Raul Jaurena, master of the bandoneon, was one of the most prominent bandoneon players of his time. His music plays a very personal tribute to the influences of his native South America and his adopted hometown of New York. It combines the traditional roots of the tango and the style of the “Tango Nuevo”. The bandoneon 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 various renowned tango-ensembles in the nineteen sixties and seventies in Uruguay, Argentina ,Brasil, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela, Raul Jaurena lays the tracks for his career. In the beginning of his career he accompanied well-known tango singers Roberto Goyeneche and Edmundo Rivero and played with pianist Cesar Zagnoli and his quintet.
A performance together with Astor Piazzolla at the Montreal Jazz Festival inspires his musical development. 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. In 1990 he founded the New York Buenos Aires Connection ensemble and the New York Tango Trio with Pablo Aslan and Ethan Iverson.
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. In 2007 he won a LATIN GRAMMY for best Tango Album "Te amo Tango" and was presented an ACE Award (Asocacion de cronistas de espectaculos de la ciudad de New York) for his professional trajectory. Over the years he has taking charge of the musical direction of many stage projects including his participation as arranger, composer and bandoneon player 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 played Klesmer and Tango Music with prominent ensembles and orchestras throughout Europe. He has performed at different Universities and Schools in Hannover, Halle Kassel, Hamburg, Lubeck, Munter, Lingen, Landshut, Muhigorf, Heidelberg, Bonn, Kiel, Celle, Wurzburg, and Bremen. He has toured regularly with Tango Five and singer Marga Mitchell with the program Amando a Buenos Aires at the Fiedrichsbau Theatre in Stuttgart, Germany. Throughout Germany, Jaurena has performed at different concerts, along with the Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz with Tango Five, and series of concerts with Giora Feidman in Boblingen, Balingen, Russelsheim Theatre, Wurzburg, Ludwigsburg, Bonn, Tuttlinge, Stadthalle, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany,
Highlight performances in the USA include his participation in recognition of Pope Francis's visit in Washington D.C along with the National Youth Orchestra of Uruguay. In New York City, Jaurena played at Merkin Concert Hall along with Russian violinist Nina Bellina, The North/South Chamber Orchestra with Conductor Max Lifchitz, the Little Orchestra Society at Lincoln Center along with conductor Dino Anagnost and at the Thalia Spanish Theatre. Jaurena has also performed with the Orchestra Concertante of Chicago conducted by Hilel Kagan and performed a series of concerts with the Pan American Symphony Orquestra including the Opera Maria of Buenos Aires. He was invited as a special guest to the International Accordeon Festival in San Antonio, Texas and his show Tango & Tango had great success at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. Other performances include; The Cleveland Museum of Art World Music and Dance Series and the show Let's Tango at East Carolina University.
International performances include the Centenary of La Cumparsita, with the Sodre Symphony Orchestra with Conductor Martin Garcia in Montevideo, Uruguay presenting Jaurena's original symphonic arrangements honoring the famous creation of Gerardo Matos Rodríguez. He traveled to Israel to teach and perform for 18 years in a row at the Jerusalem International Klezmer Festival and also performed with the Israel Kibbutz Orchestra. Other performances include his participation at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival In Finland and his partnership with clarinetist Bernd Ruf in the “Jaurena Ruf Project” tango chamber music in Germany. 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. 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 playing has enriched and added an important facet to modern tango interpretation.
A performance together with Astor Piazzolla at the Montreal Jazz Festival inspires his musical development. 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. In 1990 he founded the New York Buenos Aires Connection ensemble and the New York Tango Trio with Pablo Aslan and Ethan Iverson.
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. In 2007 he won a LATIN GRAMMY for best Tango Album "Te amo Tango" and was presented an ACE Award (Asocacion de cronistas de espectaculos de la ciudad de New York) for his professional trajectory. Over the years he has taking charge of the musical direction of many stage projects including his participation as arranger, composer and bandoneon player 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 played Klesmer and Tango Music with prominent ensembles and orchestras throughout Europe. He has performed at different Universities and Schools in Hannover, Halle Kassel, Hamburg, Lubeck, Munter, Lingen, Landshut, Muhigorf, Heidelberg, Bonn, Kiel, Celle, Wurzburg, and Bremen. He has toured regularly with Tango Five and singer Marga Mitchell with the program Amando a Buenos Aires at the Fiedrichsbau Theatre in Stuttgart, Germany. Throughout Germany, Jaurena has performed at different concerts, along with the Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz with Tango Five, and series of concerts with Giora Feidman in Boblingen, Balingen, Russelsheim Theatre, Wurzburg, Ludwigsburg, Bonn, Tuttlinge, Stadthalle, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany,
Highlight performances in the USA include his participation in recognition of Pope Francis's visit in Washington D.C along with the National Youth Orchestra of Uruguay. In New York City, Jaurena played at Merkin Concert Hall along with Russian violinist Nina Bellina, The North/South Chamber Orchestra with Conductor Max Lifchitz, the Little Orchestra Society at Lincoln Center along with conductor Dino Anagnost and at the Thalia Spanish Theatre. Jaurena has also performed with the Orchestra Concertante of Chicago conducted by Hilel Kagan and performed a series of concerts with the Pan American Symphony Orquestra including the Opera Maria of Buenos Aires. He was invited as a special guest to the International Accordeon Festival in San Antonio, Texas and his show Tango & Tango had great success at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. Other performances include; The Cleveland Museum of Art World Music and Dance Series and the show Let's Tango at East Carolina University.
International performances include the Centenary of La Cumparsita, with the Sodre Symphony Orchestra with Conductor Martin Garcia in Montevideo, Uruguay presenting Jaurena's original symphonic arrangements honoring the famous creation of Gerardo Matos Rodríguez. He traveled to Israel to teach and perform for 18 years in a row at the Jerusalem International Klezmer Festival and also performed with the Israel Kibbutz Orchestra. Other performances include his participation at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival In Finland and his partnership with clarinetist Bernd Ruf in the “Jaurena Ruf Project” tango chamber music in Germany. 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. 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 playing has enriched and added an important facet to modern tango interpretation.
| Biografia de Raul Jaurena |
