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OCTOBER 20, 2007, 19:30: A NIGHT OF TANGO
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Casa Argentina de Houston, the Houston Baptist University and
the Institute of Hispanic Culture of Houston present
A tango recital by pianist Rene
Casarsa with the special participation of violinist Pablo Donatti, tango
singer Andrea Berri and tango dancers Martin & Natia Pelaez and
Susana
Collins & Ector Gutierrez
Saturday, October 20th,
2007 at 07:30 pm
Houston
Baptist University / Morris Cultural Arts Center
7502
Fondren
Houston, TX 77074
MAP
(Entrance #2 on Fondren or # 3 on Beechnut between I-59 and Fondren)
The artists donate their time and
talent to Casa Argentina de Houston and the net proceeds of the event
will be destined to charity.
For further questions, feel
free to contact a representative of Casa Argentina de Houston at
832-215-4076
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Ticket Reservations
Tickets are available at this time.
General Admission: $ 20
Members of CAH: $ 18
Students: $ 10
Send your check to CAH or make your reservations on-line.
To print a reservation form in pdf
CLICK HERE
For on-line reservations paying with Credit Card
CLICK HERE |
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Programa: |
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Part I
Melodía de arrabal – Tango - C.Gardel/A. Le Pera/M.
Batistella
El Porteñito – Tango Milonga - A. Villoldo *
El Día que me Quieras – Tango canción - C. Gardel/A. Le Pera
Remembering Carlos Gardel – Medley **
La Última Curda - Tango – A. Troilo/C. Castillo ***
La Casita de mis Viejos– Tango – J.C. Cobian/E. Cadicamo
Recuerdo* – Tango - O. Pugliese*
Payadora – Milonga - J. Plaza
Los Mareados – Tango - J.C. Cobian/E. Cadicamo***
Contrabajeando – Tango - A. Piazzolla/A. Troilo**
Collage – Tango – R. Casarsa
Taquito Militar – Milonga - M. Mores *
Intermission
Part II
El Choclo – Tango – A. Villoldo
El Entrerriano – Tango - R. Mendizabal *
Uno - Tango – M. Mores
Los Pájaros Perdidos – Tango – A. Piazzolla/M. Trejo**
Milonga Sentimental – Milonga – H. Manzi/S. Piana***
Don Agustín Bardi – Tango – H. Salgán
Romance de Barrio – Vals - A. Troilo/H. Manzi*
Verano Porteño – Tango - A. Piazzolla
Malena – Tango – L. Demare***
Lo que Vendrá – A. Piazzolla**
Invierno Porteño – A. Piazzolla
La Cumparsita – Tango - G. Matos Rodriguez *
* danced
** with Pablo Donatti
*** with Andrea Berri
Program introduction and notes by Claudio Manzolillo |
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Sobre los artistas:
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René Casarsa, piano |
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Argentine born René Casarsa has been a resident of Houston for over
20 years. René has alternated his engineering profession in the oil
industry with his passion for the music of Buenos Aires. Sponsored
by “Casa Argentina de Houston” at a fund raising event for charity
activities he presented “Anthology of Tango” in 1999. The
success of that first program, complemented in the narratives by
another Argentine born and Houston resident, Claudio Manzolillo,
made it possible to take the program to other cities such as New
Orleans (Tulane University) and Corpus Christi (Del Mar College) and
Texas A&M (Warren Theater.) In 2002 and again in 2005 and earlier
this year René paid tribute to the poetry of
Jorge Luis Borges and the music of
Astor Piazzolla in very successful
recitals at the University of St. Thomas’ Jones Hall and Corpus
Christi's Warren Theatre.
