Cuarteto Puentes

Date & Time: Saturday May 4, 7:30  p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco
Tickets: $20 General, $15 Seniors/Students

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Program

A selection of classic tangos from the Golden Era as well as compositions by Astor Piazzolla including, among others, Organito de la tarde, Comme il faut, El Amanecer, Sur, Ventarron, Nada, Poema, Milonga del Angel, and Oblivion.

About the Artists

Formed in 2015 by four Bay Area dancers/musicians, Cuarteto Puentes is dedicated to performing Argentine Tango music for dancers and audiences of all kinds. They have studied at Reed Tango Music Institute, Stowe Tango Music Festival, and with top tango musicians including Ignacio Varchausky, Ramiro Gallo, Hernan Posetti, Hector del Curto, Pablo Estigarribia, Emilio Solla, Ramiro Boero, Adam Tully, and Ville Hiltula. The quartet appreciates the opportunities they have had for outstanding collaborations with exceptional artists at a number of unique venues. Their enthusiasm for playing danceable tango standards as well as more modern arrangements keeps them inspired with practicing, studying, and arranging. Cuarteto Puentes has appeared at many milongas (Argentine Tango dance parties) throughout the Bay Area and were featured in “live music only” tango festivals in Albuquerque, NM, and Green Valley, AZ.

DalRae Murray grew up in the bay area studying violin, piano, and composition throughout college. Being able to merge two of her passions (dancing Argentine tango and playing chamber music) became an ideal combination. She feels fortunate to have studied with some of the great Argentine tango musicians with Cuarteto Puentes and looks forward to arranging music and working on compositions in the future.

Matt Brockwell started learning the piano when he was three, and asked his dad to help him make some sounds. After some fifteen years of classical training, he found an apotheosis of musical joy playing “Rhapsody in Blue” in a college concerto competition. Years later, he was thrilled to find echoes of Gershwin’s relentless musical creativity and effortless versatility in a music form that developed thousands of miles away, at the end of the South American continent. He now devotes his musical time to exploring and sharing the musical treasures he finds in tango.

Jeff Ridenour was born in California, and grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. While at UC Berkeley studying music and physics, he had his experiences with computer music, studying with David Wessel at CNMAT. After completing studies at Berkeley, Jeff studied at UC San Diego, receiving a Masters in Contrabass performance. While there, he studied computer music with Miller Puckette and improvisation with George Lewis. Subsequently Jeff received a Heartz traveling scholarship and studied for three years at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague and received a Second Phase degree at the Institute of Sonology. More recently Jeff has performed in various baroque ensembles and opera projects, as well as tango orchestras. He has in interest in studying and performing with large historical string instruments, such as the Tromba Marina and the Violone. As a bass player for Tango Music, Jeff has attended the Reed Tango Music Institute for several years, and has performed in several ensembles and in venues in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, as well as throughout the Bay Area.

Alexander Zeyliger grew up listening to records from the 1930s and ‘40s and singing them back. He studied voice, piano, and clarinet at a music school in Leningrad, USSR. While studying Physics at Caltech, he never missed a quarter of Caltech Glee Club and Chamber Singers. He studied classical singing with Frieda Bernstein and Eugene Brancoveanu. Having discovered Argentine tango as a social dance some twenty years ago, it was only a matter of time before he was drawn into singing tangos and playing the bandoneon. Alexander attended Tango Music Institute at Reed College as vocalist, bandoneon player, and arranger, and participated in Stowe Tango Music Festival. He studied bandoneon with Ville Hiltula and Hector Del Curto. He currently leads LOFT, a Bay Area Community Tango Orchestra.

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