Meet QuinTango

In 1995 violinist Joan Singer invited four passionate, music-loving friends (Libby Blatt, Irma Cripe, Rachel Schenker, and Bruce Steeg) to read through some tango music she had recently acquired. As they worked their way through charts of unknown tangos found in the Library of Congress and arrangements of Piazzolla given them by a Dutch colleague, a chemical reaction took place - a fire started in their bellies. Over the next three years the group -- two violins, cello, bass and piano who soon named themselves QuinTango - expanded their repertoire, started performing tango concerts, made their first CD, QuinTango, and in the process became one of Washington's favorite music groups.

QuinTango gained national attention in 1999, when they were invited to give a Command Performance at the White House along with Robert Duval, bandoneonist Raul Jaurena, and dancer/actor Pablo Veron. It was also the year they traveled to their first out-of-state concert (at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana) and their first overseas concerts (Costa Rica's IX International Music Festival). Back at home, they performed their first 'Valentango' concert. Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) invited them to become Concerts-in-Schools Artists. The National Building Museum offered them a Concert-in-Partnership that blossomed into a highly successful Tango Festival with guest soloists and dancers. In September, QuinTango performed their first concert at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage.

In 2000 the group began to think seriously about touring. They joined the Virginia Tour Directory, making their debut appearance as a Virginia Touring Artist at the Virginia Highlands Festival in Abingdon. They joined Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) and Chamber Music America (CMA). They made their Piccolo Spoleto Festival debut in Charleston, S.C. Back in Washington, they presented their Washington Performing Arts Society elementary school program, "The Story of Tango," in more than twenty Title One Washington area schools. They also produced Tango Festival 2000, performed twice at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage and released their second album, Secret Places. Meanwhile their mailing list grew so large that they were able to keep up with only the email members.

In 2001 the group expanded their touring significantly and developed a symphonic pops program with the help of local arranger Jim Kessler. Supported by the Virginia Arts Commission, QuinTango traveled to Appalachia for their first residency, a stay involving nine performances of their new high school program "Tango & Jazz" and three formal concerts. They produced and performed in Tango Festival 2001 at the National Building Museum under the patronage of the Argentine Ambassador. They traveled to the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., for a run of sold-out concerts. Less than two weeks after 9/11, they returned to Charleston to appear as soloists with the Charleston Symphony, debuting their new symphony program under the baton of David Stahl. By the end of the year they had performed over forty concerts, making it their busiest year to date.

In 2002 QuinTango focused on becoming a regional touring group and expanding their educational outreach programming. They began the year by receiving the prestigious WAMMIE award (Washington Area Music Association) for outstanding chamber group. In January, they traveled to North Carolina for a juried showcase at ArtsMarket 2002, a trip made possible by support from the Virginia Arts Commission. This successful introduction to North Carolina presenters created numerous touring opportunities and a whole new fan base. International touring was also a highlight this year: In April, they made their European debut with five concerts in Normandy, France and in August traveled back to Costa Rica for nine concerts at the XII International Music Festival. In between their international tours, they returned to Piccolo Spoleto for another week of sold out performances.

On the education front, they developed workshops for Washington Performing Arts Society's collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble and continued performing "The Story of Tango" in Title One schools. They produced the final Tango Festival at the National Building Museum, shedding a tear with their loyal audience, tango dance fans and Building Museum colleagues when it was all over. That summer, they made their debut at Wolf Trap with five performances at the Children's Theater-in-the-Woods with a program that expanded "The Story of Tango" to include Argentine tango dancers. At the end of the year, QuinTango was selected as a MidAtlantic Arts Foundation Touring Artist for the 2003-4 season. The grant, which enables the group to couple formal concerts with educational outreach programming in Maryland, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, the Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C., will continue until August 2004.

