With its mesmerizing style and sound, the award winning Lorena Guillén Tango Ensemble has captivated audiences with soulful arrangements of Argentine tango standards and original compositions that create a dynamic tango and pan-Latin fusion. The musicians in the group each have rich and extensive experience in Argentine tango, jazz, classical and contemporary music, and other world and popular music styles, all of which can be heard on their debut recording, The Other Side of My Heart.

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“The Not Your Average Folk Contest " Grand Prize Winner-2021" and "World Music” category winners of NC Museum of Art 2021, the LGTE is currently recording its second album Tango Diaspora, which plans to release at the beginning of 2022.

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The Lorena Guillén Tango Ensemble has been featured on TV performances for NC PBS channel and Fox8News as well as live radio programs such as WUNC’s “The State of Things” with Frank Stasio (NPR affiliate in Chapel Hill, NC), KUNM’s “Corazón Tanguero” with Cristina Baccin (NPR affiliate in Albuquerque, NM), and WFDD "Triad Arts."

 

Based in North Carolina, the group has been committed to collaborations and concerts with some of the Triangle and Triad “milongas” and tango-dance organizations: “Durham-Tango” and “Alma-Tango” (WS), with which it has shared the stage in many occasions in concerts, festivals and workshops. There has been also a continuous community engagement with the most prominent Latino organizations of the region, such as Casa Azul of Greensboro and the Hispanic League of Winston Salem; the ensemble's recording reflects that commitment. Developed by Lorena Guillén (lyricist/vocalist) and Alejandro Rutty (composer/bass player), The Other Side of My Heart, is an oral-history musical piece based on interviews with six Latina immigrants to NC. The women’s testimonies became the lyrics of six songs, and fragments of their recorded voices can be heard throughout the piece.

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In 2019, the ensemble developed “In The Embrace of Tango: Jewish Tango Project,” a program that explores Argentine tango and its crossed-path with Jewish culture: tango in the pre-WWII Europe, later in the ghettos, in the early 20th century NYC and Buenos Aires Yiddish theater and through compositions of the first generation of Argentine-Jewish composers. Concerts were presented at the Levin Jewish Community Center (Durham), for the Shalom Club (Raleigh) and in a mini-workshop and concert along with the singer-students of the UNCG University Chorale (Carol Ott, conductor) and tango dancers Eduardo and Alicia Lazarowski (Durham-Tango).

 

Many of these creative initiatives have been generously funded by grants from the following organizations, which have supported the group's creation of original works, audio-recording, video-recording and implementation of workshops: ArtsGreensboro “Regional Artist Project,” NC arts Council, New-Music USA, and “Diversity-Mini-Grant” from UNCG-College of Visual and performing Arts.

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Over the years, the ensemble has presented its music in national and international stages: NC Folk Festival, Kleinhans Music Hall and the Calumet Arts Café in Buffalo, NY; MusicBox Theater and Folk Research Center (Saint Lucia, West Indies) Frick Museum Summer Concerts (PA), Center stage Series at the Sangre de Cristo Auditorium (CO), Winston-Salem’s annual FIESTA Festival, the Hispanic League’s “Colorful Sounds in Concert” and the Music Carolina SummerFest; in Durham for the Mallarmé Chamber Players; Triad Stage’s UpStage Cabaret, and the Music For-A-Great-Space series; at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum Summer Concert Series; High Point University, Georgia Southern University, and in greater LA at Alvas Showroom, LA Harbor College and Crafton College.

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Interested in engaging young audiences, and with the idea that music is the best ambassador to appreciate cultural diversity, the ensemble has participated over the years in many outreach programs at universities such as Bennington College (VT), Mary Washington University (VA) Hartwick College (NY), University of Maryland-College Park (MD), Rutgers University (NJ), Elon University (NC), High Point University (NC), and at many public schools in Guilford County, NC.

 

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