Family Fest

The Ocean Lives There

Artists

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  M.J. Fievre

  Author

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  Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, M.J. Fievre moved to the United States in 2002. She currently writes from Miami. 

  M.J.’s publishing career began as a teenager in Haiti. At 19 years old, she signed her first book contract with Hachette-Deschamps in Haiti for the publication of a Young Adult book titled “La Statuette Maléfique.” Since then, M.J. has authored nine books in French that are widely read in Europe and the French Antilles. In 2013, One Moore Book released M.J.’s first children’s book, “I Am Riding,” written in three languages: English, French and Haitian Creole. In 2015, Beating Windward Press published M.J.’s memoir, “A Sky the Color of Chaos,” about her childhood in Haiti during the brutal regime of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. 

  M.J. Fievre is the author of “Happy, Okay? Poems about Anxiety, Depression, Hope, and Survival” (Books & Books Press, 2019) and “Badass Black Girl: Questions, Quotes, and Affirmations for Teens” (Mango Publishing, 2020). She helps others write their way through trauma, building community and creating social change. She works with veterans, disenfranchised youth, cancer patients, survivors and victims of domestic and sexual violence, minorities, the elderly, those with chronic illness or going through transition and any underserved population in need of writing as a form of therapy - even if they don’t realize that they need writing or therapy. 

  A long-time educator and frequent keynote speaker (Tufts University, Massachusetts; Howard University, Washington, D.C.; the University of Miami, Florida; and Michael College, Vermont; and a panelist at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference, AWP), M.J. is available for book club meetings, podcast presentations, interviews and other author events. 

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  Ethan Soledad

  Composer

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  Composer, The Ocean Lives There
  Commissioned by the Adrienne Arsht Center and Greater Miami Youth Symphony

  Bold, dramatic, with an exquisite attention to detail, Ethan Soledad (b. 1999) is a Filipino-American composer whose work aims to express emotions in their most raw form. He was born and raised in Broward County, attended Everglades High School and graduated from Florida State University in 2021 with a degree in music composition.

  An experienced singer, he incorporates drama in his work, emphasizing the importance of silence and one’s perception of time. Ethan’s music draws from a wide palette of compositional styles and colors ranging from impressionism and neoclassicism to post-minimalism and the avant-garde. His musical style is marked by unapologetic expression, dynamic extremes, and the ability to do more with less but never shying away from doing more with more.
  
  Ethan received an honorable mention for his first music commission from the New York Youth Symphony, one of the most renowned commissioning programs for American composers. His compositions have been performed at distinguished events all over the country, including the TUTTI Festival at Denison University, PREMIERE|Project Festival by Choral Arts Initiative, Albany (NY) Symphony’s Orchestrating in the 21st Century Workshop, the Etchings Festival, Charlotte New Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival Composer Symposium and Curtis Institute's Young Artist Summer Program.

  His music has been performed and recognized by Fifth House Ensemble, the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble (ECCE), Fear No Music, Crossing Borders Music, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, The Choral Project, the Beo String Quartet, and the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York.