Josué Jean-François Pierre

PIERRE, JEAN-FRANÇOIS, LAPORTE

Posted By: Tara (email)
Date: 7/3/2009 at 15:27:49

Josué Jean-François Pierre, 36, violinist, passed away Monday, November 22, 2004.

He was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on February 4, 1968 and was the son of Marie Mita Noel Jean-François Pierre and the late Gaston Jean-François Pierre who died at the age of 79-years-old in 1990.

Mr. Jean-François grew up in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where he studied music at the Holy Trinity Music School. He quickly became an accomplished musician in Haiti, serving as concertmaster of the Orchestre Philharmonique Ste Trinité, teaching violin and playing in the school's top string quartet. It was with that quartet that he and three fellow musicians won full scholarships to study music at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Duquesne University. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music (Violin Performance) and a minor in Pre-Med in 1994, Mr. Jean-François freelanced in Pittsburgh, New York and Connecticut. Later, he taught private violin students and public school orchestra and strings in New Haven, CT.

Mr. Jean-François earned an undergraduate degree in violin performance at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA in December 1994. He recently earned a Masters of Music in violin performance at the University of Iowa in May 2003.

He was to complete his Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2005.
He taught violin students of all ages in Haiti, Pittsburgh, Connecticut and more recently he taught both at the University of Iowa and at West Music in Coralville.

He was committed to giving back to his dear home country of Haiti. He frequently performed Haitian music and returned to the country to volunteer--teaching young students like himself in the hope that they would someday have similar opportunities as he.

He is survived by his mother and sister, Ester Jean- François Pierre, a host of relatives including his aunt Laiza Jean-Francois and his cousins Rose-Marie Laporte and Dukens Laporte and many longtime friends.