Astor Piazzolla

Born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921, died in Buenos Aires in 1992; Astor Piazzolla renewed the tango out of the union of its rhythmic tradition with jazz and classical composition. He spent part of his childhood in New York, where he came to know jazz and the music of Bach; in 1936 the family returned to Argentina, and at the age of 18 he joined Anibal Troilo’s orchestra. In the 1940s he studied composition with Alberto Ginastera; a scholarship took him to Nadia Boulanger in Paris, who encouraged him to return to the tango. He founded the Octeto Buenos Aires, the Quinteto Nuevo Tango and the Conjunto 9 and developed the Tango Nuevo in them. His works include “Adios Nonino”, “Libertango”, “Balada para un loco” and “Oblivion”, a bandoneon concerto and the opera “Maria de Buenos Aires” created with Horacio Ferrer. In the Cybele catalogue his music is represented on four albums. Astor Piazzolla: Tango Nuevo – a symphonic homage (2021) places Lothar Hensel on the bandoneon alongside the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen under Rasmus Baumann, with the Sinfonietta 1953, “Adios Nonino”, “Tangazo” and “Oblivion”. Piazzolla Resonances (2026) combines his Tango Nuevo with new tangos by Santiago Cimadevilla and Gabriel Nunez Arancibia; the Fracanapa New Tango Quintet plays, with Cimadevilla on the bandoneon, recorded on 16 and 17 June 2025 in the Stadthalle Meinerzhagen. In the audiobook Katrin Dorn: Tangogeschichten (2004), spoken by Mirjam Wiesemann, his music stands alongside the narrative, and on the live recording Doc Heilein and Friends Gala 2021 – Joyful (2022) “Oblivion” is heard with Anna Dorothea Mutterer and Timo Böcking.