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This magical evening of Tango music brings together passionate guitar playing with the sultry sounds of the bandoneon and sensual dance moves. Truly not to be missed!
Cem Duruöz
“His excellent stage presence complements his virtuosic technique and musical, elegant artistry.” said Grammy winner guitarist Sharon Isbin–one of the many accolades that guitarist Cem Duruöz has received from performers and critics alike.
Mr. Duruöz has performed in four continents in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Japan, France, Greece, Bosnia, Spain, Serbia, Poland, Mexico, throughout Turkey and the USA. His recent concert appearances include his Concierto de Aranjuez performances with the Turkish National Symphony Orchestra, a French Baroque Concert at the prestigious Istanbul Festival, recitals at the Baščaršijske Noći Festival in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gliwice Guitar Festival in Poland and Amigos de la Guitarra in Spain as well as the World Premiere performance of the Jazz Concerto by Robert Strizich. His 2007-2008 season will include a return performance at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in a program titled Guitar in Turkey, recitals at the Connecticut and Boston Classical Guitar Societies, a concert and master-classes at the Semana International de Guitarra in Spain and the world premiere of Anatolia Guitar Concerto, featuring Turkish melodies and rhythms written for him by American composer David Hahn.
A multi-faceted musician, Cem Duruöz has collaborated with bandoneón master Raul Jaurena, gambist John Dornenburg, conductor Michel Tabachnik and soprano Camille Zamora. A frequent soloist, he has appeared with more than ten orchestras regularly performing Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez among others.
Mr. Duruöz has released three CDs to international critical acclaim: “Pièces de Viole”, featuring his arrangements of Marais’ French baroque gamba music, and “Contemporary Music for Guitar” both released by Centaur Records. His most recent solo CD, “Desde el Alma - Tango Classics” was released last year under ADA-Müzik label and called “A masterpiece” by Argentine critics. The CD features a variety of tango styles such as the milonga and vals as well as some of the most famous tangos transcribed by him using the interpretations of the legendary Argentine Tango orchestras of the 20th century.
Turkish born guitarist Cem Duruöz (or “Gem” as pronounced in his native tongue) won the first prize in the Turkish National Guitar Competition at the age of seventeen. After receiving his Master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory he completed his graduate guitar studies at The Juilliard School with Sharon Isbin. As an enthusiastic educator, he has been teaching guitar performance at Wesleyan University. Web site: www.duruoz.com.
 Raul Jaurena, master of the Tango, is among today’s most prominent bandoneon players. His music plays a very personal tribute to the influences of his native South America and his newly adopted hometown of New York. It combines the traditional roots of the tango and the style of the “Tango Nuevo” influenced by Astor Piazzolla. The bandoneon has become his second nature. Jaurena’s music is at the same time melancholy and provocative, bittersweet and tender- it lets your blood boil and makes your feet twitch. Through playing innumerable “milongas”, the legendary tango nights of the dance cafés, Jaurena’s bandoneon has long since made its way to the big theatres and concert halls.
The bandoneon has influenced Jaurena’s life right from the cradle. He was raised in Uruguay and his father taught him how to play the bandoneon - at the age of eight he already joined a tango orchestra. The fascination for this highly emotional music grabbed him and has not let go of him ever since. As a member of and adaptor for various renowed tango-ensembles in the nineteensixties and seventies in Uruguay, Argentina ,Brasil,Chile,Ecuador and Venezuela, Raul Jaurena lays the tracks for his career. A performance together with Astor Piazzolla at the Montreal Jazz Festival turns out be guiding for his musical development: Strongly influenced by Piazzolla’s music, Jaurena teams up with four friends to form the New York Buenos Aires Connection which under his direction in no time develops to one of the leading tango-formations in the USA. The conservation of the musical spirit of Astor Piazzolla becomes his personal vocation: Jaurena’s tango interpretations which are enriched by influences of jazz, his own arrangements and spontaneous improvisations fascinate a new generation of listeners and dancers. The New York Tango Trio was founded shortly after, Raul Jaurena along with Ethan Everson and Pablo Aslan is able to achieve the same success as he does with his quintet that he is still leading to this very day.
Besides, his activities remain as many-faceted as the artist himself. His arrangements and his skills as a composer and a solo player make him equally popular both in the USA and in Europe. The ballet suite he composes in 1995 for the Irene Hultman Dance Company debuts in New York and is shortly after awarded the “Bessie”. During the same year he was invited to the White House and received a Grammy nomination for his CD Tango Bar. Over the years he takes charge of the musical direction of many other stage projects and among other things plays guest performances at the Thalia Spanish Theatre in New York. He has played with Cuban Jazz saxophone player Paquito D'Rivera, Yo Yo Ma, Giora Feidman, Tango Five and others. As a soloist he plays with prominent ensembles and orchestras.
As the result of a continuing search for new experiences, Jaurena’s music has turned into something truly unique. It reflects the influences of different cultures as well as one hundred years of tango history with all its contradicting emotions. Raul Jaurena - the man that Astor Piazolla once called one of the greatest bandoneon players ever - has established a unique connection to his instrument: Genuine, open, touching, with stunning technical brilliance his play has enriched and added an important facet to modern tango interpretation.
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