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QUINTETO DE ACADEMIA (Academy Quintet)
(Bandoneon, flute, oboe, clarinet and bass clarinet)
A new sound concept for tango and Argentine music, performing original compositions and new arrangements of traditional music of the genre.
The QUINTETO DE ACADEMIA was founded in 2016 through the initiative of Leandro Ragusa and Nili Grieco, with the aim of creating a new sound experience for audiences with the interpretation of Tango and Argentine Music, performing their own compositions and original versions and arrangements of tangos, milongas, waltzes and traditional music of the genre.
Breaking down barriers between classical and popular music, the QUINTETO DE ACADEMIA, with its unique instrumentation of bandoneon and woodwind quartet (flute, oboe, clarinet and bass clarinet), is the first ensemble with these characteristics in the history of the Tango. Quinteto de Academia is currently presenting its first album "Dinamica del viento".
MEMBERS
- Leandro Ragusa: bandoneon, composition and arrangements
- Nili Grieco: flute, musical direction and management
- Paula Llan de Rosos: oboe
- Manuel Rodríguez Riva: clarinet
- Gonzalo Braz: bass clarinet
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Leandro Ragusa
Bandoneon, composition and arrangements
Training:
Leandro Ragusa studied bandoneon with Néstor Marconi, Carlos Lazzari and Juan Carlos Caviello. With a scholarship from the Konex Foundation, he received the Diploma in Advanced Studies of Tango in 2004. Ragusa studied arranging and composition with Gabriel Senanes, Laura Baade and Manolo Juarez.
Artistic experience:
Leandro Ragusa teaches the History of Tango at the Buenos Aires Tango Educational Center (CETBA – Centro Educativo de Tango) and Tango Music Theory Appreciation at the School of Popular Music of Lujan.
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He is co-founder of Centro’feca (Forum of Argentine Cultural Studies), an NGO dedicated to the research and promotion of Tango music. Centro’feca was awarded the "Gobbi de Oro 2010" by the National Tango Academy of Argentina and receives sponsorship from the UNESCO in different activities, such as the International Congress of Tango. http://www.centrofeca.org.ar/
Ragusa was part of the Orquesta Juan Darienzo directed by Carlos Lazzari, the Rodolfo Mederos Orquesta Típica, the Orquesta Escuela de Tango directed by Emilio Balcarce, the Bandoneon Quartet directed by Néstor Marconi and the Cacho Tirao Sextet.
He performed in the casts of prominent Buenos Aires Tango stages, such as: Café Tortoni, El Viejo Almacén, Ideal Confitería, Che Tango, Sabor a Tango, Bar Sur, Faena Hotel and La Ventana among others. During the 2006 season, he participated as a soloist of the tango show at Centro Huis Ten Bosh (Nagasaki- Japan).
He has performed at various festivals and musical events, such as the "Bandoneon National Festival", the VII, VIII and IX Buenos Aires Tango Festival, VI Guitar Festival (Nantes - France), VII, VII and X Montreal Tango Festival (Québec -Canada).
In 2008, he formed the Duo Ruiz-Ragusa. Since 2010 to the present, the Duo performed several tours throughout the Americas and in Europe participating in the 2011 Montreal Tango Festival, Tango aus Spiekeroog 2013 and Kieler Woche (Kiel Germany) 2013, which are among the most prominent.
Between the years 2011 and 2016, Ragusa was director and composer of the Mr. Vertigo Sextet, a group of popular Argentine music.
Nili Grieco
Flute, musical direction and management
Nili Grieco has a Bachelor of Music degree (Licenciatura en Música) with a specialization in Chamber and Symphonic Music from the National University of Lanús. She holds professional degrees from the Provincial Conservatory of San Martín in Musical Education and as a Flute Professor.
She is Professor of Flute of the “Manuel de Falla” Superior Conservatory of Music and Music Schools under the Ministry of Education of the Greater Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (GCBA).
Grieco has participated in flute seminars with Felix Renggli (Switzerland), Mark Grauwels (Belgium), Robert Dick (USA) and chamber music performance with Hazelzet and Ogg (Holland).
She was a member of the Orquesta 3 of Febrero, the Academic Orchestra of Lanús and as soloist with the Camerata of the University of Buenos Aires in numerous concerts and festivals.
As a member and director of various chamber music groups (flute and strings / woodwind quartets and quintets, etc.), Ms. Grieco has participated in concerts at the following cultural centers: Rojas, San Martín, Recoleta, Cooperación, del Sur, at the Alianza Francesa Concert Hall, House of the Province of Buenos Aires, the Pestalozzi Cultural Center, the San Martín Theater, Belgrano Auditorium, Teatro Roma de Avellaneda, Mar del Plata Auditorium Theater, Bahia Blanca Municipal Theater, Podestá Coliseum Silver, Zárate Coliseum, etc.
Currently dedicated to the study and interpretation of Argentine and Latin American music, she has independently released three albums. She teaches courses, seminars and master classes of interpretation of Tango Flute and Argentine Music in public and private institutions in Buenos Aires City and in the interior of the country.
Together with Juan Gallino on guitar, she is part of LA DUPLA, with whom she presented their CD DE ESTRENO in diverse halls around Buenos Aires and the interior of the country. LA DUPLA has been invited to dictate seminars about the interpretation of Argentine music by the National University of Rosario, the University of El Salvador, the Superior School of Music of Salta and Jujuy.
Invited by tango orchestras, she has been part of the concert agendas of Cultural Centers of the GCBA and Cultural Directorates of the Province of Buenos Aires.
She participated in Tango Festivals of the City of Buenos Aires and performed as a soloist of the E. Balcarce School Orchestra, directed by Osvaldo Piro (Luna Park, Tango Festival 2010, along with Susana Rinaldi) and Raúl Garello (Tango Festival of Tasso 2011.)
Grieco is assistant director and flutist with the Tango Orchestra of the Tangueros del Sur Company. She is flute soloist and Project and Coordinating Assistant to the Kashmir Orchestra, with which she has performed at the CCK, Fito Páez in America shows, Tribute to Spinetta, and in the presentation of the CDs with Sandra Mihanovich, Litto Nebbia, among others.
She is frequently invited to perform with orchestras and ensembles of classical music (Concert To Open Sky - Tribute to the Armenian Genocide, opera Barber of Seville in the Konex, etc). Formerly, she was a Flute teacher for the Chascomús School Orchestra.
Http://niligrieco.wixsite.com/nili-grieco