In Memoriam, Helen Haynes

Dear PRISM Quartet friend,

Tim, Taimur, Zach and I are saddened to share news of the passing of our dear friend and collaborator Helen Haynes on March 26th. We will miss her sorely and send our heartfelt condolences to her daughter Chadra, and to her entire family.

An immensely talented visual artist whose work often reflected her passion for jazz, Helen was a beloved figure in Philadelphia’s music community. Over the course of her forty-plus year career, she wore many hats: executive director the the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts; director of the Office of Cultural Affairs at Montgomery County Community College where she curated and directed its Lively Arts Series; interim director of exhibitions and programs at the African American Museum in Philadelphia; director of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy (now Creative Philadelphia) under Mayor Nutter, and more.

Helen and I first became friends in the early 2000s. She spoke and wrote eloquently about the music that moved her. In all of her roles, she was a leader, but also a teacher and mentor whose passion for the arts was infectious. She had a gift for bringing people together.

Helen and I became especially close over the last few years while working together as co-curators of Generate Music, a PRISM Quartet project that premiered in June 2024. Writing for Chamber Music Magazine, Shaun Brady described the project as exploring “the historic, cultural, and creative ties between Black and Jewish Americans … Generate Music yielded original pieces from its nine commissioned composers, each interpreting a dauntingly complex subject through a lens of personal experience.”

About the project’s stakes, Helen wrote: “Music is an emotion that binds all of us. In struggle, sorrow, and pain. In joy, and exaltation. Such is the bond between us, the African American and the Jewish people, and is the narrative of this work. There is a knowing of great suffering and of resolve to overcome. We dwell in the castle of our culture, ancient and modern, reaching for the future. Generate Music addresses myths, hatreds, and stereotypes directed at us and between us, which have built up over time, and been passed along the generations. As the musicians speak to each other, Generate Music heals wounds to celebrate our bond and tell our story.”

In the course of our work together, I came to appreciate Helen’s brilliance even more fully. She was a deep thinker, big-hearted, joyful, eloquent, just plain fun, a beautiful soul. I like to think that our friendship embodied the spirit of Generate Music, which is ultimately about dialogue and empathy, living side by side, and seeing and accepting one another as complete and complex human beings.

Helen was looking forward to joining PRISM Quartet’s board this summer. To honor her legacy, we’ll be dedicating the upcoming Generate Music album (and future performances of the project) to her blessed memory.

Gary Miles of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a wonderful obituary on Helen, which I invite you to read. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, May 16, at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church located at 230 W. Coulter Street in Philadelphia.

Sincerely,