Chittenden County, Vermont Positively Vermont, 2 Aug 2022

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From YouTube: Positively Vermont Stowe Tango Music Festival - August 2, 2022

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Dennis McMahon interviews Hector Del Curto from the Stowe Tango Music Festival.

This video belongs to http://www.cctv.org and published with permission under Creative Commons License CCTV Center for Media & Democracy Programming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

A

This is dennis mcmahon and welcome to positively vermont, and today we are once again uh going to visit with our friends from the stowe tangle music festival, uh which is coming up uh from august. The 19th through august, the 21st uh in beautiful stowe vermont and my guests today are hector del croto, the artistic director and founder of the stowe tango music festival and jisoo oak, who is the executive director and founder of this really outstanding festival? uh Welcome.

B

A

Thank you dennis.

C

Nice to see you.

A

Same here, it's it's really good, to see you again and give us a little bit of tell us a little bit about yourselves. uh I know that the hector is a latin uh grammy winner and uh jisoo is a very accomplished cellist. This tell us a little bit about your backgrounds uh in music and tango and in the festival.

C

Gee, so you go first.

D

Okay, so um I'm coming from the classical background, so um I went to juilliard um some years ago and um I was interested in tango dance.

D

um It was like an a hobby outside of music that I pursued, um so I fell in love with music of argentine tango, and then I tried to play the music of this beautiful um culture and I met hector.

C

She met this beautiful person. Oh I'm sorry.

D

So that's how I got to um start more tango. Well, we are now married, so I play a lot of tango with him. Of course, I still play classical music, but yeah. It's been my joy to play tango music. Ever since yeah, that's right.

A

Tell us about yourself hector.

C

Well, I'm a bandannon player, and for those of you who don't know the pandonion, you should come to the festival and you will see the instrument. You will see many of them.

C

The pandonian is an instrument that was invented in germany and it was created to replace the organ, and um so it somehow it didn't make it in in germany and it went all the way to argentina at the end of 1800 and my great-grandfather, my grandfather were abandoning players, so that's where I got the tradition and the knowledge for from this music and from this instrument um I studied in argentina.

C

I started with with great teachers, um nestor, marconi and juliopani, among others, but we also had them as guests in our festival, and I came to the us in uh 1995 with a show called forever tango and I stayed in new york after a few years of being with the show on broadway, and um we started this festival in 2000.

B

C

This is the uh eighth year of our festival, um so tango is part of my life and I brought it with me from argentina, and now we are in stoke vermont. That's.

A

Great well, this is the uh the premier tango festival in the united states, and I guess in north america- and uh how did you put this all together.

C

You want to go first.

D

Well, the idea was, we wanted to put an orchestra together, but also from where I'm coming from a lot of classical musicians want to play tango music, but there's just no place where we can find sheep music people to play with it took me like many emails, to find tango musicians trying to find all over the world. Of course I live in new york, so I could find tango musicians, but you know there are other people all over the us.

D

They want to play tango music and I wanted especially classical uh musicians to be able to learn how to play it properly, so yeah it's basically.

D

My idea was that we model it um after aspen music festival, so aspen music festival has orchestras that put together mainly like 90 of the students, and then 10 is professionals right.

D

So that was like the idea behind it, so we didn't want to um just teach them or coach them, but coach them and play with them so yeah. So that was the idea behind putting it together.

C

So dennis just let me fix this microphone that is coming on the way nope.

A

It looks beautiful.

C

Looks beautiful but I don't want him be featured um so um what she was telling you about. The the aspen music festival, um it's from the classical side. Now, from the tango side, I will tell you my story. um For me. It was uh very um surprising- and I was honored- that people in the classical world wanted to play the music from argentina, mainly because a guy that one day transformed tango and brought it into the more classical side who was astor piazzolla.

C

So most of the people that were in classical music started to play the music of foster piazzolla and that's how they got to know tango. On the other side, there were the dancers that were dancing with the recordings from 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, and that's pretty much about it.

