Concierto de Milonga

Concierto de Milonga was commissioned by Solungga Liu and the Bowling Green State University New Music Ensemble. It was premiered at the Bowling Green New Music Festival in 2015. This piano concerto is based on Argentine tango of the Golden Era. There are two kinds of music at work here: the traditional tango style, represented by three short dances (tango, vals and milonga); and contrasting music in a contemporary style. These two types of music are structured according to the milonga social dance, where tandas (sets of tangos) are separated by a cortina (a contrasting piece of music, like a palette cleanser).

Rather than try to hide the tango influences, I decided to make them blatant to the point that the tangos in the score are intended to be danced.