René began his piano lessons at the age of 6 in the city of Santa
Fe, Argentina. Throughout a decade of classical music studies he
offered several recitals of European and Argentine composers. At age
16, he joined an octet dedicated to the traditional repertoire of
the music of Buenos Aires. René moved to La Plata, capital of the
province of Buenos Aires, in pursuit of an engineering degree, yet
devoting his musical talent to the new tango styles championed by
Horacio Salgán and Astor Piazzolla, and alternating it with his then
emerging interest in jazz. His career as an engineer began in
Argentina and took him to many corners of the world -US, Africa,
Middle East, UK, China -where he charmed countless audiences with
the rhythm and cadenza of tango. |
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(EL CHOCLO, POR
RENE CASARSA AL PIANO - FRAGMENTO) |
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Website,René Casarsa |
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Pablo Donatti, violin |
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Pablo was born in Buenos Aires,
where he studied violin before leaving for Mexico and later the U.S.
to continue his studies and pursue a career as a symphony musician.
His interest in tango music never faded, and in the early ‘90s he
performed with a tango quartet, arranging a few tangos of the
“Guardia Vieja” for ensembles that included a classical string
quartet and sometimes guitar and accordion (bandoneón players were
not readily available in Houston). By then he was performing with
Theater under the Stars and the Corpus Christi Symphony, soon
becoming the concertmaster of the latter, a position he holds to
this date. Together with his wife Diana he owns a translation
company in Houston, where they live with their three children. He is
enjoying enormously this opportunity to play with Rene and learn
from him. |
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Martin Pelaez, tango dancer |
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Born in San Luis, Argentina.
Raised in Buenos Aires, Martin was influenced by his grandfather
to dance Argentine Tango and
Folk. Martin began to dance at the age of
four. Through out 20-year journey of dancing, Martin has won
National Argentine Tango competitions in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. He trained with Cacho Dinzel, Roberto Herrera and Daniel
Bisio. He has performed at Senor Tango, the famous tourist
attraction.
Traveled all over Argentina and France with some of the most
grand ballet ( Raices y Tradiciones), Argentine Tango and Folk.
Martin moved to Houston, Texas in the spring of 2001, started
teaching and performing, and has been continuing to express the
passion for Tango. |
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Natia Rodonaia-Pelaez, tango dancer |
Born in Republic of Georgia (former USSR) and grown
up in the capital city Tbilisi. Natia was a hyper child who enjoyed
five,
ballroom dancing caught her eye. She began to train under "TELA"
Gocha Chertkoev and Shorena Gachichiladze. Natia's background is in
competitive ballroom dancing. Both international Latin and
standard. She has won the Republic of Georgia Championships. After
moved to the US with her family in 1989, she began to train under
Barbara King. Natia competed in USA and won the title of Junior
Amateur Ballroom Champion. During the college years, she continued
to train and teach ballroom dancing until the encounter of her
husband Martin. She has discovered a zeal for Argentine Tango and
has been accompanying Martin in both teaching and performing.
Website, Martín y Natia Peláez |
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Susana Collins, tango dancer |
Was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a child she
would often attend the community music and dance events called Peñas
to watch her parent perform Argentine music and songs. She began
dance training at the age of 5 with Classical Ballet, Flamenco and
Argentine Folk. Moved with family to Houston in 1980, and she was
soon performing Argentine folk with the group “Expresiones
Argentinas”.
She later directed and choreographed for “Argentina 2000”, another
dancing group she formed with her father. She also danced with
various Latin and Central American dance troupes. Susana started
dancing Tango in the early 1990’s. It quickly became her greatest
passion taking her back to Buenos Aires, to further her dance
training. She studied at the Mora Godoy Academy and with several
world known teachers including Daniel Lapadula, Dinzel, Carolina
Zokalski & Diego Di Falco, Fabian Salas & Carolina del Rivero, and
Guillermo Merlo & Fernanda Gui. She currently resides in Houston. |
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Ector Gutiérrez, tango dancer
Ector Gutierrez grew up in Corinto,
Nicaragua, where his early childhood was filled with the sound of
the radio his mother listened to as part of her daily housekeeping
routine. Tango was one of the styles featured regularly on the
radio, along with Bolero and other Cuban music. Mrs. Gutierrez
preferred "tango cantado" because she loved the poetic lyrics. This
was Ector's first exposure to the music that would later change his
life.
