Symphony to host fundraiser, tango music concert at Masonic Center

Apr. 9—The Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra is hosting a concert and fundraising event Saturday, April 10, at the Masonic Center, 423 Bruce Ave.

The event begins with a reception, featuring wine and light fare, at 5:30 p.m. Those in attendance will have the opportunity to meet the musicians and past members of the orchestra.

The 7 p.m. concert, "Homage to Tango," is presented as a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Astor Piazzolla's birthday. The composer Piazzolla revolutionized traditional tango into a new style, termed "nuevo tango," incorporating elements from jazz and classical music.

Tickets for the event are $60 per person for the concert only, and $100 per person for the concert and reception. To purchase tickets, go to www.ggfso.org .

For this event, the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra has invited several of its former members, including Joel Tosta Alarcon, former concertmaster who is teaching in Delaware, and Vinicius Sant'Anna, first violinist in the Griffon Quartet, Madison, Wis. , to participate.

Guest musicians include Nariaki Sugiura, piano, and Robert Moldovan, double bass. Alejandro Drago, the symphony's conductor and artistic director, will solo and conduct in a program which includes his own original pieces and arrangements.

From the suburbs of Buenos Aires to the salons of European high society, tango dance and music evolved as a unique fusion of Afro-Spanish rhythms and European styles, according to symphony promotional material. The tango is rooted in the melting pot of Buenos Aires, which a century ago was flooded with immigrants attracted by the wealth and vast spaces of Argentina.

Piazzolla, a native of Argentina who emigrated with his family to New York City in 1925, elevated the Argentine Tango to the level of an international concert music genre, according to Drago.

At the time of his death in 1992, Piazzolla, who was also a virtuoso bandoneon player and music arranger, was lauded by American music critic Stephen Holden as "the world's foremost composer of Tango music."