Bach en Bandoneon: Tango Meets Classical

The Avalos-Solera duo returns to MLK Library

The Avalos-Solera duo is an ensemble that is always looking for new sounds and musical propositions.

The duo emerged virtually over the pandemic, where they began to develop and conceive of their first album, Bach en Bandoneón. This concept became a reality in December 2021, when it was recorded over a weekend in the Iglesia de la Congregación Evangélica Alemana de Buenos Aires in Argentina. The program consists of their own arrangements of selected works from J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Bk I and Bk II, their own compositions in homage to Bach, and their own unique arrangements of classic tangos.

Praised for her “soulful bandoneón” (Washington Classical Review), Heyni Solera is a sought after bandoneonist throughout the United States and abroad. Heyni’s major projects include the bandoneon duo, Avalos Solera Duo, who released their debut album, Bach en Bandoneon, in 2021. Her cello/bandoneon duo, Arco & Aire, won Washington, DC’s 2021 Wammie award for Best Latin Song, for their recording of “La Bordona,” which can be found in their EP, Overture. Heyni is a bandoneonist for the PanAmerican Symphony Orchestra, with whom she had her Kennedy Center debut in 2022. Also a music scholar, she completed her Master’s in Ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland, and has presented her lecture, “Today’s Women in Tango: Carving Out Spaces,” throughout North America

Originally from Olavarría, Argentina, Rodrigo Avalos is a composer, bandoneon and guitar player. He has a long career in music, having made numerous international tours and having played with musicians such as Victor Lavallén, José Colángelo, Roberto Alvarez, among others. He has released several albums, such as “La Carmen” with his own tango orchestra, “Bach en Bandoneón” for bandoneon duo, etc. In 2023 he won the First Prize as a bandoneon player at the "Che Bandoneón International Competition"; awarded by the Argentine Tango Society at the Stowe Music Tango Festival in Vermont, USA. He has recently been selected for a scholarship by the Fondo Nacional de las Artes to continue developing his compositions. He is also an educator as a bandoneon professor at the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires Tango Orchestra.

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