In 2003 QuinTango began its eighth year with the wonderful news that they had received a second WAMMIE, again for best chamber music group. Meanwhile, they had plunged into their touring season with a memorable week in Florida, including appearances in Key West, the Kravis Center in W. Palm Beach, and as soloists with the Ars Flores Orchestra in Ft. Lauderdale. This was followed by a warmly received residency in the frozen heartland - it was 5 degrees when the group arrived at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. By the beginning of February they were back in the south for concerts in Georgia, including a Valentango concert with the Augusta Symphony. (It was in Augusta that the group happened to notice their picture on a billboard - nearly causing their rental car to run right off the road!) Several tours to North Carolina, their fifth appearance at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, a fourth appearance at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and the release of the group's long-anticipated third album, To Buenos Aires With Love, brought the season to a grand conclusion.

While concerts have been QuinTango's focus, new partnerships are an important source of creative energy. In April of 2003, Chamber Music America awarded QuinTango a Residency Partnership Grant to be used in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In January 2004 QuinTango will partner with the DownEast Folk Society to bring concerts to all ages in Carteret and Craven Counties. The MidAtlantic Arts Grant also created valuable partnerships with new presenters. Partnerships with dancers have expanded. "Concert with dancers" has been QuinTango's most popular offering in the Virginia Arts Directory since 2001. Tango dancers Susan Reynolds and Tino Bastidas have toured with QuinTango, bringing their richly narrative choreography to the Virginia Highlands Festival in Abingdon, Southside Community College in South Hills, the Glen Allen Performing Arts Center in Richmond, the Rappahannock Regional Library Concert Series in Frederick, and the Carysbrook Concert Series in Fluvanna. At QuinTango's April 2003 residency at the Arts Festival of Southwest Virginia, the impact of dance on young people was overwhelmingly evident: dancers Carina Losano and Fabio Bonini were mobbed by students both at intermission and after the concert and again the next day in a school assembly. With this success in mind, QuinTango asked Argentine choreographer and dancer Carina Losano to join them in developing a series of music and dance workshops for Washington Performing Arts Society's newly expanded Embassy Adoption program. These workshops, along with the equally successful master classes offered by the group's internationally acclaimed cellist Jorge Espinoza, will become part of QuinTango's educational offerings in 2003-04. Another dance collaboration arose from a bill shared with dancers Harby Gonzalez and Emilie Tobias for the Augusta Symphony program in February 2003. QuinTango has also collaborated and produced festivals with internationally-known dance stars Pablo Veron, Diego and Carolina, and the Savoys. The fruitful and long time collaboration with Footlight Players Theatre artistic director Sheri Wenger and Piccolo Spoleto Festival director Ellen Moryl Dressler continues to allow QuinTango to return each May to Charleston, a place that is becoming a second home to the group.

As the 2003-4 season approaches, QuinTango looks forward to tours in Virginia, the Carolinas and Florida; residencies in Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania; and a symphony performance in Wichita. New projects under development include a collaboration with a ballet company, a program on Eastern-European Jewish influences in tango, and a venture into equestrian tango. A tour to Asia is in the planning stages. Like QuinTango itself, every project the group undertakes is the product of great chemistry. It is the dialogue QuinTango engages in with the world around them that suggests the next adventure - something clicks in the lobby after a concert during a conversation with a fan or someone perusing the web emails the group with a proposal. If you have ideas for collaborations or concerts, please contact the group.

QuinTango's music has been the sound track for two movies, Inside Straight (USA, 2001) and Fiction (Australia, 2002). Qantas airlines featured QuinTango in their in-flight classical offerings in January 2003 and will feature selections from the new CD in September 2003. Georgetown University Dance Department included QuinTango's music in a recent dance program; The Kathy Hardy Gray Dance Company choreographed an entire evening of QuinTango's music several years ago. Footlight Players Theatre in Charleston included QuinTango's version of Mi Buenos Aires Querido in their production of The Guys.

