Originally launched in 2013 with a sell out concert at Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room as part of La Linea Festival, the TangOpera project returns with its heady fusion of tango and high art. Join us to celebrate the release of their much-awaited debut album: TangOpera: a Journey Through the Lyric Routes of the Argentine Tango.
'Magical'. BBC Radio 3
'So beautiful.' BBC Radio 4
'Strong performances'. The Guardian
'Full of vitality.' The Times
A celebration of cultural diversity, the programme illuminates the rich and complex history of the Argentine tango, tracing its trajectory through the trade routes of the Atlantic, which provided the melting pot for a diverse range of influences towards the development of the world’s arguably most multicultural art form. African rhythms rub shoulders with Italian bel canto opera and canzonetta, Cuban habanera, Spanish flamenco, Brazilian maxixe, French chanson, and Eastern European folk tunes, their traces revealed in the juxtaposition of opera and zarzuela arias, lieder, tangos and musical theatre songs, by composers as seemingly disparate as Puccini, Bizet, Guastavino, Piazzolla, Hahn, Falla, Poulenc, Weill, Henrique, Rachmaninov and Cole Porter.
Conceived by the British Latinx pianist, Helen Glaisher-Hernández, the event offers a rare opportunity to hear the exhilarating voices of two leading Argentine opera stars: soprano Jaquelina Livieri, and Latin Grammy Nominee Leonardo Pastore - ’an extraordinary tenor whose heart beats to the tango' (Echoes Magazine). Accompanied by full ensemble, the line-up also includes guest performances by dancers from the LDA Tango Company. The beautiful gothic church of St James's Sussex Gardens provides the perfect setting in which to enjoy an evening of irreverent musical border-crossings and surrender yourself to the seductive allure of the tango.
Carlos Gardel El día que me quieras
Enrique Delfino Griseta
(After) Giacomo Puccini Tango bohemio (arranged by L Pastore, H Glaisher-Hdez and R Slonimsky)
Astor Piazzolla Yo soy María | Ave María
Georges Bizet L’amour est un oiseau rebelle
Kurt Weill Youkali
Reynaldo Hahn La barcheta
Francis Poulenc C’est ainsi que tu es
Sergei Rachmaninoff Ne poy, krasavitsa, pri mne
Manuel de Falla Tus ojillos negros
Cole Porter So in Love
Carlos Guastavino Milonga de dos hermanos | Pampamapa
Rodolfo Falvo Dicitencello vuie
Waldemar Henrique Adeus
Leonardo Pastore tenor
Jaquelina Livieri soprano
Helen Glaisher-Hernández piano
Mirek Salmon bandoneon
Elena Jáuregui violin
Laura Peribáñez cello
LDA Tango Company tango dancers
This is an Iberian and Latin American Music Society event organised in collaboration with Como No as part of La Linea Festival with the kind support of the Instituto Cervantes London and Pixaudio