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MaggieFergusonTango & Friends

 

 

MaggieFergusonTango (MFT) & Friends is an ensemble of bandoneon, violin, double bass and piano, electric guitar and invited guests.

I formed the quintet as a response to some wonderful collaborations I’ve had with classical musicians in Australia. Audiences who had never seen a tango concert before were introduced to music they had previously associated with dance and ballroom costumes. The music making was first rate on each occasion and the audience response overwhelming. Memorable were with Fuego Blanco and Tangueros at the Camelot Lounge, with SSO colleagues at the Riverina Summer School from 2008-13, Concertante Ensemble, Paul Goodchild’s SSO tango orchestra for Allandale Winery, Pearl Beach Festival tango concert, Stradbroke Chamber Music Festival Tango concert curated by Rachel Smith and co led by French tango violinist Cyril Garac, Canowindra Baroquefest with violinist Andrew Baker and the Colour City Chamber Orchestra.

MFT & Friends’ repertoire includes original, composers’ arrangements of the great tangos of all periods of the twentieth century, including the Guardia Vieja, The Golden era of dance, Tango Neuvo and The Evolutionary movement. We also play my arrangements of classics and contemporary tangos.

Concerts in 2017 will include performances of Astor Piazzolla’s ‘Cuatro Estaciones De Buenos Aires’ and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in June with Concertante Ensemble,  and in November as part of the Orange Community Subscription series with The Colour City Chamber Orchestra (CCCO). This concert was premiered in October 2016 at Canowindra Baroqufest with CCCO and Andrew Baker lead violin.

In 2003, after two decades as a classical violinist and chamber musician, Maggie Ferguson went to Buenos Aires to study orchestral tango at the Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce at the invitation of the schools founder Ignacio Varchausky. With the support of The Ian Potter Cultural Trust, she returned each year to play with the Orquesta  under the direction of Maestros Emilio Balcarce, Carlos Pazo, Walter Rios, Jose “Pepe” Libertella, Nestor Marconi, Victor Lavallen, Ariel Espandrio and Ramiro Gallo. There she has performed at the Biblioteca Nacional, La Casa del Tango and Clasico y Moderna, La Viruta, The Australian Embassy and live on tango radio LA2x4. In 2007, MF began bandoneon studies with professors including Santiago Polimeni, Camilo Ferrero and Ramiro Boero.

Maggie visits Argentina each year to perform  with colleagues and collect priceless repertoire. She recorded her first album there in 2011 https://www.maggiefergusontango.com.au/about/

In July 2016 she toured her tango youth orchestra, SYO TangoOz to Buenos Aires and Montevideo. More HERE

In Sydney Maggie has performed at most large and small venues. She plays with ensembles as guest tango director on violin and bandoneon. and now as artistic director of MFT & Friends. The concerts are specially crafted to present a musical journey throughout the 20th century, incorporating tango history, styles, composer anecdotes, the dance and some joyous audience participation.

Maggie has a Graduate Diploma of Music Performance from Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Full bio HERE

Francis Carreon, 25, began learning piano at the age of six and has completed two associate of music diplomas – AGM (in 2006) and AMEB (in 2007). Over a nineteen year career, he has studied under Cheryl Mason, James Muir and Katie Zhukov. He is a registered teacher with the AMEB and has been teaching students since 2007.

Since the formation in 2009, he has been an integral part of TangoOz – where he has worked and performed alongside Maggie Ferguson, Ignacio Varchausky, Santiago Polimeni and various members of the SSO. He is now a mentor to several young musicians coming through the ensemble. Hehas also been a member of the Sydney Youth Orchestra,wherehe performed as a concerto soloist.

Francis and his three siblings make up the Carreon Quartet (piano, violin, cello, clarinet), which has performed at a number of events; including Santafest 2012, Five Years of Tango Concert 2013 and Two Doors Art Exhibition 2014.

Currently, he is completing his masters in Biomedial Engineering at UNSW, after completing his bachelor degrees in Engineering (Mechatronics major) and Arts (Music major). But while his focus is on pursuing a successful career in engineering, playing tango with MFT & Friends is a passion!

Isabella Brown has been studying Double Bass for 10 years and has recently completed a Bachelor of Music Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music studying under Alex Henry Principal Double Bassist with the SSO. She began playing Tango music through the Conservatorium Access program with Maggie Ferguson, renowned tango specialist who inspired her to travel to Buenos Aires to study with Ignacio Varchausky at the Orquesta Escuela de Tango. During her short career she has had many highlights including the above-mentioned trip to Buenos Aires to study Tango with Ignacio Varchausky and playing at the 2013 Adelaide Art Festival with New Zealand singer Kimbra and Silverchair’s Daniel Johns. Isabella is busy establishing herself as a musician in Australia as a casual member with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and many other orchestral and chamber commitments. She is looking for opportunities to express her passion as she continues to develop and mature as a young musician.

Andrew Baker is currently first violinist of the Mitchell Quartet, leader of Colour City Chamber Orchestra, research associate in music education at Australian National University, School of Music, founder and director of Leatherwood Bespoke Rosin, and teachers around 60 students per week in school string orchestra programs.

He has held the positions of Director of the Mitchell Conservatorium, Lachlan Division, and Assistant Director and Head of Strings at Orange Regional Conservatorium, developing a wide range of music education programs in communities throughout the central west of NSW. Andrew has conducted the Bathurst Chamber Orchestra and the Lachlan Region Community Orchestra, and has performed regularly with the Orange Symphony Orchestra, Macquarie Philharmonia and Riverina Chamber Orchestra.

Andrew studied violin performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Alex Todicescu, where he received the ‘Ginette Neveu Memorial Scholarship for Violinists’. Andrew continued his studies in The Netherlands, Austria and Italy, with a number of internationally acclaimed performers and teachers. In 2004 Andrew was the 4th prize winner in the ‘Maria Yudina international chamber music competition’ in St Petersburg, Russia; and has also been a scholarship holder in chamber music at the Australian National Academy of Music (Melbourne). One of Andrew’s musical passions lies in Baroque performance practice, for which he was awarded a grant from the North Netherlands Conservatorium to study with some of Europe’s leading early music specialists.

In October 2016 he was guest of MFT & Friends at Canowindra Baroquefest in Piazzolla’s ‘Cuatro Estaciones de Buenos Aires’ and was soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

 

Born in Brazil, Murilo Tanouye began his musical career learning Bossa Nova and classical guitar from Renato Candro, a self-taught musician that showed him the guitar style of Brazilian legends such as Baden Powell, Joao Gilberto and Garoto. At 16 years of age, Murilo was awarded a full scholarship to study in the US with distinguished American classical guitarist Carl Bernstein. Two years later he was the recipient of another scholarship to pursue further studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Sydney under the tutelage of Gregory Pikler. In 2007, Murilo successfully completed his B.Mus. performance degree with First Class Honours and immediately began his post-graduate studies upon receiving an Australian Postgraduate Award from the Australian Government.

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