Leonardo Suarez Paz                                     Ron Lawrence

violin, voice                                                     viola



                   

Hector Omar Falcon                                        Danny Miller

violin                                                                cello

The Latin GRAMMY-Award nominated Cuartetango String Quartet has risen to the forefront of 21st-century nuevo tango. The ensemble is leading the way toward a new expression of a rich musical culture, performing the works of Argentina’s celebrated composer Astor Piazzolla, his contemporaries, and renowned post-Piazzolla composers, who have arranged and written specifically for this unique quartet, such as Nestor Marconi, Carlos Franzetti, Osvaldo Berlingieri, Osvaldo Requena, Lisandro Adrover, Saul Cosentino, Leonardo Suárez Paz and others. 


Cuartetango possesses classical virtuosity and stays true to the authenticity, power and the unique urban ‘swing’ characteristic of tango, demonstrating it as an artistically complex, emotionally moving and daring genre. Director and first violinist Leonardo Suárez Paz has created a unique personality and sound for this quartet, taking tango of the Golden Age (1940s and 50s,) and elevating it with the contemporary harmonies and rhythms of nuevo tango. Few artists could have been better suited for the task of creating a string quartet which can communicate in the language of tango, as 4th generation tango artist Mr. Suárez Paz, who’s father Fernando had been Piazzolla’s collaborator for over a decade. Leonardo Suárez Paz shares his direct link with the masters of the Golden Age with whom he worked since a young age and with Piazzolla, with whom he grew up and who’s legacy he carries into the future.


Cuartetango has performed and recorded with GRAMMY-winning violinist Fernando Suarez Paz, singer Beatriz Suarez Paz, Néstor Marconi, Osvaldo Berlingieri, Leopoldo Federico, Piazzolla’s collaborator and lyricist Horacio Ferrer, Quinteto Suarez Paz (Piazzolla’s Quintet), Juan Carlos Zunini, Lisandro Adrover, Marcelo Nisinman and many others. The group has been featured on Argentina’s National Television in a live broadcast from the Teatro Colon Opera House (2004), in a special on PBS WHYY “On Canvas,” (2009) and on “Rhythm and Roots,” an Ebru TV program dedicated to music, which won an EMMY award in 2010.


Cuartetango’s first CD, L’Atelier, was released in 2005 on EMI Classics. In 2012 the group released a historic album Masters of Bandoneon, on Azica/Naxos, which won 2 Latin GRAMMY-Award nominations as Best Tango Album and Best Contemporary Classical Composition.


In addition, the quartet forms a central part of Cuartetango Music & Dance Company, Romance de Tango and Masters of Nuevo Tango shows, which are dedicated to presenting the rich history of tango through a synthesis of music, poetry, and dance. Cuartetango has appeared in the grand hall of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; the Lincoln Center in New York, the Teatro Pte. Alvear in Buenos Aires; the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York; Washington Square Music Festival; Buenos Aires Tango Festival; The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and in 2012 became the first tango group to perform live a the Annual Latin Grammy-Awards Ceremony.