Stowe Tango Music Festival
MUSIC PROGRAMS

Tango Piano Intensive Workshop
with Pablo Estigarribia



August 8 – August 13, 2023

The Tango Piano Intensive Workshop is designed to be a valuable experience for all pianists, whether this is their first introduction to Tango, or they want to expand their knowledge. The workshop includes both solo training and piano ensemble coaching, and for those who want to participate, there will also be a Student Concert at the end of the workshop. All materials to be used were curated or arranged by Pablo Estigarribia. -Scores will be assigned according to the skill level of each pianist.-

Contents:

  1. Brief Tango History
  2. The role of piano in a Tango ensemble
  3. Tango Rhythmic Patterns: Marcato and Sincopa
  4. Rhythmic Passages
  5. Expressive Passages: Fraseos and Rubatos
  6. Solo ornamentation


All students will receive solo pieces and piano duos that will serve as training for playing in larger Tango ensembles. The pieces will be adapted to the skill level of each student, so all participants will have a valuable experience. Students will also listen to historical recordings and participate in analysis and lectures on Tango piano technique.

Attendance to the Piano Intensive Workshop is required for pianists who are invited to the Tango Academy, as the workshop will provide the necessary preparation for rehearsing and performing in the Stowe Tango Music Festival Orchestra (orquesta tipica).

About Pablo Estigarribia

Pablo Estigarribia is a Latin Grammy winning Tango pianist, arranger and composer. Like many artists of this genre, he began his training as a classical musician and soon branched out into the world of Tango. He studied at the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires, where he won the "Bienal Juvenil" National Competition for Young Artists. After graduating, he spent several years on the frenzied performance circuit in Argentina, collaborating with the Congress Chamber Orchestra, the National Radio Orchestra, and the Chaco Symphony, among many others. Seeking to broaden his musical horizons beyond the classical realm, Estigarribia took a brief detour through jazz and then discovered Tango in 2005. He quickly won the Orquesta Escuela de Tango scholarship and performed with this superb ensemble under the direction of Maestro Emilio Balcarce. Estigarribia continued working with Balcarce when he first toured Europe.

Estigarribia rapidly established himself as a nuanced and masterful Tango performer in Germany, France, Belgium, Japan, Russia, Finland, Canada, the United States, and Cuba. He has been featured in over a thousand concerts, joining Argentine Tango legends like Maria Graña, Victor Lavallén, Leopoldo Federico, Nestor Marconi, Horacio Cabarcos, Emilio Balcarce, and many others. Estigarribia’s album Tangos Para Piano (EPSA) won the prestigious 2015 Gardel Prize for Best Tango Album by a New Artist. After receiving wide acclaim for this album, he earned coveted recognition from the Argentine Tango industry as an expert in the art of Tango music. He is a recipient of the Argentine Tango Society’s Medal of Honor for his educational forays at the Stowe Tango Music Festival (Vermont, USA) in multiple years. Estigarribia’s ascendancy brought him to Japan in 2016 where he was lauded in the Tokyo press following his performances. He then became sought after in the United States, where he played in New York’s famous Blue Note Jazz Club. He has performed and appeared in interviews on NBC, Univision, Telemundo, and The Huffington Post.

After enjoying the privilege of 13 years of mentorship by legendary Osvaldo Pugliese arranger and bandoneonist Victor Lavallén, Estigarribia is proud to assume the role of teacher and transmitter of the Tango tradition. He is delighted to showcase and share the beauty of Tango's rich lineage, and gladly invites both the experienced and the uninitiated to study the unique, seductive flair of Tango. New generations of students and seasoned enthusiasts alike can advance their technical knowledge with Estigarribia’s compositions and arrangements. Above all, he seeks to reopen the passage of Tango music repertoire to musicians who may not know where to start, so they too can delight in the genre's legacy. With that goal in mind, Estigarribia published his original compositions and arrangements of traditional pieces, Tangos de Concierto, and teaches, judges, and performs regularly at Tango festivals and events all over the world.



Piano Intensive Workshop Daily Schedule
10:00 - 12:00 Theory & Technique Class
12:00 - 2:00 Lunch Break
2:00 - 3:00 Theory & Technique Class
3:00 - 4:00 Masterclass or Coaching
4:00 - Practice or Ensemble Time
6:00 - 7:00 Dinner
This schedule is subject to change.
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