Julian Rowlands brings Argentine Tango to Harrogate
Julian Rowlands’ bandoneon has taken him from TV and recording studios, to the West End stage, concert halls, theatres and opera houses – and now he is set to bring the Argentine Tango to Harrogate.
A free reed instrument developed in Germany and exported to South America between 1911 and 1939, the bandoneon is the defining sound of Argentine tango and the instrument of composer and musician Astor Piazzolla.
Rowlands says, “I initially started to play the bandoneon out of curiosity, but it quickly became an obsession. There were no teachers in the UK, so I took lessons with Victor Villena, a wonderful Argentinian musician living in France.”
His career has taken him to major national venues, but Rowlands, who specialises in Tango music describes how some of our country’s regional theatres and arts centres, “are unsung heroes and heroines of joyful art making.”
He is best known for playing Piazzolla, so it is no surprise that Harrogate audiences should expect to hear some of the Argentine composer’s most deeply moving music at this year’s festival.
Julian says, “At the Piazzolla concert we will be playing the Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas – the four seasons of Buenos Aires (Porteño means “of the port” and is the local name for Buenos Aires and its inhabitants). These pieces are a bit like Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, but depict the psychic landscape of the city, its denizens and its dances, rather than the bucolic adventures of the baroque model.
“Interspersed with these seasons, we will play four of his most passionate and moving works: Oblivion, Chiquilín de Bachín, Milonga del Ángel and Adios Nonino. I am also playing in the Dowland concert, performing some polyphonic scores with guitarist Ian Watt.”
Talking about how he first became interested in music and what inspired him to spend his career working in the industry, he says, “I remember getting an LP of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony when I was five or six. I was fascinated by the sound and wanted to understand how it was made.
“There was always music in the house – my older brother Maxim played the piano from the age of five and my mother was involved with a music society where I had the opportunity to hear some wonderful artists.”
Recalling his biggest highlight from his performances to date, Rowlands talks about a particularly unusual entrance on stage: “Emerging from a shipping container at the Royal Opera House wearing a pig mask was quite a sublime moment.” He goes on to explain, “This was in Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny, one of the few opera scores to include my instrument, the bandoneon. I admire the freedom that opera directors enjoy in creating bizarre worlds.”
Julian Rowlands will play Tango by Piazzolla at the Harrogate Music Festival at the Crown on Friday July 7 at 3pm. He will also perform at Sunday Brunch, Dowland Plus on Sunday 9 July at 11am. Tickets are available online or call the Box Office on 01423 562 303.
This event is sponsored by:
