Artistic Faculty 2024
The members of our artistic faculty, most of whom are joining us from Buenos Aires, rank among the world’s greatest tango players, composers, and bandleaders. They are also passionate teachers and experienced educators, dedicated to transmitting their knowledge of tango to students of any background and level of experience. They include:
- Paulina Fain
- Sebastián Henríquez
- Pablo Jaurena
- Morgan Luker
- Exequiel Mantega
- Guillermo Rubino
- Ignacio Varchausky
- Juan Villareal
All instruction and educational materials will be presented in English.
Paulina Fain
Fl
Sebastián Henríquez
Sebastián Henríquez is the author of The Guitar in Tango, part of the Método de Tango book series. Since 2010, he has been a teacher of guitar and Argentine music in the prestigious Conservatorio Superior de Música “Manuel de Falla,” and since 2013, in the Universidad Nacional de San Martín. He is a member of the award winning Quinteto Bataraz. As a solo guitarist, he took part in the Guitarras del mundo and La música interior festivals, and he has accompanied many singers and Argentine folk musicians. With some of them, he toured Europe, South America, and the United States.
Pablo Jaurena
英航
Morgan Luker
Morgan Luker is associate professor of music at Reed College and director of Tango for Musicians at Reed College. An ethnomusicologist, he holds a PhD from Columbia University. His research focuses on contemporary tango music in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is the author of The Tango Machine (University of Chicago Press, 2017), which explores how contemporary tango music is used as a resource for social and economic development in Argentina, drawing upon his extensive fieldwork with tango musicians, music industry figures, and cultural policymakers in Buenos Aires. His work on these topics has appeared in numerous academic journals, as well. He has also presented his work at conferences throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe. At Reed, Morgan teaches on a wide variety of topics in world music and culture.
Exequiel Mantega
A prolific composer and arranger, pianist Exequiel Mantega has published more than 70 works, including an original edition of Astor Piazzolla’s six tango etudes newly arranged for two flutes (available worldwide via the French publishing house Henry Lemoine). He has contributed to more than 12 recordings, including three albums with the Duo Fain-Mantega, and participated in more than 100 concerts and seminars about tango music in Europe and the United States, where his compositions and arrangements are performed by a wide variety of ensembles. Mantega founded and has directed the Young Composers Orchestra since 2012. Emerging from a workshop he directed on tango orchestration, the ensemble exclusively performs original compositions and arrangements produced by members of the group. Alongside Paulina Fain, he is co-founder of the Buenos Aires-based nonprofit arts organization Tango Sin Fin, which promotes Argentine music and music education locally and internationally.
Guillermo Rubino
Since 2009, Guillermo Rubino has been the first violin and string instruments instructor at the Orquesta Escuela Emilio Balcarce, the most prestigious tango orchestra program. He plays in the Diego Schissi Quinteto, for which he is one of the founding members, and he was first violin of the Orquesta El Arranque from 2005 to 2014. With these groups he recorded many albums and toured Europe and the United States extensively. He founded SurdelSur Ensamble, a string ensemble dedicated to performing original pieces by contemporary Argentine composers. As a classical violinist, Rubino plays at the Orquesta Estable del Teatro Argentino de La Plata, performing a wide repertoire of symphonic pieces, opera, and ballet.
Ignacio Varchausky
英航
Juan Villarreal
Juan Villarreal is a singer, composer, teacher, and producer. Since 2010 he has been the singer for the famous and successful Orquesta El Arranque and the Duo Villarreal Crom, for which he is also a guitarist and composer. With these projects he has made countless tours and performed concerts in the most important venues and festivals around the world. Some of his compositions are performed by artists such as Nidia y su Banda (Argentina), El Muro Tango (Norway), Cruces del Plata (Argentina), Gavión (Spain). As a singing teacher, he has been developing his career in the private sector for more than 10 years. As an artistic producer, Villarreal participates in the project Tango en la Terraza and has been the musical and executive producer of the acclaimed documentary Amar Amando.