Leonardo Suarez Paz, Violin I
Alejandro Drago, Violin II
Nicolas Danielson, Violin II*
Ron Lawrence, Viola
Daniel Miller, Cello

As the world passes into the 21st century, Nuevo Tango celebrates its rich musical culture and opens limitless possibilities for musical expressions that speak of our time. Billed by the press as “tango royalty,” Leonardo grew up in the midst of the Nuevo Tango revolution, alongside its greatest protagonists: his father Fernando, Astor Piazzolla, Osvaldo Berlingieri, Horacio Salgan, among others.

The premiere violin soloist of several major tango orchestras and international shows, including Forever Tango, Tango Argentino, TangoX2, and Julio Bocca's Ballet Argentino, Leonardo now collaborates with chamber, jazz, and tango musicians in New York. Now, he composes and arranges for his jazz and tango groups and participates in the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall educational programs.

Leonardo continues the legacy of his father Fernando and Astor Piazzolla. In 1990, he became driven to fuse the influences of his tango heritage with the music of his newfound, urban American culture and assembled the Cuartetango String Quartet in order to achieve the highest level Nuevo Tango performance on western classical instruments.

The members of Cuartetango precisely shape the texture and spirit of the authentic tango sound through the works of Piazzolla, Pugliese, Montes, De Caro, Marconi and many more composers. Reconnecting with the past, they break new ground with a daring repertoire: from Tango Barocco to post-Piazzolla’s Nuevo Tangos. The quartet dazzles with the mastery of this exquisite concert genre.

Leading composers such as Marconi, Berlingieri, and Cosentino write arrangements of their compositions for the quartet. Their pieces fuse Pugliese tango sounds from the 1950s, Piazzolla’s Nuevo Tango groove and their individual “signature” harmonies. Argentine composer, Gabriel Senanes dedicated his composition Cuartetango to the quartet which he wrote in 7/8 time signature like no other tango before.

On their debut record L’Atelier, the quartet performs with the legends of tango: Nestor Marconi, Osvaldo Berlingieri, Saul Cosentino, Carlos Zunini, Fernando Suarez Paz and Suarez Paz Quintet with Beatriz Suarez Paz. L’Atelier incorporates classic works from the Golden Age of Tango and new and original arrangements of Nuevo Tango by Astor Piazzolla, Nestor Marconi, Osvaldo Berlingieri, Osvaldo Montes, and other leading composers.

The only string quartet of its kind to devote itself to the music of tango, Cuartetango have recently returned from a triumphant, sold out tour of Argentina and the United States. They performed to full theaters in Chautauqua Institution, Newark Symphony Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, New York’s famed jazz club Birdland with Jim Hall, the Annual Buenos Aires Tango Festival, and in Argentina’s grand opera house, Teatro Colon, at the invitation of Buenos Aires Secretariat of Culture.