Maestro Daniel Binelli and others will headline the concert at St. Peter Claver Church in West Hartford on Saturday, April 27.

Daniel Bonelli, the world’s foremost tango musician, will perform on Saturday night at 7 in West Hartford at St. Peter Claver Church. Screenshot

By Harlan Levy

Tango music fans and aficionados, on Saturday night you’ll have the pleasure of hearing internationally renowned Argentine tango musician Daniel Binelli – master of the traditional accordion-like bandoneón – and his orchestra perform tango classics at St. Peter Claver Church at 7 p.m.

Binelli, a well-known tango music composer and arranger, is widely acclaimed as the foremost exponent and torchbearer of the music of famed Argentine tango star Astor Piazzolla, who died in 1992. Piazzolla, a virtuoso bandoneónist, revolutionized the traditional tango into a “nuevo tango,” adding elements from jazz and classical music. American music critic Stephen Holden described Piazzolla as “the world’s foremost composer of Tango music.”

Binelli, the musical Director of Tango Metropolis Company, is a connoisseur of the tango in all its styles, styles that date from the beginning of the century up to the present, and is considered the best instrumentalist of the tango. A seasoned composer, Binelli has created and arranged music for solo instruments, quintet, chamber, and symphonic orchestras.

Binelli was featured in a PBS Documentary “Tango the Spirit of Argentina” and in a BBC documentary on Astor Piazzolla’s life.

From 1968 through 1982, Binelli toured as a member of the Orchestra of Osvaldo Pugliese as a bandoneónist and musical arranger. In 1989, Piazzolla invited him to join his New Tango Sextet, and he toured with Piazzolla throughout Europe and Latin America. He has also performed with Paquito de Rivera in Buenos Aires, and the Orchestra of Dizzy Gilespie.

Binelli’s collaborations include duo performances with pianist Polly Ferman and guitarist Eduardo Isaac, as well as performing in the Binelli-Ferman-Isaac Trio.

As a bandoneónist soloist Binelli has performed with symphonic and chamber orchestras including the Stable Orchestra of the Colón Theater of Buenos Aires; the National Symphonic Orchestra of Argentina, with which he tours throughout Spain; the Philharmonic of Dayton, Ohio; the Symphonic of Melbourne in Australia; the Philharmonic of Bogotá in Colombia; and the Symphonic Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.

Ezequiel Menendez, organist for the Cathedral of Saint Joseph and the Archdiocese of Hartford, arranged for Binelli and his fellow musicians to come to West Hartford.

The concert is scheduled for Saturday, April 27, at 7 p.m., at St. Peter Claver Church, 47 Pleasant St., West Hartford 06107. Phone: 860-561-4235.

There is no cover charge, but a donation is encouraged.

Daniel Bonelli, the world’s foremost tango musician, will perform on Saturday night at 7 in West Hartford at St. Peter Claver Church. Screenshot

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