'Silent Film Scores for Social Justice' Album Release

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'Ricano Vol. 2 - Fruto de mi Corazón' Album Release

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'Discomfort' Album Release

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Established in 2010, Composers Now has been uplifting the voice of living composers of every genre and medium through performances of opera, musical theater, vocal and orchestral ensembles, as well as dance.  The Dialogue Series, started in 2015, brings these working composers together with an audience to openly converse about what it means to compose and perform in today’s day and age.

Tonight's event finds Composers Now founder & artistic director Tania León in conversation with Jazz Generations Initiative (JGI) co-founder Courtney Bryan, alongside New Orleans composers Sultana Isham and JGI cohort member Steve Lands. The conversation is also accompanied by a performance.

6:30pm Doors | 7:00pm Program

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Marking 15 years of championing living composers and amplifying their diverse creative voices, the renowned Composers Now will continue the celebration of its milestone anniversary season in a city synonymous with musical innovation with Dialogues in New Orleans at the New Orleans Jazz Museum on Thursday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m. This special presentation will launch a dynamic Fall/Winter 2026-2027 season of performances, world premieres, new commissions and composer-centered conversations designed to connect audiences directly with the creators shaping music today.

Dialogues in New Orleans will feature three Louisiana-rooted composer-performers, spotlighting the breadth and vitality of the region’s contemporary landscape to include: New Orleans native, 2023 MacArthur Fellow and composer-pianist Courtney Bryan; Baton Rouge–born composer and trumpeter Steve Lands; and award-winning composer and violinist Sultana Isham. Designed to place composers and their creative processes at the center of the experience, Dialogues pairs live performance with conversation, giving audiences insight into the ideas, influences and creative processes behind their work.

Bringing a distinct musical perspective to the stage, each composer will share a chamber work of approximately 10 minutes. Bryan will perform an excerpt from her piano concerto House of Pianos, newly arranged for piano and string quintet. Lands will perform the Prelude and Part 1 of his Draconid Suite for trumpet, piano and strings. Isham will share a work for string ensemble informed by her interdisciplinary approach to sound and storytelling.

Composers Now empowers all living composers, celebrates the diversity of their voices and honors the significance of their artistic contributions to the cultural fabric of society. LEARN MORE: https://www.composersnow.org/

Kerry James Marshall's paintings center Black life, history, beauty, and visibility through rich color and carefully composed scenes.

Participants will create an original artwork inspired by his approach to representing everyday Black experiences.

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Set: 10:30PM

Jam Session: 11:30PM

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VICTOR CAMPBELL presents SACRILEGE 

Cuban Folklore meets New Orleans Folklore in the 22nd Century 

A Jazz Generations Initiative 2026 Jazz Cohort Culminating Concert 

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6:30pm Doors  |  7:30pm Show |  21+

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Throughout 2026, this year’s JGI Jazz Cohort fellows have been contemplating healing in practice, democracy within jazz culture, and intergenerationality in the discipline of music. 

For cohort member Victor Campbell, this has led to an examination of boundaries in musical traditions, of religion versus spirituality, and an exploration of those thinly veiled moments in which an artistic gesture appears to cross a forbidden boundary. This idea is not necessarily about the rejection of tradition, but rather about interrogating the boundaries that tradition establishes. In particular, this means a departure from the traditional piano at which most know him to sit, and instead finds him among a spaceship of synthesizers.

We’ve been told to expect an Afrofuturist journey through Afro-Cuban rhythms, New Orleans musical traditions, elements of electronic music, and even classical forms. Yet, no genre or style is impossible in this realm. For, “if the blues is considered a sacred musical language, why then should sacred musical language not also be placed within a techno structure?” 

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“Music and its power over the subconscious is fascinating because of its ability to enter the soul without asking for permission.” ~Victor Campbell 

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Join us for an evening of brand new music, spirits both familiar and fresh, and an invitation to become a participant in this collaboration. This is Sacrilege as a Creative Principle. 

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Tonight’s performance features: 

Victor Campbell - keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines 

Jafet Pérez - drums, bass 

Katerin Cacao - saxophone, voice 

Gregory “Blodie” Davis - trumpet 

Paul Stewart - keys 

Nylah Bryant - dance 

• + Special Guests TBA 

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$20 GA Advance Online. $30 Day of Show. $35 Limited Reserved Front Section Seating. 

***Limited Capacity Venue, Advance Tickets Strongly Suggested*** 

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ABOUT VICTOR CAMPBELL:  

Victor Campbell is a young piano player hailing from Camagüey, Cuba. His compelling style combines virtuosity, whimsy, charisma and technical prowess. Notably, it is just plain fun to watch Victor perform. He started playing piano at age 5 and went on to train at Cuba’s National School of the Arts. He has since played all over the United States, and internationally. Victor first visited New Orleans in 2012 as a teenager, part of an exchange program with the Louis Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp. That visit changed his life and in 2019 Victor decided to relocate to New Orleans. He has been feverishly studying all styles of New Orleans music ever since, and incorporating it into his own musical language. He can effortlessly transition from a blues solo, to a Cuban timba montuno, and then right into a classical piano selection. In a 2019 interview, the great Chucho Valdés predicted that, “Victor will revolutionize Cuban jazz piano.” 

After performing as a featured new artist at several CubaNOLA showcases, Victor now has several New Orleans-based bands and collaborations, including his high-energy big band Timba Swamp, and is a fervent leader of the city’s growing Cuba-New Orleans fusion renaissance scene, which also includes collaborations with the Cuban funk phenomenon, Cimafunk, and New Orleans legends like Delfeayo Marsalis’ Uptown Jazz Orchestra, both of which Victor tours with regularly. Most recently, he was recruited to play piano on renowned musical director Raphael Saadiq’s Grammy-nominated song “I Lied To You” in the Oscar-nominated soundtrack for 2025’s Academy Award-winning film by director Ryan Coogler, "SINNERS.”  In 2026, Victor was selected as a Jazz Generations Initiative (JGI) New Orleans Jazz Cohort fellow, and is working on his debut studio album, projected for release in 2027. 

Bandleader and composer Papa Titos Sompa leads the Mbongi of Drums workshop series. Sompa will teach various Congolese rhythms and language.