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PROGRAM PIAZZOLLA & Hace Veinte Años (20 Years Ago) MULLIGAN Reminiscencia (Remembrance)

6 5

Deus Xango

Aire de Buenos Aires (Air of Buenos Aires)

Cierra Tus Ojos y Escucha (Close Your Eyes and Listen)

20 Años Despues (20 Years After)

Años de Soledad (Years of Solitude)

Reunión Cumbre (Summit)

INTERVAL PIAZZOLLA

Oblivion

RETAMOZA

Bar El Olvido

Encuentro II

Síntesis

Cité Tango

PIAZZOLLA

The performance will run for approximately 110 minutes with interval. The program is a guide only and may be subject to change. SUMMIT is proudly supported by the Embassy of the Argentine Republic. Join our community! SIGN UP for updates on concerts and workshops by Canberra Tango Quintet. SUMMIT: 50 Years of Piazzolla & Mullligan

Canberra Tango Quintet & Jorge Retamoza present

SUMMIT

50 Years of Piazzolla & Mulligan

SUMMIT In 1974, Astor Piazzolla and Gerry Mulligan met in a Milan recording studio and made history. Their encounter — two giants of tango and jazz in musical conversation — produced one of the most celebrated albums in either genre: Summit (Reunión Cumbre). Half a century on, Canberra Tango Quintet and internationally acclaimed Argentine saxophonist Jorge Retamoza revisit that landmark meeting, joined by special guests in an expanded septet. Tonight's program celebrates the repertoire that revolutionised tango and jazz music. Piazzolla had left Argentina for Italy in 1973 — one year prior to recording Summit — where his nuevo tango found a warmer welcome than back home. Mulligan was at the height of his powers, the baritone saxophonist of Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool and leader of the groundbreaking pianoless quartet with Chet Baker. Over a series of sessions in Milan, backed by Italian and Argentine musicians, the two recorded eight pieces. Piazzolla would call the result one of the most beautiful things he had made. The first part presents Summit in full. Hace Veinte Años (20 Years Ago) carries the nostalgia at the heart of the album. Piazzolla traced the beginnings of his 1955 Octeto Buenos Aires — the ensemble with which he broke from traditional tango — to hearing Mulligan's octet while studying in Paris. Cierra tus Ojos y Escucha (Close your eyes and listen) weaves around a lyrical, haunting melody. Twenty years later the two men finally shared a studio, reflected in 20 Años Después (20 Years After). Años de Soledad (Years of Solitude) gives the album its emotional centre, a slow melody that has outlived the record, while Deus Xango, named after Xangô of the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé tradition, offers a more energetic and rhythmically-driven listen. Aire de Buenos Aires is the only piece of Summit that Piazzolla did not write — Mulligan's portrait of a city he was still coming to know, offered back to the man who had spent a lifetime composing it. Reminiscencia (Remembrance) provides a moment of contemplation, and the fugue-like title track, Reunión Cumbre (Summit), closes the first half. The second part begins with a more intimate ensemble — saxophone and classical guitar — with Piazzolla’s Oblivion and Retamoza’s Bar El Olvido, followed by two more of Retamoza's original compositions: Encuentro II and Síntesis for quintet. The program culminates with the full ensemble on stage for Cité Tango — all nine musicians together, embracing the tension, mystery, and chaos of the city of Buenos Aires that Piazzolla once depicted.

SUMMIT: 50 Years of Piazzolla & Mullligan

JORGE RETAMOZA Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Jorge Retamoza is one of Argentina’s leading saxophonists and arrangers of the tango genre. Retamoza has led and recorded nine albums – from Tango XXX (1994) and Violentango (2998) through Vientos De Tango (2010) to Por Dos Milongas (2025). In 2018, Retamoza became the first Argentine saxophonist to arrange and record Piazzolla's Seis Estudios Tanguísticos in full on saxophone — a work originally written for solo flute. He has premiered major concert works in collaboration with Saarbrücken Public Radio in Germany, and performs internationally as both soloist and ensemble leader across Europe, Latin America and the United States. He teaches saxophone at the Conservatorio Superior de Música Manuel de Falla in Buenos Aires, and has co-authored instructional books on tango saxophone technique — work that has shaped a generation of players approaching the tango genre through his instrument. In 2014, Retamoza transcribed the album Summit from the original recordings with arranger Pablo Martínez and brought it to the stage in Buenos Aires, returning to the repertoire for the record's fiftieth anniversary in 2024 — a rare undertaking for music whose composers, Piazzolla and Mulligan, performed live only a handful of times. As part of his debut Australian tour, Jorge Retamoza joins Canberra Tango Quintet with performances at the Sydney Opera House and The Street Theatre. He also leads a series of five-day intensive tango ensemble workshops for musicians in Sydney (14-18 September), Canberra (21-25 September), and Melbourne (28 September - 2 October).

This music carries forward the artistic direction Retamoza has pursued for many years: capturing the city, its colors, and its musical character, while creating space for both individual and collective improvisations rooted in the language of tango. Claudio Ritter. Teatro Colón Magazine. Buenos Aires. Argentina.

SUMMIT: 50 Years of Piazzolla & Mullligan

CANBERRA TANGO QUINTET Canberra Tango Quintet is a five-piece Australian-Argentinian-Uruguayan tango ensemble performing a dynamic range of tango music based in Canberra, Australia. The ensemble performs in Piazzolla's original quintet formation: bandoneón, violin, piano, electric guitar and double bass — a combination of balanced instrumentation and exquisite artistic interpretation. Canberra Tango Quintet has presented sold-out performances at the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Recital Centre, and at major festivals across Australia including the National Multicultural Festival (2025 and 2026) and the Merimbula Jazz Festival (2026). Recent seasons include Echoes of Piazzolla: The Experience,, premiered at The Street Theatre in 2025 and taken to the Sydney Opera House stage in June this year. Canberra Tango Quintet is proudly supported by the Embassy of the Argentine Republic and the Embassy of Uruguay to Australia. Tonight, the ensemble’s core members are joined by international guest Jorge Retamoza (Argentina) and special guest musicians Taliya Blom, Ben Jones, and Kieran Sawyer.

THE ARTISTS Jorge Retamoza bartitone saxophone, tenor saxophone & musical director

Matthew Lustri electric guitar

Taliya Blom* percussion

Rodolfo Pablo Caivano bandoneón & artistic director

John Yoon piano

Ben Jones* baritone saxophone

Eloise Reddy violin & general producer

Elizabeth Charlton double bass

Kieran Sawyer* classical guitar

*guest musician for the SUMMIT program SUMMIT: 50 Years of Piazzolla & Mullligan

SUMMIT: 50 Years of Piazzolla & Mullligan