About the Artist/Ensemble
Victor Haskins is a multi-instrumentalist, multidisciplinary artist, international performer, composer, and educator. Haskins creates transformative, sound-based works which channel the power of human connection, immediacy, and inventiveness to engage with time and space. Victor specializes in creating unforgettable memories through the power of performance.
Victor has been featured at the Richmond, Elkhart, and Apex Jazz Festivals, the Festival of New Trumpet Music, the Kennedy Center REACH Center Opening Festival, and the Christopher Newport University Trumpet Festival. He has performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (Washington, D.C.), the Jazz Gallery (NYC), iBeam (NYC), Résonance Café (Montreal, CA), Diese Onze (Montreal, CA), Snug Harbor (New Orleans, LA), the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Durban, South Africa), Teatro SESI Rio Vermelho (Salvador, Bahia, BR), amongst others.
Haskins has been commissioned to create and perform innovative multidisciplinary works and workshops with his ImproviStory project by Sweet Briar College, 1708 Gallery, CultureWorks Richmond, The College of William & Mary, the Branch Museum of Design and Architecture, and the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Performing & Visual Arts Magnet Program. Victor has released 2 albums of diverse, original, improvised music with Victor Haskins & SKEIN (“Showing Up” in 2019, “Ikigai” in 2022), and continues to maintain an active performing schedule with this dynamic ensemble.
From 2014 until 2020, Victor created and led the In-School Jazz Ensemble program for the Kennedy Center in the Washington D.C.-Metropolitan area (for which he also created the program, called “Speaking of Jazz”). In this capacity, Victor brought his ensemble into numerous elementary, middle, and high schools to introduce students to the power and importance of jazz music. Haskins also teaches music at the College of William & Mary and Eastern Mennonite University. Haskins has presented educational ideas at institutions including (but not limited to) the Jazz Education Network Conference, the University of Georgia, Virginia Commonwealth University, the Royal Academy of Music (London), Conservatoir Nadia et Lili Boulanger (Paris), the University of Richmond, TEDxVCU, and TEDxLizardCreek.
Victor is proud to be sponsored by Eclipse Trumpets, and Denis Wick mouthpieces.
For more about Victor, visit http://victorhaskins.com
Read presenter testimonials on Victor here: https://www.victorhaskins.com/testimonials
Concert/Performance Description
ImproviStory
ImproviStory™ is a one-man-band where musician and sound artist Victor Haskins creates improvised, story-like soundscapes. The soundscapes provide a cinematic soundtrack to our imaginations. Audience members are immersed in the ImproviStory and have their own personal, internal experience with what kind of story is suggested to them based on their perception of the energy of the soundscape. Sometimes, other artistic mediums, such as film, theatre, or dance, are combined in collaboration with the soundscapes. The result is an even more impactful, transformational journey of the mind, senses, and heart.
ImproviStory performances include a talkback element with the audience to answer questions, discuss themes, and investigate artistic choices and processes.
ImproviStory videos: https://bit.ly/ImproviStoryplaylist
Victor Haskins & SKEIN
Victor Haskins & SKEIN performs music that inspires the human spirit. As the band’s name suggests, the members of Victor Haskins & SKEIN weave together improvisational threads of emotional melodies and infectious rhythms. The result: dynamic tapestries of uplifting spiritual stories rendered in sound, song, and groove. Scintillating, synthesized tones meld with rumbling drums and sizzling cymbals as dark, smoky cornet notes dance in the air atop a deep, lithe bass. Victor Haskins & SKEIN’s ethereal and electrifying performance of all-original music takes the audience to another dimension; the journey is as beautiful as the destination.
Victor Haskins & SKEIN has been featured at the Henrico Jazz Festival, Richmond Jazz Festival, Lake Anna Jazz Festival, Jazz on the Bluff, Kennedy Center REACH Opening Festival, Williamsburg Regional Library Dewey Decibel Series, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Victor Haskins & SKEIN has also appeared at a number of schools and educational institutions to perform and give educational presentations, including Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Richmond, William & Mary, and countless grade schools to introduce children to the power of Black music.
Some of the activities of Victor Haskins & SKEIN have been supported by grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, CultureWorks Richmond, and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.
***Featured Show: “Ikigai”
Victor Haskins and his world-class music ensemble, SKEIN, perform original works from their latest album: “Ikigai”. Ikigai is a Japanese concept meaning “reason for living”. Grooves and rhythms from diverse cultures around the world are combined to explore concepts based on self-development and growth. Throughout the event, parables link the meaning of the music. This is more than a concert; this is an experience for the heart and mind.
Victor Haskins & SKEIN videos: https://bit.ly/vxhskeinplaylist
Technical Requirements
Professional sound and lighting are to be provided by the presenter in accordance with Artist’s Technical Rider (contact Victor Haskins directly to discuss specifics of a Tech Rider for your venue and production capacity)
Educational Programs
“The Other America…Is Here, Now”
A Multimedia/Musical Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Come experience a powerful concert of emotionally-gripping original music and special arrangements of historically-relevant music to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his ideas. When most folks think of Dr. King, they immediately gravitate to his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. However, his vision and understanding of America’s problems run much deeper than that single speech.
This event is a musical exploration of Dr. King’s less-talked about speech, “The Other America”. Parallels will be drawn between this speech (given more than 50 years ago) and issues of the current day to show how King’s America and the America of today share much in common. Artist Victor Haskins leads his world-class ensemble in transporting the audience on a journey to take a closer look at our present times through the lens of the past.
Pictures from a live presentation of this show: https://bit.ly/victorhaskinsmlk
“Speaking of Jazz”
The mission of “Speaking of Jazz” is first and foremost to introduce children to the power and relevance of Jazz music. This program shows that jazz is a particular way that people communicate with music very similar to how we communicate with words. Listening, improvisation, and freedom of expression are the main components which make jazz special and vital. These concepts can be applied to other areas of life, too. Components of the presentation include directed listening, interactive performances (where students sing along with and be a part of the tunes played at certain times), as well as music specifically designed to be relatable to young students.
Pictures of various in-school performances: https://bit.ly/speakingofjazz
Fees
Fees are negotiable—please contact Victor Haskins directly to discuss the following shows
- ImproviStory show
- Victor Haskins & SKEIN show
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute show
- “Speaking of Jazz” presentation
Travel and accommodation expenses to be determined by service and location
Availability
Throughout the year
Audience
- All Ages