QuinTango is a quintet of musicians - Joan Singer and Paula Akbar, violinists; Jorge Luis Espinoza, cello; Libby Blatt, bass; Jeffery Watson, piano. As often as space and budget allow, QuinTango is five musicians plus two dancers. The wonderful dancers who have appeared on tour - Susan Reynolds & Tino Bastidas, Emilie Tobias & Harby Gonzalez, Carina Losano and her partners Pablo Repún, Fabio Bonini, Murat Erdemsel, Bruno Augusto. It also includes the musicians who have arranged the music: maestro Osvaldo Berlinghieri; Jim Kessler, the genius behind the group's symphonic tangos; Carmelo Pino, Washington's own master musician and composer; and Mark Gruen, the transcriber who makes it all legible. It includes the mutli-talented Luisa Casasnovas Winters, who has performed both as violinist and as creator of the video that can be seen on the QuinTango home page. It includes the group's generous photographer, Michael Stewart. It includes recording engineer Gantt Kushner and revered mastering artist Bill Wolf. It includes Oasis Recording and their top notch graphics designer Jorge Krüger. And finally it includes the volunteer techies who were pressed into service early in the group's history and are still crucial to its operation - webmaster and graphics designer, Jonathan Singer, and videographer and technical advisor, Irwin Singer.

Meet the Artists:

Joan Singer, violin, is the founder and current director of QuinTango. She first fell in love with Latin music while living in Mexico. She is a member of the Baltimore Opera Orchestra and Capitol Chamber Ensemble. She holds degrees from Earlham College and DePauw University. In 2003, she and colleague Jeffery Watson represented QuinTango at the International Tango Festival in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Since founding QuinTango, she has devoted herself to the group and its mission of bringing tango repertoire to new audiences.

Jennifer Rickard, violin has been a member of QuinTango since 2006. She is also a member of the National Philharmonic, the National Gallery Orchestra, and a substitute with the Richmond Symphony and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. In addition, she coaches for the Northern Virginia Youth Symphony and maintains a private teaching studio in her home. Jennifer enjoys her summers in Greensboro, NC on faculty at the Eastern Music Festival. Before moving to Washington, Jennifer was a member of the New Orleans and Phoenix Symphonies, spending the 1991-1992 season in New Orleans as associate and acting concertmaster. She received her BA from Barnard College in New York and her MM from the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.

Kerry Van Laanen, cello, performs regularly with the Baltimore Opera, Washington National Opera, National Gallery Orchestra, Post-Classical Ensemble, Wolftrap Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore, and the National Philharmonic Orchestra. A highly respected chamber musician, she has also performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, as well as in concert in Italy and at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. She maintains an active cello studio in her home state of Maryland.

Libby Blatt, double bass, is a founding and current member of QuinTango, with whom she has toured Costa Rica and France. She can be heard on all of QuinTango's albums. She has performed in Washington, Miami, Chicago and New York with Hungarian orchestras, chamber groups, string quartets and dance bands. She has concertized in France, Italy, Germany and Holland with the Capital Chamber Ensemble.

Phil Hosford, piano, is a pianist of international reputation, touring throughout the
U.S., Europe, South America, Africa and Southeast Asia.. The Washington Post acclaims his playing as “ the perfecting meeting of artistry and pyrotechnics...gripping and powerful.” Performance highlights include those at the Kennedy Center, Strathmore Center for the Arts, New York’ s Lincoln Center, London’ s Wigmore Hall, Teatro del Opera in Buenos Aires and Kolarec Narodni Hall in Belgrade. He is the winner of top prizes in 15 national and international competitions, the Terrence Judd International Auditions in London, the United States Artistic Ambassador Auditions and the Beethoven Foundation’s Triennial Awards. Mr. Hosford is a recipient of the Solo Performers Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1995, Mr. Hosford and his wife, Hayuru Taima, founded the Academy of Music in Gaithersburg, MD.

QuinTango is proud to showcase the musicians who have performed in multiple formal concerts, tours, or educational programming. They are the heart and soul of QuinTango's extended family. For a list of all musicians who have performed with QuinTango, please visit our Invididual Bios page.

For information about bookings and additional press photos, please contact Joan Singer at 703-548-6811 (voice mail and fax) or by by email. QuinTango's web site may be visited at www.quintango.com.

Updated: February 2008