Phoenix Ensemble

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of violinist Gabe Bolkosky and cellist Derek Snyder. And, for the third year in a row, the ensemble is devoting a weekend series of concerts to the music of Astor Piazzolla.

It's been said that Piazzolla did for Argentina's tango what George Gershwin did for American jazz: he moved his nation's popular music from the dance floor to concert halls. Thirteen years after his death, Piazzolla's music transcends boundaries both national and musical. Like Gershwin's, it is everywhere, and played by popular, jazz, and classical musicians alike. Growing out of, and strongly rooted in, the passionate and provocative tanguero tradition, Piazzolla's music also incorporates his extensive classical training and jazz studies. His nuevo tangos, romantic, sensual, and dramatic like the traditional tango, also employ Bach-like fugues and counterpoint, as well as dissonances and harmonic complexities found in Bartók and Stravinsky. Not only that, they often encourage improvisation and really swing! Piazzolla composed over 3,000 pieces, from cello-piano duets and music for small ensembles to symphonic works. Many have been arranged for various instruments, but to truly express the soul of his music you need a bandoneon, the voice of the tango and the instrument on which he performed.