At the age of sixteen, Ector moved to the New Orleans area where he
would be educated and build a successful business. Over the years,
Ector became an active member of the Latin dance community, learning
from local instructors including Javier Olondo, Troy Anthony and
Georgette Alcocer, and eventually becoming a teacher of salsa
himself.
When Ector's interest in dance was developing into a serious
endeavor, New Orleans dance instructor and choreographer Yvette
Ecuyer became a very influential person in his life. She nurtured
his thirst for knowledge about all kinds of dance, and Ector
performed many times over three years as Yvette's partner,
performing hustle, salsa and cha-cha-cha, among other dances.
Ector credits Yvette with a very important transition in his
understanding of the form. She planted the seed of discovering what
happens between the steps, of musicality and feel, of going from
just knowing the technique to achieving artistic expression.
His first experience with Argentine tango came about by accident at
a club in New Orleans. The music was not what he would usually
listen to, and the style was very different from Latin and ballroom,
but he found it intriguing. Although Ector had doubts about whether
Argentine tango was for him, he returned several times to watch,
never setting foot on the dance floor. One night, he decided to try
it and was instantly hooked by the beauty and the simultaneous
complexity and simplicity of tango.
Ector sought out the best local instructors including Alberto Paz
from whom he learned a great deal about the fundamentals of
traditional Salon tango. He also took lessons from Sara Viser. He
has spent the last few years learning with local instructors and
Tango Nuevo proponents Fuad Adra and Kathie Sanborn. Fuad introduced
Ector to Buenos Aires, where, on multiple trips, Ector learned from
world-famous instructors Fabian Salas, Chicho Frumboli, Daniela
Arcuri & Armando Orzuza, Carolina Zokalski & Diego Di Falco, Daniel
Lapadula, Julio Balmaceda & Corina de la Rosa, Mario Consigliere &
Anabella Diaz-Hojman, Susana Miller and many more.
All the dance skills he learned before paved a path to tango, Ector
believes. It is the dance with the highest level of improvisational
possibilities and the most challenging adventure of his life. He has
developed a personal style heavily rooted in the techniques of
traditional Salon tango that also utilizes some of the freedom and
creativity of Tango Nuevo.
Like all great destinies, tango was foreshadowed in Ector's earliest
memories—in his mother's kitchen in Nicaragua, listening to Carlos
Gardel.
Today, Ector is a sought-after teacher and performer of both salsa
and tango. In October, 2006, he traveled to Beijing and Hong Kong to
teach tango workshops with Yan Guo. For the last three years, he has
been the featured instructor at New Orleans' White Linen Night,
leading a mass Latin dance class of several hundred guests at the
Contemporary Arts Center.
Ector's partners for performances include Michelle Lamb, Melissa
Summers, Lesia Lebeaue, Sarina Cupo and Susana Collins, with whom
Ector performed in The Crisalis Music Project's production of
Piazzolla's Cuatro Estaciones Portenas with a full orchestra at the
Centrum Theater in Houston.
Kerri McCaffety, well-known in New Orleans as a writer and
photographer, is Ector's regular partner and teaching assistant. As
his student and practice partner for years, she has been a key part
of his development and a source of encouragement even in his early
days when learning tango proved to be such a daunting task.
Ector teaches in and around New Orleans, imparting to his students
his sensual combination of old and new styles. He continues to learn
and to attend workshops and travels to Buenos Aires regularly to
submerge himself in the richness and culture of Tango.
