Many More Than Two Can Tango. (Especially If There's No Dancing.)

This coming Friday night -- July 9 -- Orchestra Miami is putting on an extremely interesting tango concert.  It's a tribute to Astor Piazzolla, who was the undisputed king of modern tango music.

Piazzolla was an Argentinian musician whose instrument was the bandoneon.  This is a small instrument that is closely related to the accordion, except the accordion has keys, as does a piano, as well as buttons, and the bandoneon only has buttons.  The bandoneon is considered an extremely difficult instrument to master.

Piazzolla was classically trained, and he went to France to learn composition.  His main teacher told him not to try to learn to compose European-style classical music, but to stick to his tango roots.  So Piazzolla took his teacher's advice and became the master of modernized tango.

A collection of exceptional musicians, and a conductor, will be performing Piazzolla's music on Friday.  The venue is the Scottish Rite Temple at 471 NW 3 St in downtown Miami.  Ticket prices -- Orchestra Miami does not charge enough for what they do -- are $15 regular adult admission, $12 for seniors, $5 for children, and $36 for a "family pack," which is intended to include two adults and two children.  There is also a "live-streaming" opportunity, and the minimum requested price is $5.  If you want live-streaming, you can sign yourself up through orchestramiami.org.*

The ensemble will be 24 strings, a bandoneon, a guitar, and a singer.  That's aside from the conductor.

If you're not familiar with Piazzolla, or not terribly familiar with tango music, this concert is not to be missed.  If you are familiar with tango, modern tango, and Piazzolla, this concert is not to be missed.  I would say probably to bring tissue.

* Please note comment.  Ticket prices are not correct.  The actual prices are higher than the e-blast showed, but they're still low for a concert like this.  If this is disappointing, you can bring less tissue.