This talk will include demonstrations by Maestro Solla at the piano and a performance of Astor Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango by KU School of Music faculty members Daniel Velasco (Flute) and Yi-Ying Chen (Piano). 2021 is the Centennial of the birth of Piazzolla, who is regarded as the world’s foremost composer of Tango music.

This event is co-hosted by the School of Music and the Lied Center.

Emilio Solla, Latin Grammy winner and multi-Grammy nominee, Argentine-born and New York-based pianist and composer, is a leading voice in the Tango-Jazz field, a musical language that blends Argentine tango and folk with jazz and other contemporary music styles. He has performed in many of the most important jazz houses and festivals across Europe, Japan, the United States, and Latin America to rave reviews. In 2018, Solla started composing for his new project, the Tango Jazz Orchestra, a seventeen-piece big band using a bandoneon (a type of concertina), taking his blend of Latin American sounds and jazz to a whole new level. The orchestra released its first album, Puertos: Music from International Waters, in 2019, and one of the pieces on the album went on to receive a Grammy nomination in 2020 for Best Instrumental Arrangement, sharing the nomination with John Williams, Jacob Collier and Vince Mendoza, and the full album was awarded the Latin Grammy as Best Jazz Album in 2020. Emilio Solla is a committed educator and has taught regularly in Spanish and Argentine conservatories, and has been invited for numerous residencies across Europe and the United States.

Emilio Solla, "The History of Tango Music"