Tango: music as serious as any

Tango emerged in Argentina as a romantic partner dance in the late 1800s. Often played in brothels and bars, it may not have been considered the most highbrow form of music.

Astor Piazzolla, born 1921 in Buenos Aires, quickly took to the accordion-like bandoneon, and reached virtuoso status rather early in life. To the distaste of more traditional tangueros, he strove to develop tango into a more serious art form.

Nadia Boulanger took Piazzolla as his student in classical composition, but discovered his true indentity was in his own breed of tango. Inspired by the complexity of jazz and the elegance of classical music, Piazzolla created nuevo tango — music fitting for the concert hall.

Bandoneonist Julien Labro is keeping the nuevo tango dream alive with his arrangement of Piazzolla’s Las Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires).

He and classical guitarist Jason Vieaux perform the piece with the New West Symphony, along with Canvas, a World Premiere double concerto by Labro.