
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Saturday, May 10 - 7:30pm
Washington Performing Arts Presents Modern Warrior LIVE
Lisner Auditorium
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Washington Performing Arts presents the powerful music and storytelling production Modern Warrior LIVE on Saturday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Lisner Auditorium (730 21st St NW, Washington, D.C.). Created by Dominick Farinacci (internationally acclaimed jazz musician and former ambassador to Jazz at Lincoln Center), Modern Warrior LIVE brings a highly emotional musical performance together with the harrowing story of U.S. combat veteran Jaymes Poling’s experiences in war and his deeply personal process of transitioning back to civilian life.
Narrated by Poling himself, the musical performance led by Farinacci features a group of celebrated artists across multiple genres that seamlessly weaves throughout Poling’s story that speaks to the universal themes of resilience, healing, and our human ability to overcome. The performance features an evocative jazz-infused score performed by top vocalists Shenel Johns (regularly featured with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, including in “Billie and the Boys”) and Will Blaze (performs with Talib Kweli and Durand Bernarr), pianist Jonathan Thomas (“Stunningly good!” The New York Times), drummer Gabe Jones (known for his work across jazz, gospel, funk, and R&B genres), and others.
“I wanted to create a new way of storytelling that brings together an impactful story (told by the individual whose story it is) with the power of music,” says Farinacci. “My compositional approach was to orchestrate musically what was going on in Jaymes’s mind before, during and after combat. Throughout the show, the audience is experiencing this story in two ways at the same time – through Jaymes’s own words, and through the music.”
“Dominick Farinacci is hands-down, one of the smartest and most gifted musicians of our time, and it’s been thrilling to follow his career over the past 20 years, said Washington Performing Arts President & CEO Jenny Bilfield. “He has assembled a band of top tier jazz virtuosos for Modern Warrior Live, fashioning a score that illuminates and complements Jaymes Poling’s breathtaking narrative. The combination of deeply personal storytelling and great music are at the heart of this production.”
Washington Performing Arts Board Chair Rudy Burwell said: “As a retired Army Colonel, I am so proud that we are presenting this powerful program. Modern Warrior LIVE translates the soul and visceral impact of military service into a language civilians can feel, revealing that beneath tactical expertise lies a universal human experience that connects us all. It is so important to me that we continue to find ways to engage our military and veteran community through art as a way of building understanding, connection, and healing.”
Since its debut in 2017, Modern Warrior LIVE has reached more than 10,000 veterans and 30,000 civilians through over 150 performances nationwide. The production has earned recognition from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the 26th U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and has been featured at major events and institutions including Amazon Headquarters and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing Conference, where it opened for Brené Brown.
“I admire what Dominick Farinacci and Jaymes Poling have created. The more of you engaging on this issue and restoring some balance in terms of characterizing our veterans as more than damaged goods can only be healthy for our vets, our armed forces recruiting, and our country.”
James Mattis
[26th US Secretary of Defense]
“[Modern Warrior LIVE] will lift you up and blow you away.”
The Honorable Denis Richard McDonough
[US Secretary of Veterans Affairs 2020 - present]
Modern Warrior LIVE Creators
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Musician Dominick Farinacci served as ambassador to Jazz at Lincoln from 2013-2015 in Doha, Qatar, working to further integrate music into communities around the world in culturally collaborative ways. He is a 2022 recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize, an honor previously awarded to author Toni Morrison, and Cleveland Orchestra conductors George Szell and Franz Welser-Möst. Dominick graduated from The Juilliard School in 2005 launching his career in Japan with a prolific run of eight albums, later releasing four more globally. He has performed around the world and has been recognized by The New York Times as “a trumpeter of abundant poise.” He was a featured guest on ABC’s Good Morning America and is a TED Speaker. Dominick has been profiled in Vanity Fair, and music icon Quincy Jones says of Dominick’s accomplishments in performance, recording, education & advocacy, “This kid is 360 degrees!”
Dominick has been successful in his personal endeavors on bringing music into the community through Arts and Wellness & Education. He was invited by TED to be a TED Speaker at the 2014 TED MED conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Dominick is the director of the Tri-C JazzFest Academy, a year-round pre-college program of Cuyahoga Community College, housed at the Gill and Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts in Cleveland, Ohio. His 2016 recording “Short Stories” was produced by four-time Grammy Award winning producer Tommy LiPuma, and features Jacob Collier, Christian McBride and Steve Gadd.
Dominick’s latest triple EP “Reflections” features a series of duo performances with acclaimed pianists such as Aaron Diehl, Dan Tepfer, Adam Birnbaum and Jonathan Thomas, and that EP has received more than 10 million streams to-date.
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Jaymes Poling brings to Modern Warrior LIVE the fully immersed experience of a three-tour warrior with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan. Dealing with the memories of war, the loss of friends, and the isolation a combat veteran finds when leaving the military, Jaymes began to find through narrative arts and dynamic public speaking that the potential for growth can indeed follow adversity.
Through education, writing, and public speaking, and now with the added layer of music, Jaymes came to recognize the universality of his journey which has evolved into a mission to bring to other veterans. He has engaged and interacted with military communities more than 120 times with Modern Warrior Live performances in schools, performing art centers, universities and even in a renowned prison, and now in a one-hour cinematic version. He’s also spoken about mental health challenges at home and at the front with thousands of active-duty soldiers in Afghanistan, through visits there with the Troops First Foundation.
He says he wants – needs - to share his journey from isolation to healing, whether one-on-one, in a cohort of five veterans or in a concert hall seating 4,000.
Jaymes grew up in Warren, Ohio, and enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 17. He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina as an infantryman. During his eight years with the division, he spent three years fighting in Afghanistan as a Machine Gunner and Squad Leader. He earned a finance degree at John Carroll University in May 2018; he draws upon that knowledge and his armed forces experience in managing Modern Warrior’s nonprofit operations and business planning.
His focus now: sharing his journey with members of the military community and partnering with organizations to help veterans find their own peace after war.






















What People Are Saying
“One of the most moving, touching experiences regarding war that I’ve felt since returning from Vietnam 46 years ago!”
— Attendee
“Having lost my son to suicide, this performance brought me peace.”
— Attendee
“The show is like nothing else I've ever experienced; it is a genre unto its own. I was so entirely captivated by the interplay of the story with the music that I did not breathe for large sections of this performance.”
— Attendee
“Modern Warrior reminds veterans they are not victims and that they can use their experiences to grow and make significant contributions to society.”
— Anthony Principi, Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2001 - 2005)
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