Ector's
website |
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María Andrea Berri, singer |
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Maria Andrea Berri was born in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. She always remembers herself as a singer, since she was 4
years old. She sang at school and choir, starting the study of
singing technique at the age of 18 with Susana Naidich, until she
became her assistant at the age of 23. As a singer, she loves to
sing tangos and the urban songs. "She reaches her high notes with
great ease, her bass tones are beautiful and she knows how to use
her body in tune to the music" (Buenos Aires Herald newspaper). In
Buenos Aires, she sang at Café Mozart, Lo de Ceretti and was
pre-selected as a singer in Oti Singing Festival with the song "Así
pasa la Existencia", music and lyrics Elena Mignaquy and with music
arrangements by Oscar Cardozo Ocampo. As a singing coach, Andrea had
complete responsibility for the Musical "La Cage aux Folles",
performed by Carlos Perciavalle, Tato Bores, Claudia Lapacó, with
continued responsibility during the three years that the musical
remained on stage. She has lived in several countries in the
Americas before coming to Houston, where she is singing with great
success, in jaw dropping and emotional performances. "Her
possibilities are more that she probably could imagine” (Ámbito
Financiero Newspaper, Buenos Aires). |
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EVENTOS DE AÑOS ANTERIORES: |
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Tango Time - 16 de septiembre 2006 - Jones Hall, Univ. St. Thomas
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Casa Argentina de Houston presentó "Tango Time", un
recital de piano, violín y danza, por René Casarsa, con la
participación especial del violinista Pablo Donatti y los
bailarines Martín y Natia Peláez.
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Gardel interpretado por René Casarsa y Pablo Donatti
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El recital Tango Time que fue patrocinado por
Casa Argentina de Houston y el Departamento de lenguas
Clásicas de la Universidad de Saint Thomas que se presentó el 16
de Septiembre en el teatro de la universidad, fue todo un éxito.
La nueva presentación de Rene Casarsa, quien hace años viene
ofreciendo conciertos de tango en Houston, con muchísimo éxito,
atrajo una gran cantidad de público que colmó la capacidad del
teatro.
Hubo muchas personas que se quedaron sin poder disfrutar del
espectáculo y otras que no pudieron acceder a la compra de entradas
por Internet, ya que 36 horas antes, se habían agotado las
localidades.
René, como siempre, hizo maravillas con el teclado, regalándonos un
Tiempo de Tango que nos hizo vibrar de emoción y cuyas notas todavía
nos emocionan y nos hacen pensar en el próximo encuentro con su
música.
Pablo Donatti acompañó a René en varias de las
interpretaciones con el violín y lo hizo magistralmente. La melodía
que se escuchaba fluir de las cuerdas, era emocionante.
Martín y Natia Pelaez hicieron una excelente interpretación de
varios tangos, valses y milongas con la maestría y la elegancia que
la joven pareja muestra en cada presentación. Podemos decir
que fue un espectáculo excelente. El público que asistió y los que
se quedaron sin poder verlo, ya están preguntando cuándo será el
próximo.
Cabe destacar la participación de Claudio Manzolillo que con
la simpatía de siempre, y antes de que comenzara cada una de las
partes del concierto, hizo un relato sobre el significado de las
diferentes piezas musicales y de las épocas en que fueron escritas.
Muchas gracias René por tu música y muchas gracias a Pablo, Martín y
Natia. Agradecimiento que hacemos extensivo a Claudio Manzolillo por
su esmerada presentación.
Kuka Brave
René Casarsa agradece al Directorio de la
Casa Argentina de Houston, a sus colaboradores y a los
artistas que lo acompañaron, por todo el trabajo que llevaron a cabo
para que el evento tuviera el éxito alcanzado.
El arreglo del escenario y todas las flores fueron donación de la
familia Cerana.
