Join us on Monday, September 30th at 12:10 PM on WRTI 90.1 for tango music and conversation with an ensemble of piano, bandoneon, and violin, recently recorded live in the WRTI Performance Studio. WRTI's Susan Lewis is host.
Tango music and dance, which has flourished in Argentina and Uruguay from the mid-19th century, is alive and thriving in Philadelphia. In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the director of the Philadelphia Argentine Tango School and Argentinian guest artists visit WRTI's Performance Studio to perform contemporary and traditional arrangements of tango.
Artists:
Emiliano Messiez, composer and pianist
Leandro Ragusa, composer and bandoneon player
Gustavo Rember, dancer
Meredith Klein, dancer
WRTI Program, featuring arrangements for piano and bandoneon, with dancers joining for the finale (Danzarin):
Leandro Ragusa, Tema de Cata (2015; New arr 2019).
Emiliano Messiez, Cesar's Tango (working title for piece, which is part of new musical-in-progress, Bordello, book and lyrics by Barbara Bellman) (2019).
Astor Piazzolla, Adios Nonino ( 1959)
José Luis Padula, Nueve de Julio (1918)
Julian Plaza, Danzarín (premiered in 1956).
More about the artists:
Pianist EMILIANO MESSIEZ, from Argentina, is based in New York. He is the pianist of the Broadway hit show "Forever Tango", and director of the Típica Messiez, the only complete U.S.-based tango orchestra.
Bandoneonist LEANDRO RAGUSA lives in Argentina. He is a prolific performer, including with his Quinteto de Academia, and also teaches tango history at the University of Tango in Buenos Aires.
GUSTAVO REMBER is a tango dancer, organizer and DJ Based in Buenos Aires, and is also an economics and statistics professor.
MEREDITH KLEIN is a tango dancer, and director of the Philadelphia Argentine Tango School.
Upcoming Philadelphia area tango performances include:
Saturday, October 26: Tango Dueling Pianos show (Pianists Emiliano Messiez & Pablo Estigarribia) as part of the Fishtown Salon Concert Series.
Saturday, November 23: Típica Messiez, led by Emiliano Messiez, returns to perform in Philadelphia at the Lithuanian Music Hall, presented by Philadelphia Argentine Tango School. Leandro Ragusa is a member of the orchestra.
Saturday, December 14: Emiliano Messiez performs at the Fishtown Salon, presented by Philadelphia Argentine Tango School, in a concert featuring Ariel Ramirez's Misa Criolla.