C

um So for me there was something missing on one hand: the live music on another hand for the classical musicians. This style of the traditional tango, which was the foundation of the music of astro piazzolla.

C

So that was the idea um that that we came about because also on orchestra in in buenos aires. That was one of the greatest things that happened to tango, which is called the orchestra tango emilio alcarce.

C

So this orchestra works with um a two years program. People from all over the world go to one of titus and study with the maestros, like victor lovation, who was also our guest in in the festival and many other maestros that were in the the old times um plain tango, and they study side to side. They practice with them. They they see how they play physically musically, and so that was my idea.

C

Let's bring the maestros to stole and let's start practicing with them, so we can get all the elements that are missing from the tradition of tango to the classical world.

A

Well, it's a very exciting program, uh we're going to go over it in a minute but you're combining the musicians with people who want to learn from them and also networking among the musicians for a lot of interesting techniques and- and I guess, learning experiences and it's a very uh organic kind of thing. I I can really see how it's developed and, just as an aside, tell us a little bit about your grammy award experience. I know you won. The latin grammy award tell us about that.

C

Well, I had to correct: you was not the latin grammy, it was the grammy actually.

D

C

Yeah we we want the uh grammy for the best latin uh jazz, album right.

B

C

In the in the grammys, latin just includes tango and jazz and latin music, um so we won that in 2018 with the trio of pablo ziegler, who was a pianist of us, I had been playing with him since uh 1991.

C

I was about two years old, um but um so it was a great experience. uh We recorded that cd in stove was live and we got the the grammy so yeah. It was amazing.

A

That's great congratulations again. I know we had it in the studio, a replica in the studio several years ago, and it's it's like it's great. It's really just fantastic and it's a great recognition, your talent and your uh efforts in just bringing this genre to the attention of the public. I really love it. I listen to tango pretty much every day, uh I'm familiar with the various artists, but uh um what the public is going to uh see. uh Tell us a little bit about it. It starts uh on august.

A

uh The 19th tell us run us through the the whole uh program uh during that time,.

D

August 19th we have dance workshops for dancers and some milongas where dancers come and dance it's a social event, but the the main event of the festival is on saturday august 20th at 8 pm and that's at spruce peak performing arts. Then so we are back after um not being able to be in spruce peak for two years due to the covert.

D

So this year we are very excited to be back in a on big stage, so yeah the on that performance. We're going to have the um festival, orchestra, 25 musicians and we'll have uh two dancers. Two couples. Can you tell most.

C

And also have the um get started that we are bringing from argentina, which are published to aribia as a pianist and uh pablo agri, who is a great violin player, also the son of uh of uh antonio agri, who was a violin player of us piazzolla, and then we have ignacio varchowski, who is the founder of the orchestra escuela that I mentioned before.

C

So we have a a a great team um to have an an amazing event at the surprise peak, and we have the dancers are um silvio and fernanda and gizermina.

C

So amazing dancers as well, they they are from forever tango. They um we did something at connie hall quite a few years ago with fernanda, which was called tango magic. So these are top of the top dancers in in tango.

A

Tell us about the workshops that people will be able to uh attend.

D

Well, actually, that's for past holders and we actually sold out this year, um but dance workshops are taught by these master dancers and there are actually some musicality workshops that one will be taught by hector and one by ignacio.

D

So that's for dancers to learn more about music, and so basically our festival has another mission, which is to bring musicians and dancers closer right. So that means dancers has to understand. Music and musicians has to understand the needs of dancers right. So that's why we um hold musicality workshops for dancers.

C

And I just wanted to to say that for people who don't know about tango or who know very little about tango, the way to go is to come to spring, speak on august 20 20th and get to see how this is all put together, and imagine that this not only took two weeks of of rehearsals and preparation, but took many years for people who will be who will be performing but to imagine themselves doing it whether they are musicians or they are dancers.

C

They can do it too, and there are many people that started dancing tango and in in the us, and I know, people from the 90s 1996 1997 that they started to dance, and I know people that started to dance the same year that we are going to do the festival. So there is something for everybody and as a musician you, this is the the door to a new kind of experience in music, which the difference between tango and classical music is mainly that you have a lot of freedom.

