NC Symphony Presents Tango Nuevo Concert Led by Grant Llewellyn, 1/26

The North Carolina Symphony takes concertgoers to the dance halls of Buenos Aires this January with a vibrant concert showcasing the depth and passion of "Tango Nuevo." The program, led by Music Director Grant Llewellyn, highlights the music of Argentine trailblazers Ástor Piazzolla, Osvaldo Golijov and more, with special performances by bandoneón legend Coco Trivisonno and tango dancers Daniel Arredondo and Karen Jaffe.

The concert takes place at Memorial Hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, and Meymandi Concert Hall, in downtown Raleigh's Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27-28, 2012. All three concerts begin at 8:00 p.m.

"I love Argentina," says Llewellyn, "and with this program I wanted to come up with something that embraces Argentinean music. Piazzolla is an extraordinary composer and in Osvaldo Golijov you have one of the hot talents of today. Add to it the bandoneón, Piazzolla's instrument of choice, and this program just leaps off the page."

The performance opens with Golijov's Last Round, a spirited test for the string section written in tribute to the greatest master of the modern tango, Ástor Piazzolla.

Beginning in the 1950s, Piazzolla invented and popularized Nuevo Tango, literally a new tango style that combined elements of traditional tango, Argentine folk music and contemporary classical, jazz and popular techniques.

"Traditional tango listeners hated me," he recalled. "People thought I was crazy. All the tango critics and radio stations of Buenos Aires called me a clown, they said my music was 'paranoiac.' And they made me popular. The young people who had lost interest in the tango started listening to me. It was a war of one against all, but in ten years, the war was won."

Audience members will hear this revolutionary and exciting sound in "Tango Nuevo" in two Piazzolla selections: his most critically celebrated work, Aconcagua, and his most popular tango, Adiós Nonino, written after his father's death.

Featured on both pieces is Coco Trivisonno, a modern master of the bandoneón who has performed with the likes of Herb Alpert, Stanley Clark and Placido Domingo, as well as Gustavo Santaolalla as part of Bajofondo Tango Club.

North Carolina-based professional tango dancers Daniel Arredondo and Karen Jaffe will also take the stage for Adiós Nonino, providing a taste of the fiery dance style that has shaped so much of music and dance culture.

The concert program also includes a contemporary tribute to Piazzolla in Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin's Re-collecting ASTORoids, "an inner dialogue between Piazzolla's world and my own," says the composer. It concludes with a favorite work by another Argentine visionary, Alberto Ginastera. The orchestra performs his electrifying Dances from the ballet Estancia, a resonant depiction of "the deep and bare beauty of the land, its richness and natural strength," wrote Ginastera in his preface to the score.

"Tango Nuevo" is the second program in the Symphony's Passport Series, a four-concert journey to some of classical music's most influential countries. It follows "Passport to Hungary," held in Chapel Hill and Raleigh, Jan. 12-14, 2012.

Also included in the series is a visit to Llewellyn's homeland, Wales, and the Symphony's much-anticipaTed May performance with violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman.

Details on the series, and the extraordinary savings offered by this four-concert package, are online at www.ncsymphony.org/passport.

Regular tickets to the Duke Medicine Classical Series Raleigh performances of "Tango Nuevo" on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 13-14, 2012, range from $33 to $48, with $30 tickets for seniors.

Tickets to the Chapel Hill Series performance on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, range from $33 to $48, with $30 tickets for seniors. Students receive $10 tickets at both venues.

For tickets, visit the North Carolina Symphony website at www.ncsymphony.org or call North Carolina Symphony Audience Services at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724. The Passport Series is presented in partnership with American Airlines.

Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh. Memorial Hall is located on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, at 208 E. Cameron Ave.

Pre-concert talks and "Meet the Artist" events are held before Symphony concerts across the state. These engaging conversations offer a unique perspective on the evening's featured composers, as well as the chance to ask questions and hear the inside story on what to listen for.

For "Tango Nuevo," Dr. Letita Glozer of UNC-Chapel Hill will present a pre-concert talk at UNC's Gerard Hall on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, at 7:00 p.m.

In Raleigh, Dr. Jonathan Kramer of North Carolina State University will present pre-concert talks in the Swalin Lobby at Meymandi Concert Hall on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27-28, 2012, at 7:00 p.m.

Additionally, Raleigh concertgoers can enjoy a free small ensemble performance of South American music. North Carolina Symphony members Maria Evola, Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky, Peng Li, Mary E. Boone and Andrew Lowy join guest artists Olga Kleiankina, Christine Martin and Nate Leyland for works by Piazzolla, Ginastera, Brazilian groundbreaker Heitor Villa-Lobos and contemporary Uruguayan-born composer Miguel del Aguila.

The concert, part of the Symphony's Manning Chamber Music Series, takes place at Kenan Auditorium on the campus of William Peace University in Raleigh on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony performs over 175 concerts annually to adults and school children in more than 50 North Carolina counties. An entity of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the orchestra employs 67 professional musicians, under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry and Associate Conductor Sarah Hicks.

Based in downtown Raleigh's spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts and an outdoor summer venue at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, N.C., the Symphony performs about 60 concerts annually in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary metropolitan area. It holds regular concert series in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington-as well as individual concerts in many other North Carolina communities throughout the year-and conducts one of the most extensive education programs of any U.S. orchestra.

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