From Tango to Shur: An Afternoon of Music at Tawny Wine Bar & Café

We’ll journey from the sultry streets of Buenos Aires with Piazzolla’s Café 1930, Nightclub 1960, and Oblivion, to the lush, romantic world of Fritz Kreisler, featuring Viennese dances. The program also includes two movements from César Franck’s gorgeous Violin Sonata.

We’ll close the evening with an improvisation inspired by an Iranian mode, Shur, adding an element of spontaneity and personal expression to the program.

Our program brings together several musical traditions, spanning European classical music, Argentine tango, and Iranian musical influences.

Piazzolla’s music draws from the tango tradition of Buenos Aires, blending its rhythms and expressive character with elements of classical music and jazz. His Nuevo Tango emerged in the 20th century, reimagining tango as concert music while preserving its connection to dance and urban life.

The works of Fritz Kreisler and César Franck reflect different chapters of the European classical tradition. Kreisler’s music is rooted in the lyrical and expressive style of the late Romantic era, while Franck’s Violin Sonata, composed in 1886, is celebrated for its rich harmonic language and cyclical structure.

We’ll close the program with an improvisation inspired by traditional Iranian music, drawing from Radif, the repertoire of Persian classical music, specifically the Shur mode. Through this blend of written repertoire and improvisation, we hope to explore connections between different musical traditions and the ways musicians continue to reinterpret them today.