"An experience like no other."
- Charlotte Wickert, keyboard
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History of TD Orchestra
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Beginnings
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The idea of TD Orchestra goes back to March 2020, when Dr. Tatsuya Daniel, then a final-year undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), came up with the idea of a remote recording project with the MIT Wind Ensemble percussionists after the emergence of COVID-19 forced everyone to leave campus. Dr. Daniel composed the entire piece, which was the first time he had composed anything.
Since then, Dr. Daniel continued to write more music, most notably Endeavor, another percussion piece that the MIT Wind Ensemble percussionists recorded in November 2020, followed by an entire album, called Sounds of Percussion, which was released in February 2022 and gained international recognition. After that, Dr. Daniel (at that point a PhD candidate at Brown University) assembled a full orchestra, which he named after himself and officially founded in November 2022. The orchestra has recorded and performed his compositions, and plans international tours on a regular basis.
Read the full history and outlook of the TD Orchestra (until March 2023) here.
Sounds of Percussion (2022): the album that sparked international collaborations
On February 6, 2022, 23 musicians from what would eventually become the TD Orchestra, most of whom percussionists, released an album called Sounds of Percussion on over 70 music stores worldwide, including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and YouTube Music. The night of its release, the album was premiered online on YouTube; the livestream was viewed by 11,000 people around the world in real time, with another 2,000 watching it within 24 hours of the premiere.
Along with the album pieces, the 5-hour Sounds of Percussion premiere featured music videos and performances from people and groups all around the world, most of whom still collaborate with TD Orchestra. Additionally, the premiere included virtual performances of the MIT Wind Ensemble percussion section recorded from spring 2020 until summer 2021, most notably a creative rendition of Stool Pigeon by Julie Davila.
Click below to see more!
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Sounds of Percussion: Full Videos
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Sounds of Percussion Album World Premiere on YouTube
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Sounds of Percussion on Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music and YouTube Music
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Sounds of Percussion Album World Premiere concert program
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What Makes Us Human premiere (2023)
In April 2023, about 25 TD Orchestra musicians premiered a piece called What Makes Us Human, which was written by Tatsuya Daniel and is dedicated to all the music schools TD Orchestra has around the world, and to all the people and communities they serve. The musicians premiered the piece on back-on-back days, first at Brown University and then the following day at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). These concerts were the first time that a group of TD Orchestra musicians had performed together in person, post-pandemic.
During both concerts, a video preceded the live premiere of the piece, which highlighted everything TD Orchestra had done up to that point; it already had projects in seven countries around the world despite only being five months old at the time of the performances.
The What Makes Us Human video can be found here, as well as recordings of the performances at Brown and MIT.
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TD Orchestra begins traveling (2023-24)
As collaborations around the world continued to develop as a result of the Sounds of Percussion premiere in 2022, Dr. Daniel (then still a PhD candidate at Brown) traveled to six countries in southeast Asia and Oceania in August 2023 for in-person meetings, including Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Papua New Guinea. This was the first time that he or anyone had traveled internationally in affiliation with TD Orchestra. While in PNG, Dr. Daniel met the Deputy Prime Minister, John Rosso.
In March 2024, TD Orchestra members embarked on a tour to Germany and the Czech Republic. This was the first TD Orchestra tour, and the first time members traveled as a group. The tour was organized in collaboration with Architects of Music, who runs a music school in Uganda and whose co-founders are German.
Meanwhile, TD Orchestra's collaborator in PNG, MoArts, connected the orchestra to Sister Cities International (SCI), a US-based government organization which fosters cultural exchange between cities in the US and cities outside of the country. SCI invited TD Orchestra to join them at the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in Honolulu in June 2024. Around the same time, TD Orchestra was invited to perform at the 2024 Lions Club International Convention in Melbourne, Australia, which was also scheduled for that June. Between Hawaii and Australia, TD Orchestra members stopped in Japan. This tour marked the first time that TD Orchestra worked with EducationUSA, a US Department of State program that promotes US higher education internationally.
2025-26: More collaborations, recordings, and interviews
In January 2025, TD Orchestra traveled to seven countries in South America and the Caribbean -- Jamaica, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Aruba. Most events and concerts were organized in collaboration with EducationUSA. In Aruba, TD Orchestra was featured on the national news, the first time the group was featured on national media in any given country or region.
TD Orchestra embarked on another tour that summer, visiting nine countries across three continents (Canada, Portugal, Italy, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey). The tour kicked off by recording an EP and a new version of Music Can Change the World in Toronto with international award-winning musicians Tréson and Margaret Maria. This was the first time that TD Orchestra members recorded live in a studio. During later stops in the tour, TD Orchestra collaborated largely with EducationUSA and US embassies to organize its activities, further developing the orchestra's connection to US embassies around the world. Additionally, in Kazakhstan a notable connection was made to the Nazarbayev University (NU) Orchestra.
From early December 2025 until late January 2026, another tour brought the orchestra and initiative to eleven countries and regions across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia (Tunisia, Cyprus, Jordan, Kuwait, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Oman, India, Cambodia, Laos, Hong Kong). During the tour, Dr. Daniel was interviewed by a journalist in Addis Ababa, and the interview aired on national Ethiopian TV.
2026-27: More media coverage and invited opportunities
In June 2026, media crew and production teams accompanied TD Orchestra in several countries on its Asia tour to Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Interviews were conducted in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, with national media appearances in both countries. Footage for a music video was also shot in Hanoi. During the tour, TD Orchestra organized a workshop and music reading session at the Royal College of Sri Lanka. As a result of the event, Dr. Daniel was invited back to Sri Lanka to guest conduct a concert in October 2026 involving the Royal College Western Orchestra, Royal College Choir, and Visakha Vidyalaya Senior Choir.
For January 2027, TD Orchestra is planning a tour to east and southern Africa. The orchestra will look to begin collaborating with Japanese embassies during the tour and reaching more Japanese audiences, following its now well-documented work with American embassies globally.
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