TangOpera: a Journey Through the Lyric Routes of the Argentine Tango

Originally launched in 2013 with a sell-out concert at Southbank Centres 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.

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 worlds 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, Gustavino, Piazzolla, Hahn, Falla, Poulenc, Weill, Henrique, Lecuona, 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).