Projects

The Tango Guitar Project

The Tango Guitar Project is a new tango trio, unique in its instrumentation in the United States. The group is composed of three highly trained classical guitarists three diffrent countries: the project’s creator and director, Maxi Larrea from Argentina, Andres Pantoja from Chile, and Bin Hu from China.

The Project performs new compositions and original arrangements, showcasing a repertoire of traditional and contemporary tango pieces, including works by renowned contemporary tango composer and bandoneon player, Astor Piazzolla.

The trio is made up of three accomplished soloists. In addition to their trio repertoire, each of the members showcases their individual skills introducing audiences to the beauty of Argentine tango arrangements for solo guitar. 

Maxi Larrea is a nationally certified classical guitarist An accomplished tango and folklore guitarist with performance experience in many prestigious national music festivals in Argentina, including the 2014 World Tango Championships and 2004 Pre-Cosquin Folklore Festival, where he was recognized as a competition finalist. Recorded on multiple tango albums and participated in multiple international tango tours in Europe, Canada/Mexico, and South Korea.

. In the U.S.studied and regularly performed Jazz and West African percussion at Colby College as well as assisted in leading the Colby College tango ensemble. In Indiana, directed a local tango band and composed music for solo guitar and guitar/piano duets, with multiple performances including at the prestigious IU Jacobs School of Music. In July 2019 accepted annual position as guitar faculty with an international summer tango music workshop. Spent 2018-2019 in San Francisco performing, composing, arranging, directing tango ensembles, recording, touring and teaching private guitar students. Relocated to Tucson, Arizona January 2020. In 2020 released a solo guitar album called Donde Termina el Río/Where the River Ends, and in 2021 received a grant from the Arizona Commision on the Arts to publish a book of guitar tango arrangements to be presented throughout Tucson and Phoenix. 

He has recently been invited by Juan Falu to participate in the acclaimed Guitars of the World Festival held in Argentina. 

 

Andres Pantoja has performed in the United States, France, Switzerland, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile, as a soloist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra. He has premiered dozens of works, among these premieres two of the highlights in his career are a series of ten studies for guitar by Guillermo Eisner and a guitar concerto by Victor Ortiz with the Classical Chamber Orchestra of Chile.

He has won several international guitar competitions, such as the David Russell Bach Prize, a competition judged solely by GRAMMY Award-winner David Russell, Beeston, and Sholin memorial competitions. Andres has also recorded many albums as a soloist and chamber musician, which have been published in Germany, Mexico, and Chile. In one of his more recent CDs "21st Century Chilean Music for Guitar," all the works are premiered recordings. His doctoral research is also focused on this style of music which has given him a reputation as a leading researcher in contemporary music for guitar in his home country.    

Pantoja began guitar lessons at the age of 13 with Edith Vasquez, his mother. He completed his Bachelor's Degree with the prominent guitarist and lutenist Oscar Ohlsen and then studied privately in Santiago with Luis Orlandini. He also holds a Master's degree in performance from the University of Arizona, and currently is pursuing a Doctorate in Music at the same University in Tom Patterson's guitar program. Andres is a versatile musician, in addition to the classical guitar, he plays flamenco, Latin American styles, the Bolivian instrument "Charango", and free improvisation. As a scholar and educator, he has been invited to do masterclasses at Chilean Universities and lectures about the Charango in the US and Philippines. 

Bin Hu has performed in Austria, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines, Spain, and the USA, as a soloist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra. Among the works he has premiered, one of the highlights of his career includes a world première of a guitar concerto composed by Jorge Rodriguez-Caballero with the Pärnu City Orchestra in Estonia.

Among the prizes he received from international guitar competitions, winning the first prize of the 2016 David Russell Bach Prize, a competition judged solely by GRAMMY Award-winner David Russell, has earned Hu a reputation as a Bach interpreter. As scholar and educator, Hu has been invited to conservatories and conferences in China and South American countries to present a variety of topics on Baroque performance practices on guitar. Moreover, his all-Bach CD, Ciaccona, produced by Eudora Records in Spain, has received critical acclaim worldwide.

Bin Hu began classical guitar lessons at age 11 with Zhiwei Li, a pioneer and founder of the first classical guitar school in China. He then studied privately in Beijing with Jiajiong Li of the Central Conservatory of Music. His undergraduate studies were with Heiki Maetlik at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, Estonia. He then moved to Salzburg, Austria to study with Marco Tamayo at the Universitaet Mozarteum and earned his Master of Arts degree with distinction. He currently holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Arizona and was part of the studio of Thomas Patterson. Within the framework of his studies, Hu also took part in master classes taught by Sérgio and Odair Assad, David Russell, and Ricardo Gallén, among others.