in Portland, Oregon working as a full-time composer, and conductor and frequently doing workshops on his music with university and high school choirs throughout North America. Since 2013 he has been the conductor of Imbroglio Sextet, a group of musicians from Haiti, Spain, Bolivia, and the United States. In 2017, he was honored by the top music school in Haiti for his “great contribution in the expansion and the promotion of the music and culture of Haiti around the world.”

His recent activities as conductor include the 2022 Georgia All-State Senior Treble Choir, the 2019 Florida All-State Middle School Treble Chorus, the 34th annual Idaho State University Choral Invitational Festival, the 2018 Maine All-State High School Mixed Chorus, an all-Guillaume concert at the Lincoln Center in NYC, and concerts with the Imbroglio Sextet at Carnegie Hall and at the 2018 ISME World Conference in Azerbaijan.

Curious about the Hoyt Arboretum we mention in our conversation? Learn more here https://www.hoytarboretum.org/

Takeaways...

There are many ways to promote human values. One way to do this is through lyrics.
Principles to guide your life can support your own values and ensure you are living the way you intend.
Sydney's 4 guiding principles are:
- Mirror - remembering that every time you point a finger at someone there are three pointing back at you, asking yourself how you haven't been perfect and choosing to give people the benefit of the doubt
- Coherence - consistency, practicing what you preach
- Balance - not too much or too little of anything
- Humility - keep an open mind, listen to different perspectives, and remember you don't know everything
Brenda's 3 guiding principles are:
- Kindness - there's always time to be kind
- Patience - things can take time and people develop in their own time
- Perspective - be willing to look at things from multiple points of view
Do the work on yourself to be able to produce the work you really want
Reach out to the people who have impacted you. They really do love and value hearing from you