An Evening of Tango with Las Almas

October 21, 2022 7pm-9pm

SebArts Auditorium

$20 - Members, $25 - Non-members

All Tickets are Will Call

“Las Almas” (“The Souls”), three women of international backgrounds with classical musical training in the United States and advanced study at La Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce, the most prestigious tango orchestra school in Buenos Aires, will present a concert of traditional and contemporary Argentine tango music at Sebastopol Center for the Arts for the first time on Friday, October 21 from 7 to 9 p.m. Korean-born pianist Sumi Lee now of San Francisco, Panamanian bandoneon (concertina/accordion) player Heyni Solera from Washington, D.C., and Chinese-American violinist Teagan Faran from New York entertain, educate, and affirm diversity in professional opportunities for women in the tango genre.

Check out a preview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frp2VvsZYiA

Sumi Lee’s piano foundation, Teagan Faran’s slashing and soaring violin, and Heyni Solera’s merry bandoneon characterize their presentation. The Sebastopol concert is the trio’s first venture to Sonoma County, as part of their effort to expand tango’s geographic reach beyond urban areas. Sumi Lee has performed with Bay Area opera companies and K-8 school programs; at the San Francisco International Arts Festival; produces her own contemporary tango music, and has toured tango across the United States, Canada, and to South Korea. Heyni Solera has extended the bandoneon into chamber music settings, brought tango into musical theater cabaret presentations, and hosts a YouTube series “Today’s Tango with Heyni” of music and interviews with performers. Teagan Faran studied in Argentina on a Fulbright grant; explored fusion of tango, jazz, and classical music there; and has performed with philharmonic orchestras, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and in jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater’s Woodshed Network.

Tango dancing originated in bars and rough ports of Argentina and Uruguay, but has developed elegant ballroom styles with many variations around the world. The music has evolved as well, to accompany styles that incorporated aspects of modern dance, with pauses, suspensions, and hesitations in emotional and physical tension and release. The Sebastopol performance will be a concert presentation, not “milonga” or dance party, for full attention to the underlying music. For the women of Las Almas, tango has been a path of discovery beyond their classical and cultural origins as they developed a love for the music and pursued its history, structure, and enjoyment to present it in concert settings.

We hope to see you there!