Susan Fancher, soprano saxophone
Robert Faub, alto saxophone
Steven Stusek, tenor saxophone
Mark Engebretson, bass saxophone
with Lorena Guillén, soprano, and Alejandro Rutty, piano
The
Red Clay Saxophone Quartet joins with the Tango Duo to present an evening of tangos. Associated with the city of Buenos Aires, Argentino, from the late 1800s, the tango
declined in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s but has been revived during the late 1980s by a new generation of musicians. Never Too Tango!, as the program is entitled,
presents a number of tango arrangements that explore a diversity of colors, some of them associated with the traditional tango
and others with more adventurous instrumentations representing a new sound world. The
four saxophonists, all internationally recognized, perform widely and count numerous CDs to their credit. Susan Fancher has worked with numerous composers to develop the repertoire for the saxophone
through commissions and publication of transcriptions. Robert Faub,
an accomplished classical soloist, chamber musician, and jazz artist, is in great demand both as a teacher and as a performer. Steven Stusek, a member of the UNCG faculty, has won many awards
and competitions, both in the United States and in the Netherlands. Mark
Engebretson, of the UNCG composition faculty, is well represented as a composer and performer not only in the United States but also in Vienna and Stockholm where he formerly resided. Lorena
Guillén, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina,
is equally at home as performer of “art” music and of tango, which she performs in numerous venues here and abroad. Alejandro Rutty, of the UNCG composition faculty, serves as arranger
and pianist for Argentine-Tango performances.