A very sensitive interpreter who was able to capture, like no other pianist before her, Guastavino's message.'

Association of Argentine Music Critics

​

Despite how it sounds, the notion of 'Anglo-Tango' is perhaps not entirely the oxymoron that it might seem. This programme of tangos for solo piano, written exclusively by 20th-century and living British classical composers, offers not only an idiosyncratic exercise in musical border-crossing, but also opens a window onto the particularly British iterations of the longstanding infatuation the tango has engendered globally since the first international tango craze of the 1910s. These tangos, on the one hand displaying a broad and eclectic range of highly individualistic and innovative approaches to the genre, also reveal British composers in dialogue with each other, forging something approaching a collective national tango style. Spanning almost a century, they range from Walton's precedent-setting 'Tango-Pasodoble' to contributions by other grandees of British composition such as Rodney Bennett, Finnissy, Nyman and Birtwistle, alongside a plethora of other pre-eminent names from the British contemporary classical canon.

 

Returning this gesture of cultural diplomacy and bringing some indigenous verve to the programme is the virtuoso Argentine pianist, Lilia Salsano, who performs the programme from her native province of Santa Fé.

​

Anthony Burgess Tango

Antony Hopkins Tango

Bryan Kelly Tango

Colin Bayliss A Tentative Tango

Damian Rees Little My

Dave Smith 'Tango' from 1st Piano Concert

David Matthews One to Tango

Harrison Birtwistle Betty Freeman: Her Tango

James Henshall ¡SaTango!

John White Sonata No. 108

Leonard Salzedo Tango

Malcolm Fox Last Tango in Valhalla

Michael Finnissy Tango

Michael Nyman A Neat Slice of Tango

Nikki Kemp Tango Turmoil

Peter Reynolds Tango

Richard Rodney-Bennett Tango after Syrinx

Rob Keeley Pentango

Robin Holloway 32 Bars of Tango

William Walton Tango-Pasodoble

​

Lilia Salsano piano

 

Programme curation by Helen Glaisher-Hernández

​

Lilia Salsano is considered one of the pre-eminent Argentine pianists of her generation. Since graduating from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral she has garnered numerous prizes both nationally and internationally, and also performs frequently at home and abroad. Most recently she has appeared at the Martha Argerich Festival of Buenos Aires, and as a guest soloist with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra at Argentina's Teatro Colón. In 2021 she was also selected to take part in the official Piazzolla centenary celebrations at the Centro Cultural Kirchner. A passionate ambassador for contemporary music and Argentine composers, her 2019 landmark recording of  Guastavino's complete solo piano music was the first to be undertaken by a single pianist. She has also recorded the world premiere album of the complete piano music of Virtú Maragno, and has performed numerous other world premieres, including many pieces dedicated specially to her. Salsano is the resident pianist of the Provincial Symphony Orchestra of Santa Fé and currently a Faculty member at the Antonio Fuentes del Arco Liceo Municipal of Santa Fé.

​

Organised by ILAMS as part of Echoes Festival 2021 in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes, with the kind support of the Embassy of Argentina