The tango is known as a dance, but music is an important — at times neglected — component. When Orquesta Victoria comes to the Bay Area, June 23-28, the group will skip the tried-and-true presentation of the tango (dancers front, musicians in the back) and instead feature a 12-piece orchestra and, sparingly, two pairs of dancers.
Emphasis, says composer-tour producer Debora Simcovich, is on the orchestra and singers, "as it is done traditionally in Buenos Aires for the regular Argentine public, not for the tourists. It's a concert at a classical-music-quality level, it's for listening. There is dancing of just a few pieces by two couples, as an element secondary to the orchestra."
That approach in America is unusual, but far from unprecedented: one memorable concert included the San Francisco Symphony, JoAnn Falletta, and the greatest of bandoneon masters, Daniel Binelli (who is scheduled to perform with Orquesta Victoria on the East Coast). The reign of standards has been challenged not only by Ástor Piazzolla, but dozens of contemporary composers such as Litto Nebbia, Dino Saluzzi, Rodolfo Mederos, Gustavo Beytelmann, and Fernando Otero.
Simcovich — born in Argentina, long-time San Francisco resident — has another angle: rather than the "same old, traditional repertoire for a hundred years, we are now breaking that pattern with a program comprised of previously unheard, original new tangos."
The concert will offer a few standards from the era of Carlos Gardel, marking the anniversary of his death on June 24, 1935, in a plane crash in Colombia, but the emphasis is on such new works as Simcovich's own just-recorded album, La Media Cuadra Inmortal (The Immortal Half Block), the title referring to a street in Buenos Aires’ Jewish neighborhood, Villa Crespo, that has remained the same over years as if in a time warp.
The album was recorded in Buenos Aires, but the Bay Area performances will be the world premiere for Simcovich's compositions. Another important aspect of the presentation is the rare presence of a woman composer in the genre, supported by the orchestra's "interest in her tango music because of her unique female point of view," according to the tour announcement.
The tour is presented by Villa Crespo Productions in collaboration with Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (June 23 and 25), in Berkeley's Freight and Salvage (June 24), S.F. Marines' Memorial Theater (June 26), San Anselmo Playhouse (June 27), and the Palo Alto Oshman Family JCC (June 28).
Formed in 2010, Orquesta Victoria’s sound is influenced by classical music and jazz. The group has played at the 2014 Tango World Cup, on the most important stages, theaters, and tango festivals in Buenos Aires, as well as the Casa Rosada (the equivalent of The White House) where they performed for President Cristina Kirchner and other heads of state.
Several members of orchestra are Jewish, including band leader Ezequiel (Cheche) Ordoñez, grandson of Polish chess Grand Master Miguel Najdorf, who escaped the approaching Holocaust to make his home in Argentina. All of the concerts are preceded by a talk, "Jewish Life and Tango in Argentina," with sociologist Anita Epelbaum Weinstein.