Reviews

“Camarada Brings ‘Tango Buenos Aires’ to The Conrad”
Ken Herman, San Diego Story

Saturday at The Conrad, San Diego’s Camarada chamber ensemble presented Tango Buenos Aires, a concert reprising the music Camarada featured on their recent tour of Latin America. A large, enthusiastic audience—The Conrad was sold out—embraced this spirited concert of music and dance.

Camarada Artistic Director Beth Ross Buckley and her musical colleagues violinist David Buckley, pianist Dana Burnett and bassist Andrés Martín were joined by professional tango dancers Carolina Jaurena and Andrés Bravo in this concert devoted to music by Astor Piazzolla and Camarada’s composer-in-residence Andrés Martín.

With its lazy, sultry introduction, Piazzolla’s “Milonga del Ángel” evokes a blissful dream state conjured by slowly changing cluster chords. Over these gentle undulating sounds, flutist Beth Ross Buckley offered an expansive incantation that David Buckley’s shimmering violin solo gracefully extended, supported by understated accompaniment from bassist Martín and pianist Burnett. The composer’s “Lo Que Vendrá” charts a contrasting course, opening with a short but flashy violin cadenza, executed with flair by David Buckley, who quickly found a more ingratiating timbre to convey the tango’s elegant main theme. Burnett and Martín turned the theme into a lively duo that ushered in a series of rhapsodic episodes that gave the dancers a chance to display their bravura moves across the front of the Conrad stage.

  • Description text goes hereMartín’s major work on the program, Three Tangos, unfolded as a tribute to three neighborhoods of his native Buenos Aires. The pulsing, assertive themes and nervous roulades of “Microcentro” easily suggested the busy life of the center city, followed by the second tango, “Balvanera,” a melancholic flute solo that Martín explained in his introduction to the piece portrayed his nostalgia for haunts he has left behind. “La Feria de San Telmo,” the last tango, paints a bustling street festival in which all four instruments engage in congenial carousing.

    Camarada reprised Martín’s “Tango Bajo el Agua,” Camarada’s 2023 commission premiered exactly a year ago by the ensemble in a concert at The Conrad. With just four instruments, Martín is able to suggest in this tango a strong orchestral texture replete with serious, probing themes. “Silent,” this year’s Camarada commission from Martín, is an elegy that opens with disturbing riffs plucked from strings inside the piano to which repeated muffled notes toll in grief. Poignant themes traded by the flute and violin summon the anguish of loss in this deeply moving meditation.

    Other offerings on this rich tango concert included “Danzarín” by  Aníbal Troilo, the influential Argentine bandleader with whom Piazzolla got his start as performer and composer, and Eduardo Rovira’s “A Evaristo Carriego.”

    This concert was presented by Camarada at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in La Jolla on Saturday, February 3, 2024.

“Music can bring magic and a moment of grace”
Lilia O'Hara, Whispers of Grace

There are always moments of grace. I don't want to sound superficial; I'm

referring to those moments when, in the midst of the routine of work and daily

obligations, we can experience something extraordinary. Grace also exists in

times of crisis, but today I want to focus on those moments that occur in

everyday life.

We often forget to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us, the beauty that brings

us joy, even if only for a few moments. Last week I had the opportunity to

attend a concert by the Camarada Tango Quartet chamber orchestra, an

experience that perfectly encapsulated one of those moments of grace.

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The organization, founded by Beth Ross Buckley, is celebrating its 30th

anniversary with a series of events, including the Tango Obsession concert, one

of which took place on Friday the 28th in the atrium of the Museum of

Photographic Arts in San Diego. The evening left a deep impression not only on

me, but also on the nearly 90 participants who gathered that evening.

  • An Encounter with Music and Passion

    The orchestra consisted of Beth Ross Buckley on flute, David Buckley on violin, Dana Burnett on piano, and Andrés Martín on double bass. They were joined by dancers Andrés Bravo and Carolina Jaurena, who traveled from New York to perform some tangos, and andoneonist Pablo Jaurena, who
    accompanied the orchestra on several pieces. The audience, mostly Latina women invited by the nonprofit organization Magnolias, filled the room with vibrant colors: red, black and white.
    But the real star of the evening was the music. Since much of the audience had Latin roots, the connection to tango was immediate. There was no singer; only the sound of the instruments filled the room, evoking nostalgia and emotion. As Andrés Martín explained, tango, like jazz, does not always follow a rigid structure. Instead, the instruments enter into a dialogue with each other, complementing each other in a game of improvisation and magic.


    The highlight of the evening
    The most applauded piece was Thelma and Dolores, a composition
    commissioned by Andrés Martín and inspired by the mothers of the pianist and the flutist of the orchestra. Its emotionality and dynamism left the audience
    talking about it as they left the concert hall.

    That night, art reminded us of its transformative power. Everyday life confronts us with challenges, and the future is sometimes shrouded in uncertainty. But when the opportunity to enjoy art presents itself, we should take advantage of it. These moments are the best defense against negativity and discouragement.


    Of course, live music is unbeatable, but when it is not possible to attend a concert, recordings can also have a great impact on our mood. All you have to do is make some time in your schedule to enjoy them.