Victor Báez

Victor Báez gave his first signs of musical interest when he would constantly escape his classroom in order to sneak into the music room. He would then sit at the piano and explore the sounds for as long as it took him to get caught, which was usually not very long: he was in kindergarten. The curiosity that compelled him then would never deem to leave him.

His explorations in sound continued soon thereafter with classical piano lessons, but the need to create a soundworld of his own beckoned with increasing intensity; soon enough, he found himself writing his first compositions – from that point on, the initial curiosity turned into a lifelong path.

Along this path, Baez is happy to count many talented people and institutions as mentors, colleagues, and supporters:

• Detlev Müller-Siemens, Brian Ferneyhough, Helmut Lachenmann, and Jenny Lin;
• Klangspuren Festival, the Mexican Forum for New Music, the Darmstadt summer courses, the Mexican and Austrian radio;
• the film festivals of San Sebastián-Donostia, Guadalajara, La Habana, Biarritz, Vermont, and Dubai;
• the Fulbright commission and their generous scholarship, the Austrian Ministry of the Arts and Culture, and the Mexican Fund for the Arts and Culture;
• New York City, his home since 2014, among many others.

Professionally, his main interest is to collaborate with musicians and artists of any kind towards the realization of creative projects that will pose an interesting question or challenge – both to the artists and the audience involved.