Charles Gorczynski Tango Quartet West in Topanga Canyon

Charles Gorczynski Tango Quartet is Charles Gorczynski Tango Quartet West play contemporary and traditional tango music. Bandoneonist and composer Charles Gorczynski works in contemporary tango and music production. The quartet presents the visceral and imaginative cutting edge of tango music today.—————————————

This concert follows the last class of the Ballet Tango class, facilitated and organized by DanceSocial. More info on their website or Corazon’s website.

Friday, April 12th, 2024
Time: 7:30 pm doors, 8:00 pm show

Admission:$30 (Door) $40 discount for 2 BYOB allowed. $15 hardship or Corazon members.

Charles Gorczynski – Bandoneon
Basma Edrees – Violin
Elyse Weakley – Piano
Sascha Jacobsen – Contrabass

Featuring tango classics by Osvaldo Pugliese and Astor Piazzolla, as well as completely new material featured on the groups 2023 release “The Conservatory”.

CHARLES GORCZYNSKI

Minneapolis-based composer and bandoneonist Charles Gorczynski works in contemporary tango, new music, and studio production. He leads the acclaimed modern tango outfits Charles Gorczynski Tango Quartet and Redwood Tango Ensemble, and is the director of the Twin Cities Tango Collective. Charles is a deeply established musician and community organizer with a distinct voice in creative new music, stemming from his upbringing in jazz/improvised music and decades of tango composition and performance. His projects Redwood Tango Ensemble and Colorlist have toured North America and Europe extensively, playing hundreds of performances annually and producing four albums of original contemporary tango music. Charles has premiered his compositions with Chamber Music Northwest Festival and the San Francisco International Arts Festival, worked with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Chorale, the California Symphony, Vocal Essence at Orchestra Hall, Mason Bates’ Mercury Soul Orchestra, and many other orchestral and chamber music organizations. Charles has recorded and toured with international tango projects, including Mariano Barreiro Tango Trio, Tango BC Quartet, Alejandro Ziegler Cuarteto, Maxi Larrea Trio, Maldito Tango, and Los Tangueros Del Oeste.

BASMA EDREES

Basma Edrees is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she received her Masters in Violin Performance and Mannes School of Music where she received her Bachelors degree.

Basma has performed as a soloist in various countries including the USA, Montenegro, Ethiopia and her native country, Egypt. 

Equally at home with Arabic music, Basma is the founder of Music in-Takht; an instrumental ensemble dedicated to preserving Egyptian musical heritage in the SF Bay Area. She performed with renowned musicians from the Arab world and has been invited to give Arabic Music workshops at UC Berkeley and Stanford.

Through the music of Astor Piazzolla, Basma was introduced to the world of Argentine Tango music where she encountered some of the most beautiful lyrical melodies she had ever heard. Playing Tango, Basma found a medium where her Western classical training and the sentiments of her Arab musical heritage could come together. Basma studied Tango violin with Guillermo Rubino, who is the director of strings at the Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce. She is currently a member of Lee/Edrees Tango Duo with Bay Area Tango pianist Sumi Lee as well as the Charles Gorczynski Tango quartet West.

ELYSE WEAKLEY

Elyse Weakley has taken part in a wide array of musical projects and has served in many roles including: music director, pianist, educator and composer. Throughout her career she has performed many contemporary works and has frequently collaborated directly with composers and songwriters in recording and presenting their music as a soloist and collaborator including The Hurd Ensemble and Redwood Tango Ensemble.

Sascha Jacobsen – Contrabass

Jacobsen was born in a remote cabin in the woods in 1973 to “hippie” parents who moved from the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco to Humboldt County and grew vegetables. And although his parents were not particularly musical, you could say he has musical genes. His great-great-great-great grandfather was a bassist for the Moscow Opera and his great-grandfather, his namesake, was a famous Russian violinist who became the concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and gave lessons to his friend, Albert Einstein.