Ballet Tucson Announces Its Winter Concert Viva Piazzolla!
As part of Tucson Desert Song Festival 2019 with special musical guests singer Carlos Zapién and Bandini-Chiacchiaretta Duo from Italy for three performances February 1-3 at Pima Community College Center for the Arts (Proscenium Theatre).
Mauricio Vergara and Jenna Johnson in Viva Piazzolla!
Photo by Ed Flores
Viva Piazzolla! portrays the emotionally charged life of legendary composer and nuevo tango godfather, Astor Piazzolla, through live music and dance. Chieko Imada and Mary Beth Cabana have created an original and exciting work in collaboration with Tucson Guitar Society and The Rogue Theatre. The choreography reflects the progression of Piazzolla’s musical compositions, moving stylistically from classic to contemporary “nuevo tango” music. Visual drama, lush movement, engaging dialogue, and passionate live music and song combine for a spectacular Winter Concert.
Ballet Tucson leads a stellar cast in this full-evening theatrical experience. Special guest artists include singer Carlos Zapién and Bandini-Chiacchiaretta Duo from Italy incorporating guitar and bandoneon into the production. The unique sound of the bandoneon is synonymous with Astor Piazzolla.
Daniel Precup performs the lead role of Astor Piazzolla. Prima Ballerina Jenna Johnson and leading dancers Megan Steffens and Shannon Quirk depict the key women in his life. The entire company joins together to present rousing and colorful choreography making Viva Piazzolla! a feast for the senses and an event not to be missed.
About Bandini-Chiacchiaretta Duo:
Giampaolo Bandini-Cesare Chiacchiaretta Duo, guitar and bandoneon, formed in 2002 pursuing the clear aim to propose Argentine music through the charm and magic of its most representative instruments. The duo immediately became an important point of reference in the international concert circuit thanks to their great communicativeness combined with extraordinary charisma. Invited by the most important festivals and theatres in the world, they have toured in Mexico, Romania, China, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland, Croatia, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey, the Czech Republic, and Hungary meeting outstanding critical and audience approval.
Megan Steffens and Vasily Boldin in Viva Piazzolla!
Photo by Ed Flores
The duo had the privilege to play Astor Piazzolla’s Double Concerto Hommage a Liegi conducted by Maestro Leo Brouwer at the Auditorium Paganini of Parma and for the Unione Musicale of Turin with the renowned Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra conducted by Pavel Berman. In 2004, they were awarded the 15th “Beniamino Joppolo” Città di Patti Prize (in the province of Messina, Italy) for remarkable artistic achievements in the field of music. In 2005, the duo made their debut in the prestigious Grand Hall of Saint Petersburg Academic Philharmonic achieving such great success that they were immediately asked to play for the following two years. Their peculiarity of living music to the full and without boundaries leads them to work together with prominent artists such as Arnoldo Foà, Elio delle Storie Tese, Amanda Sandrelli and musicians such as Fernando Suarez Paz, Michele Pertusi, Corrado Giuffredi, Danilo Rossi, Massimo Quarta, Enrico Bronzi, Franca Masu, Maria Estela Monti, Enrico Fagone and many others.
Their first CD Hombres de Tango sold more than ten thousand copies and was greeted with great enthusiasm by the critics. They have recorded for the most important radio and television broadcasters in Italy and abroad. Recently, a concert held in Brussels was broadcast via satellite in more than twenty countries. As teachers, they are requested by the most renowned academies and universities and hold classes at the institutes of higher education “Luigi Boccherini” in Lucca and “Tito Schipa” in Lecce as well as at the Summer Festivals of Gubbio and Portogruaro.
About Carlos Zapién:
Carlos Zapién was born in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora. He began his studies at Conservatorio de Las Rosas in Morelia, Michoacán. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Oregon. Further studies took Zapién to the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart, where he earned the Soloist title under the tutelage of the
tenor Francisco Araiza and the soprano Dunja Vejzovic.
Megan Steffens, Caitlin Calligan & Taylor Carlson in Viva Piazzolla!
Photo by Ed Flores
He has concertized in his native Mexico, Austria, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, and U.S. As a member of the Oregon Opera Ensemble, he has participated in diverse operatic productions, including La Cambiale di Matrimonio (Rossini), The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart). In 2007, he made his European operatic debut as Count Belfiore in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera with the Thuringian Philharmonic at the Ekhof Festival. Later he sang Schubert’s Mass in B flat Major at the Gasteig in Munich with the Bach Collegium of Munich. In Pisa, he took on the role of Alfred in Die Fledermaus with the Jenaer Philharmonic. In 2009, Zapién performed a Rossini Gala with the Reutlingen Philharmonic and appeared at the Schloss Solitude in Jommelli’s opera Didone Abbandonata with the Stuttgart Philharmonic. He has collaborated with conductors such as Hansjörg Albrecht, Glen Cortese, Miguel Harth- Bedoya, Frieder Bernius, Hermann Breuer, Jörg-Hannes Hahn, Jörg Halubek, Manfred Honeck and David Parry, to name but a few.
Mr. Zapién was named Artist in Residence at the Opera Studio of the Staatsoper Stuttgart in 2009, where he performed various roles from Il Trovatore to The Marriage of Figaro, and stayed in that house until 2012, where he created the role of the son of Medea in Fremd by Hans Thomalla, collaborating with Maestro Johannes Kalitzke (Opernwelt 2012) and sung the challenging role of Niko in Gegen die Wand (Faust-Preis 2011). Recent performances in Europe include the Oratorio Jonas by Carissimi, Brescianello’s La Tisbe, Bach’s Magnificat and the tenor role in Orff’s Carmina Burana.
In 2013, he was appointed Director of Music of the Cathedral of Saint Augustine, in Tucson,
Arizona.
PERFORMANCE DATES/TIMES
Friday, February 1 – 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 2 – 2:00 pm
Sunday, February 3 – 1:00 pm
Pima Community College – Center for the Arts (Proscenium Theatre)
2202 W. Anklam Rd.
TICKETS
General $45
Seniors/Students/Military $40
Phone: 800.838.3006
Online: www.BalletTucson.com
