Victory Players Chamber Orchestra Season 8

Victory Players Chamber Orchestra: Season 8… It’s hard to keep track but I think we have commissioned and premiered almost 50 new works since 2018 - new works that share new stories that were not always welcome in the country club we still call "classical music." Many of these commissions have spun off into other projects, commissions, and even my debut album this past year. This has been the most challenging but rewarding experience of my life. I learn new things every year - yes, how to play the clarinet in new ways that always challenge and humble me, but so much more than that; I’ve connected with so many different people from all over the world who have shared their culture, rhythms, and sounds with us - I even learned how to drum and dance bomba from the great masters Bomba De Aqui. Information I could have never had the privilege to access otherwise, shared with us so openly, generously, and trustingly.

Music is our way out of this mess. It teaches us how to collaborate and share with people who are different than us. And to truly connect. I am so grateful for these experiences.

Next week, another spinoff takes us to Yale School of Music with Armando Bayolo’s new Cancionero de Luto with the Yale Choral Artists!

To the composers: Odaline de la Martinez Kiegan Ryan Luis Quintana Sonia Ivette Morales-Matos Felipe Salles Andrés Ballesteros

And the players: Samuel Abraham Vargas Teixeira Linda Hwang Giovanni A. Pérez Nathan Ben-Yehuda Rob Rocheteau Ng Tian Hui, Conductor

Thank you.