C

As long as you know, the foundation of the music.

B

B

B

C

So the the banana competition is an idea that we had. um You had to think that there is not a big tradition in bandung playing in the us, so um we wanted to. um You have string players that of course come from the classical world and they are amazing players. So we had somehow um an unbalanced uh level of pandorian players and string players and piano players, so the chip and onion competition was a way to bring that level up.

C

So we have been doing this for quite a few years now and we started to um the ban on young players that participate of the competition come from all over the world and if you think about japan, there are many bandung players and great pandonian players. You think about europe. There are many banonian players that are also great, so we wanted to bring them to us, so the level of pandonium playing in the u.s will start rising and mission accomplished.

C

Quite a few years after we have great band on young players in the us as well. So this year we have four finalists and that's going to be. The final will be on friday, 19th yeah.

D

Friday night.

C

So um we will have um the first prize we'll be performing at spruce peak on saturday. That's very exciting! That's.

A

Very exciting and how how many uh people do you anticipate attending the festival throughout the several days.

D

Well, spruce speak feeds about 400 people, so yeah that'll be around that number. We also have we'll have 80 pass holders, so those are the dancers who are attending.

C

Which everybody can become one next year.

D

C

D

We speak, it will be the main event that um a lot of people can come.

A

So I I know the pass holders has been sold out, but there are still tickets available for spruce peak. Yes, definitely.

D

At sprucespeakarts.org and.

A

You have our on our website. Your website is uh www, tango, festival.

A

uh Right there, with the video and uh now about um um about the the interest in tango uh since the the festival started, uh can you explain how uh the uh stoltango music festival has contributed over the course of years? You've been doing this now, I think it's, the eighth festival just give us a little progress report and how you feel, as musicians and organizers, how it's been going, despite all the issues with the cd 19 and all that.

D

So what we saw past few years is that musicians meet in stowe, so they connect and they're from different parts of the world. But, for example, a musician was born in us, goes to japan and plays with the musicians from japan in japan.

C

D

And they met in stone.

C

So there are many groups. We also have a part of the program is the chamber groups, so the students quote unquote because they are accomplished musicians already. They form chamber groups and those chamber groups. They enjoy it very much so much that they start traveling together and performing in in different countries.

D

Yeah so or invite them from different parts of the the world, so they can play together, yeah. So there's.

A

A lot of stuff.

C

D

C

I can tell you this so in terms of dancing. Tango has been spreading all over the u.s and all over the world, but in the u.s every corner that you go in the u.s, you will have a place to dance tango, but that was not the same with the musicians and stothanga music festival is the most important festival in terms of bringing that up and creating new musicians and and giving them the opportunity to know the music from the from the masters from the people um that performed for so many years.

C

In argentina we had um the the famous pianists from different orchestras in in the 50s and it's in the 60s and the neon players. It's it's really a unique experience for the musicians.

A

That's great, let me ask you a little bit about some of the social aspects here. You're going to have several melangas, which is social dancing. Tell us tell us what's going to happen there give us some of your experiences about that.

D

So after the performance at spruce peak, there will be a milonga on stage. So what happens is uh what I.

C

Just wanted to let them know where the milonga is, because most of the people don't know what the milonga okay so go ahead. So.

D

C

Going to see on stage is it's professional dancers, dancing and sometimes not always, because tango is mainly a way of walking as we stay, but there will be some acrobatics and some things that you will think. Oh, I will never be able to do that and you might be right. You might be wrong, but there is the social aspect of of tango, which is that people who don't have those abilities of doing jumps and things in the air can do so. You dance on the floor is a way of walking.

C

There are certain rules that you have to learn and there are some basic steps that you have to learn to start dancing from that. You can go all the way to create your own style, but there are many people, many many people all over the world. There are these places called milongas where people gather to dance socially.

C

So the pieces are three minutes two and a half three minutes and you dance for tundes of three pieces or four pieces, and then you switch apart. So it's you're not stuck with anybody, but if you like how you dance with your partner, you can dance the whole night.