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Casarsa-Donatti interpretan de Piazzolla, Los
Pájaros Perdidos |
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Martin y Natia bailan, Casarsa-Donatti interpretan
de Gardel, "Por Una Cabeza" |
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Sobre los artistas:
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René Casarsa, piano |
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Argentine born René Casarsa has been a resident of Houston for over
20 years. René has alternated his engineering profession in the oil
industry with his passion for the music of Buenos Aires. Sponsored
by “Casa Argentina de Houston” at a fund raising event for charity
activities he presented “Anthology of Tango” in 1999. The
success of that first program, complemented in the narratives by
another Argentine born and Houston resident, Claudio Manzolillo,
made it possible to take the program to other cities such as New
Orleans (Tulane University) and Corpus Christi (Del Mar College) and
Texas A&M (Warren Theater.) In 2002 and again in 2005 and earlier
this year René paid tribute to the poetry of
Jorge Luis Borges and the music of
Astor Piazzolla in very successful
recitals at the University of St. Thomas’ Jones Hall and Corpus
Christi's Warren Theatre.
René began his piano lessons at the age of 6 in the city of Santa
Fe, Argentina. Throughout a decade of classical music studies he
offered several recitals of European and Argentine composers. At age
16, he joined an octet dedicated to the traditional repertoire of
the music of Buenos Aires. René moved to La Plata, capital of the
province of Buenos Aires, in pursuit of an engineering degree, yet
devoting his musical talent to the new tango styles championed by
Horacio Salgán and Astor Piazzolla, and alternating it with his then
emerging interest in jazz. His career as an engineer began in
Argentina and took him to many corners of the world -US, Africa,
Middle East, UK, China -where he charmed countless audiences with
the rhythm and cadenza of tango. |
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(EL CHOCLO, POR
RENE CASARSA AL PIANO - FRAGMENTO) |
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Website,René Casarsa |
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Pablo Donatti, violin |
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Pablo was born in Buenos Aires,
where he studied violin before leaving for Mexico and later the U.S.
to continue his studies and pursue a career as a symphony musician.
His interest in tango music never faded, and in the early ‘90s he
performed with a tango quartet, arranging a few tangos of the
“Guardia Vieja” for ensembles that included a classical string
quartet and sometimes guitar and accordion (bandoneón players were
not readily available in Houston). By then he was performing with
Theater under the Stars and the Corpus Christi Symphony, soon
becoming the concertmaster of the latter, a position he holds to
this date. Together with his wife Diana he owns a translation
company in Houston, where they live with their three children. He is
enjoying enormously this opportunity to play with Rene and learn
from him. |
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Martin Pelaez, tango dancer |
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Born in San Luis, Argentina.
Raised in Buenos Aires, Martin was influenced by his grandfather
to dance Argentine Tango and
Folk. Martin began to dance at the age of
four. Through out 20-year journey of dancing, Martin has won
National Argentine Tango competitions in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. He trained with Cacho Dinzel, Roberto Herrera and Daniel
Bisio. He has performed at Senor Tango, the famous tourist
attraction.
Traveled all over Argentina and France with some of the most
grand ballet ( Raices y Tradiciones), Argentine Tango and Folk.
Martin moved to Houston, Texas in the spring of 2001, started
teaching and performing, and has been continuing to express the
passion for Tango. |
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Natia Rodonaia-Pelaez, tango dancer |
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Born in Republic of Georgia (former USSR) and grown
up in the capital city Tbilisi. Natia was a hyper child who enjoyed
five,
ballroom dancing caught her eye. She began to train under "TELA"
Gocha Chertkoev and Shorena Gachichiladze. Natia's background is in
competitive ballroom dancing. Both international Latin and
standard. She has won the Republic of Georgia Championships. After
moved to the US with her family in 1989, she began to train under
Barbara King. Natia competed in USA and won the title of Junior
Amateur Ballroom Champion. During the college years, she continued
to train and teach ballroom dancing until the encounter of her
husband Martin. She has discovered a zeal for Argentine Tango and
has been accompanying Martin in both teaching and performing. |
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Website, Martín y Natia Peláez |
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La fiesta del tango 2005
(website de Rene Casarsa) |
AUDIO: Rene Casarsa, programa en Houston Public Radio (completo)
AUDIO: El Choclo, por Rene Casarsa al piano
(fragmento)
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