Alfonso Fuentes is a Puerto Rican composer, improvisation pianist, poet and educator, with international presence. He has produced a profoundly passionate, artistic, diverse, and inclusive canon of work; an endeavor that is still ongoing. He graduated from the New England Conservatory during the innovating times of the 1980’s. As former Interim Dean of Academic Affairs and current Associate Professor at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, he has successfully developed and implemented new teaching methods. Fuentes has been a visiting artist at the State University of New York at Albany, Hunter College-CUNY, Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Capital Normal University of Beijing among others; and participated in various music forums in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela. Fuentes has been an advocate before the Legislative Assembly for the development of music creation and local music employment in Puerto Rico. In appreciation to his contribution, La Corporación Arpegio (The Arpeggio Corporation) has created the Professor Alfonso Fuentes Scholarship for exceptional students in music composition, and the Alfonso Luis Fuentes Colón Award. As a Visiting Fellow in Princeton University, Fuentes will work in the orchestration of the first movement of his concerto for clarinet and large orchestra, Oda para los árboles caídos (Ode to the fallen trees), inspired by the devastation caused by hurricane María in Puerto Rico in 2017. This work constitutes a message of hope. Fuentes will be at PLAS from July 22 to August 4, 2018.