QuinTango
The Performers
QuinTango is a Washington, DC chamber ensemble (two violins, cello, bass and piano) whose fiery music and sensual championship dancers deliver enough heat to peel the varnish off your floors. In quintet performance or with symphony, QuinTango delivers a performance of ultimate artistry and passion. It is classical music that induces heavy breathing. It's popular entertainment tethered in elegant style and grace. It is virtuosic chamber music that requires one to lower the thermostat. There's nothing like the tango.
In the words of the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, "Tonight, QuinTango, you conquered Buenos Aires." On the domestic front, QuinTango continues to conquer home-grown audiences with their unique approach and masterful, exquisite performance. Like jazz and blues, tango speaks of heartbreak, humor, yearning and romance in dazzlingly diverse styles. QuinTango's distinctive sound is shaped by arrangements created by some of the greatest tango masters in Buenos Aires. A typical QuinTango concert includes 14-18 tangos interspersed with engaging narratives, anecdotes, video and dance. Concert patrons follow tango's journey from the immigrant neighborhoods along the Rio de la Plata to the gilded salons of Paris and finally to the international concert stage. With the accompanying championship tango dancers an added option for presenters, QuinTango offers a substantive menu of themed concert programs, plus outreach events designed for students K-12 through university — and even tango classes for audiences. By the time the group has completed their stay, half the town has left for Argentina.
In a Word…
"One of Washington's finest instrumental ensembles." - The Washington Post
"Haunting melody, rhythm that makes every part of your anatomy move, a feeling of warmth and enthusiasm … downright wonderful." - Charleston Post and Courier
"Dramatic power, sublime lyricism, playfulness and vitality..." - The Washington Post
A Presenter's Point of View
Your pulse goes all over the map. From their opening musical phrase, audience attention zooms to full strength. QuinTango warming up an audience is never an issue. It may be more an issue of your "cooling" them off as the evening progresses. By the time the guest dancers enter, you want to distribute those little fans or towels. QuinTango's educational programs far surpassed my expectations. Students were mesmerized. The children couldn't move fast enough, or orderly enough, at the end of the event when they were invited to come up to meet the artists and touch the instruments. This was Tango bingo.