C

A

Great and who will be playing uh as the orchestra or uh providing the music for that.

C

How is it I'm sorry who.

A

Will be playing at the mulangus? uh Will it be that oh.

C

um The orchestra will be playing, we will have some of the chamber groups performing and- and also you have recordings at some point. um So it's a little bit of of everything.

A

That's great now tell us a little bit about the argentine tango society. I I that's the sponsor, I suppose, and tell us about that group and what it does uh during the year.

C

Well, the argentine town of society is an organization. The main the main purpose is to preserve tango, music and the tradition of tango, and in that sense, um the argentine tango society functions with argentina and u.s, and we um throughout the year we do documentaries.

C

They are milongas these places to for people to dance. um There are many cultural events that the the argentine tango society organizes and also we we have all these maestros that we bring here. um They many of them already have their own documentary, which includes all the history of tango, the orchestras that they played with and and they're really great documentaries made by a crew in argentina, and also we have the events throughout the years.

C

Sometimes there are milongas in a stall, and so we started to do an exchange between argentina and the us as well. So there is a lot of work involved in preserving the music which, for me, preserving music is keeping it alive. It's not just a museum piece, so you have to keep it alive and moving.

A

And you have uh videos uh or uh cds of past uh festivals available correct and are you gonna make one about this festival as well? So people come contact, you can get the music.

C

Yeah, so we we record um every year we do a recording of the um concerts that we do and then in we came up with the cd in 2016. That is called the tango.

C

Music fest live at the tango music festival, and eventually we will do another one where we have the guest artist from argentina and the orchestra, and my group is a faculty that is always in the festival as a quintet and that quintet includes also grammy winners like gustavo casinove pedro giraldo, and yes, we put together those cds and in the 2016 we have my son.

C

Our son, santiago del corto, performing with us and santiago, is right now with the national youth orchestra that they perform at carnegie hall yesterday and um so he's classically trained, but he plays tango and he also plays jazz. That's.

A

C

Will be, he will be performing also at spring, speak this year, excellent.

A

I just want to thank you for all you do with with this wonderful genre and also it's a major honor for the state to host hostess and see you every year and uh just maybe, if you give us a a a parting message, I want to just reiterate at the stowe tango music festival is being held in stowe vermont from august 19th through august 21st, and the website which we are going to publish has all the information on it uh and uh contacts for uh the festival, organizers and uh also ways that people can get tickets and also uh participate.

A

If they can. So maybe you could just give us a some parting uh thoughts for our viewers.

C

Well, I I will say that um if you haven't seen tango before here's an opportunity, it happens every year on the third week of august, but you don't need to wait another year you can come on august, 20th to spru, speak and also that we are very, very happy to be able to have this festival in stough. Vermont musicians, love it and dancers, love it and we love it.

C

So we have an environment where music is all we um we concentrate in, but with an amazing view of uh still, and so I hope people will um will think about it. A little bit that there are not many places that you can go and see and hear great music from a culture that comes all the way down from south america, but that people all over the world are embracing so august 20th at 8 pm at spruce peak is your opportunity. That's.

A

Great he said you want to give us a a final message here.

D

I just want to thank you for inviting us every year. It's wonderful to talk to you and see you great well, this.

C

Really, we hope.

A

That you will come to the festival I am planning. I have some other ideas that I want to talk to you about too uh great about that, because I I really love tango and I love you guys, and I love the music and it's it's just so exciting.

A

uh I should also mention that there are a number of local sponsors and and people who help in the area, businesses and they're listed on the website, and I notice you have some good support from all the surrounding vermont companies and the people associated with the area uh and and with music as well so I'll just check out that website, and there are also some lovely clips from the performances on there as well.

A

Well, thank you both very much and give more regards to santiago, and uh this uh has been dennis mcmahon uh for positively vermont uh discussing the sto tango music festival. My guests have been grammy winner, hector del corto and jisu oak.

A

The festival, executives, executives and organizers and musicians associated with this stole tango music festival. Thank you for watching.