PHOTO: Krystal ConYé / H.J. Leonard

PHOTO: Krystal ConYé / H.J. Leonard

 

Bio

Victor Pablo Garcia Gaetan comes from a musical family from San Juan, Puerto Rico. At an early age, his father Victor Garcia - a pianist/composer - taught him his first rhythms: Puerto Rican plena on panderos, martillo on bongo, marcha on conga, cascara and campaneo on timbales, and songo on drumset.


In New York City Victor Pablo performs in Broadway pits, chamber concerts, jazz jams, salsa gigs, singer-songwriter shows, bombazos, plenazos, and is a member of contemporary percussion quartet ​Mobius Percussion,​ bomba/jazz group ​Fernando García Band,​ the ​TM Street Band,​ and is co-music director/composer/drummer for ​People of Earth​.


 


Victor is a versatile freelancer in the New York City music scene. Percussionist for Public Work’s Hercules and, he’s worked as timpanist for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring The Rockettes since 2016. VP often works in other Broadway and Off-Broadway shows such as Beetlejuice, The Lion King, On Your Feet!, TINA, Cirque Du Soleil: Paramour, Pacific Overtures, Invisible Thread (Witness Uganda), Flaco Navaja’s Evolution of a Sonero, Fuerza Bruta NYC.

He appears in recordings of Gilberto Santa Rosa, Victor García & La Sonora Sanjuanera, Fernando García, TM Street Band, Albert Sánchez, to name a few, and he can be seen in shows like Mozart In The Jungle, America’s Got Talent, and Especial Banco Popular De Puerto Rico Para El Mundo. He’s performed with artists like Arturo O’Farrill, Los Pleneros de la 21, Andy Montañez, Ismael Miranda, NG2, Michael Stuart, DLG, Frankie Negrón, Cita Rodríguez, Nestor Torres, Dayramir González, La Sonora Sanjuanera, Wordless Music Orchestra, Itai Kriss, La Mecánica Popular, Flaco Navaja, Nina Rodríguez, Redobles de Cultura, La 95 Salsa Orchestra, Orchestra of the Americas, Delaware Symphony, Symphony In C, Philadelphia Orchestra Percussion Group, Sõ Percussion.

At age 7 he studied with veteran drummer and educator Tony Sánchez, who taught him music theory as well. Later on his family moves over a town to Carolina where he studied with David Marcano at Escuela de Bellas Artes before enrolling at Escuela Libre de Música de San Juan. There he studied classical and popular music with Diana Valdés, Fermín Segarra, Mariano Morales, who also taught harmony. During the time he was also a student of Tito De Gracia, and Rolando Morales-Matos who is a dear mentor and friend. Victor later attends Temple University where he earns his BM and MM in Classical Percussion studying with Alan Abel, Chris Deviney, Glenn Steele, and Don Liuzzi.


Victor Pablo is an artist for Meinl Percussion, and has published some of his pieces on Bachovich Music Publications.