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Pablo Ziegler Trio

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Latin GRAMMY winning pianist Pablo Ziegler artfully blends classic tango rhythms with jazz improvisations, adding a new voice to the tango lexicon. Howard Reich of the Chicago Times writes, “There’s no question that Ziegler takes the tango to levels of sophistication and refinement probably undreamed of by Piazzolla,” and Eric Salzman of Stereo Review—writing of Ziegler’s Tango Romance—affirmed that the CD “solidifies his claim to be the outstanding representative of the nuevo tango in his generation.” In addition to this critical acclaim, Ziegler’s 2005 release Bajo Cero won the 2005 Latin Grammy Award for Best Tango album of the year and in 2008, his album Buenos Aires Report made the final list of nominees for the same honor.

In 1978, Mr. Ziegler was invited to join Ástor Piazzolla’s New Tango Quintet, and for the next ten years, he performed with this group throughout Europe, Japan, and North America, at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, Sapporo Jazz Festival, Central Park SummerStage, and the Istanbul Festival, among many others.

Pablo Ziegler formed his own Quartet for New Tango in 1990 and has been touring extensively throughout the world with his trio, quartet, and quintet. Performances in recent seasons have included Carnegie Hall (as part of the JVC Jazz Festival with guest artists Paquito D’Rivera, Joe Lovano, and Gary Burton), the Savannah Music Festival, Blue Note, UCLA, the University of Texas-Austin, the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in Maryland, the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas with pianist Christopher O’Riley in the duo Los Tangueros, the New World Symphony in Miami, New York’s Knitting Factory with Emanuel Ax, the Cape May Music Festival in New Jersey, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival among many others. Since 2002, Ziegler’s quintet has been performing annually at the Jazz Standard in New York as part of the Tango Meets Jazz series produced by Pat Philips, with guest artists including Paquito D’Rivera, Stefon Harris, David Sánchez, Randy Brecker, and Kenny Garrett. Important international engagements have included the Umbria Jazz Festival (with guest artists Paquito D’Rivera, Joe Lovano, and Richard Galliano), the Lapataia Jazz Festival in Punta del Este (Uruguay), and the Verbier Festival (Switzerland), as well as performances throughout Europe. He also performed at the Piano 2003 Festival in Manchester, England, and has done sixteen European tours to date.

A new program, “Beyond Tango,” was created by Pablo Ziegler for the Miami International Piano Festival in 2009. The evening includes works for two pianos progressing up to a large chamber ensemble, playing compositions of Pablo Ziegler with some of his own arrangements of the Piazzolla two-piano pieces which he had recorded with Emanuel Ax for Sony Classical, produced by Ettore Stratta. This program was performed at the Mondavi Center in April 2011.

Recently, the Pablo Ziegler Quartet performed Ettore Stratta’s Symphonic Tango Project with the Presidential Orchestra of Turkey. Mr. Ziegler has also been working as music director on a Sony Music recording for bass-baritone Erwin Schrott. Mr. Ziegler was the artist in residence at the Latin American Music Center of Indiana University and while there, performed during the Tango Festival.

The Pablo Ziegler Trio continues to tour extensively throughout the United States and abroad, including recent performances at the Lied Center in Nebraska, Arts! San Antonio, the Belleayre Music Festival in upstate New York, and Icicle Creek in Washington state. His quintet performed recently at the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston, with special guest, Claudia Acuña.