A multifaceted musician, Víctor Pablo García-Gaetán keeps his hands busy making sounds and beats all over the place in NYC. A native of Carolina Puerto Rico, alumnus of Escuela Libre de Música de San Juan, and Temple University with a Bachelor and Master of Music in Orchestral Percussion, this rhythmist casts a wide musical net that ranges from contemporary chamber music, to Puerto Rican folklore, and many in-betweens.

Percussionist for the Grammy and Tony Winning Broadway musical by Alicia Keys Hell’s Kitchen, for the Tony Winning Broadway show by Kander & Ebb, Susan Strohman, and Lin-Manuel Miranda New York, New York, and the hit Broadway Revival of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster.

VP also keeps active performing with artists such as Jazz giant Arturo O’Farrill, NYC’s premier Puerto Rican folk ensemble Los Pleneros de la 21,  Alex “Apolo” Ayala, Fernando García, and with NYC’s own timba/salsa band People of Earth (PoE) which he co-directs, and composes for as well.

In 2024 he founds El Vapor de Brooklyn (VBK) - a diasporic Afro-Caribbean plena & bomba fusion ensemble (Listen here!) In 2026 VBK was awarded a Chamber Music America - Artistic Projects grant to record our first album. Coming soon!

In 2022 (PoE) went on to premiere Tentación Concerto for Timba Band and String Orchestra as soloists with The Louisville Orchestra under the baton of maestro Teddy Abrams composed for the ensemble by virtuoso Cuban drummer and composer Dafnis Prieto. They also performed it with the LA Philharmonic, The New World Symphony, and the Britt Festival Orchestra.

VP has also performed with artists like Conrad Tao, Miguel Zenón, Angélica Negrón, Liz Gilles, Cimafunk, Alarm Will Sound, Imani Winds, Orchestra of St. Luke, Itai Kriss, The Villalobos Brothers, Roomful of Teeth, Ismael Miranda, Nestor Torres, NG2, Andy Montañez, Lebo M, The National Symphony Orchestra, The Philly POPS, Exit 9 Percussion Group, The Delaware Symphony, Ricky Rodríguez, Mike Boone, among many others. In Broadway productions such as The Lion King Broadway, Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular feat. The Rockettes, Disney/Public Works’ Hercules, Beetlejuice The Musical, On Your Feet!, TINA, Cirque du Soleil Paramour, Pacific Overtures, Flaco Navaja’s Evolution of a Sonero, and Fuerza Bruta NYC. Victor can also be heard in film soundtracks such as Highest 2 Lowest (2025), In The Heights (2021) and Vivo (2021).

In addition to his work as a sideman, VP also composes for solo percussion, percussion ensemble, mixed ensemble, salsa orchestras, jazz bands, electronics, short films, theater productions, and his own music. In 2020 during the pandemic he designed the sound and produced the original soundtrack for Puerto Rican playwright Nirvania Quesada’s experimental adaptation of Cesar Aira’s Yo Era Una Chica Moderna. He also likes to experiment with the blending of the acoustic and the electronic as well as the juxtaposition of the modern and the timeless. 

VP is a teaching artist for Bélongo, and American Composer’s Orchestra. Victor Pablo has been a Step-Up Artist grantee of Pregones / PRTT Theatre, and uses Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, MEINL Percussion instruments, and MEINL Cymbals. Some of his compositions for percussion can be purchased at Bachovich Music Publications.