Mizik Ayiti! Residency | Mikaëlle Aimée | Mar 5, 2026

Mikaëlle Aimée’s six week residency at HCX will feature unique performances weekly.

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Suggested donation includes a complimentary beverage.
Special pop-up offerings with local Haitian restaurants.
Limited capacity, RSVP strongly recommended.

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About the musician

Mikaëlle Aimée is a Haitian-American singer-songwriter based in New York. She sings and plays guitar and has become known for her dazzling performance styles ranging from Jazz, Folk, Soul, and across Haitian musical genres.

Mikaëlle Aimée first debuted on the Haitian Music scene in 2009 where she began performing regularly for the variety shows Ayiti Deploge, and Havana Guitar Night. She also participated heavily in the Port-au-Prince Jazz music scene between 2010 and 2014.

As lead singer of the jazz band Kayel, Mikaëlle Aimée held residence at the well-known Quartier Latin in Pétion-Ville, Haiti from 2010 to 2013.

She also hosted the popular television show "Metro Night" on Haiti’s Tele Metropole station between 2012 and 2014.

Mikaëlle's journey took an unexpected pivot when she found herself stranded in the US, in Summer 2014, due to passport complications. As luck would have it, the travel delays would be the catalyst that jumpstarted her music career here in the US.

She quickly plugged into the Haitian Jazz community and eventually joined some New York-based ensembles. She would later participate in the 2018 Apollo Theater Amateur Night, where she reached the semi-finals, marking her first major accomplishment on US soil.

Her musical pursuits have taken her throughout the 5 boroughs, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Miami and Atlanta. Her international performances include Spain, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

Mikaëlle Aimée released the soulful ballad "Lay me Down" in 2019 and Kreyol Funk tune, "Adye" in 2021.

She is currently in the process of completing her first EP "Hope in Disguise", with Queens based Producer Gurpal X, and is also working towards the release of several tracks in Haitian Creole.

For more information or booking, please contact Mikaëlle Aimée at [email protected] or visit her on Instagram @MikaelleAimeeIn 2025, she created "Soirée Sérénade", a compilation of Haitian traditional and folk music, french chansonettes, jazz and bossa nova. It serves as a representation of what would be popular on the radio when she was a child. The purpose of this show is to unite Haitians with a voyage through time, a bit of nostalgia for the exiled.

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HCX | Mizik Ayiti! Residency

HCX positions this invitational residency as an opportunity to innovate and workshop concepts and works-in-progress, showcase new work, and build networks for artists’ future presentation (e.g. booking, touring) at other cultural institutions and stages.

Rarely do artists receive a consistent opportunity to create and share in “real time”–to develop their ideas in a beta form, experiment, and refine amidst presenting publicly. Over the course of 6 weeks, resident artists receive a platform to fine tune approaches, activate jam sessions, and explore sonic possibilities while developing relationships with their audiences.

On Thursday evenings, artist-composers host unique sets joined by a rotation of guest artists and ensembles. Performances offer the opportunity to showcase new work and workshop arrangements across the musical landscape, from traditional genres reverberating the strength of the tanbou to the contemporary sound like fusion jazz and electronic music carrying Haitian vibration into the future.

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