About QuinTango
SUMMER 2019
QuinTango, a chamber tango quintet (two violins, bass, cello, and piano) based in Northern Virginia, has brought thousands of new fans to the music of Tango by engaging audiences with their sizzling, mind-opening fusion of traditional South American Tango repertoire and classical chamber music style. In keeping with their mission to bring Tango to new audiences, QuinTango concerts blend musicianship, audience connection, and great storytelling. Patrons leave a QuinTango performance with not only a new-found love of Tango but with an understanding of the heart and history of this art form.
All QuinTango’s repertoire is originally created for the group, with most of the musical arrangements crafted by top-ranking tango composers in Argentina. Concerts usually include 14 -18 tangos, many with short narratives introductions. Audiences meet Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel, gauchos, poets and broken-hearted lovers as the Tangos unfold in a kaleidoscope of emotions and historical settings.
QuinTango is committed to arts education. Through an association with Washington Performing Arts Society, the group has created a series of interactive school concerts and workshops for Title One school populations. Teachers from Argentina, Brazil and the United States use tango dance and music to develop social skills, engender self-confidence and expand a sense of possibility in diverse student populations. Their new residency involves both Tango & Soccer. QuinTango educational residencies in Oklahoma, North Carolina, Indiana, Pennsylvania, D.C., and Virginia have been supported by Chamber Music America, Heartland, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Indiana Arts Commission, and A.C.T for Alexandria, Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Alexandria Arts Commission. QuinTango is a 501c3 organization.
Eva Cappelletti Chao, violinist, performs with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. She is Concertmaster for Concert Opera of Washington as well as for many DC-area choral groups. Prior orchestral positions have included Concertmaster and soloist with the Washington Chamber Symphony, Assistant Concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony and Virginia Opera, and a member of the New World Symphony in Miami. As a chamber musician, teacher and guest soloist, she enjoys a successful collaboration with violist husband Philippe Chao as The Cappelletti-Chao Duo and has performed with the American Festival for the Arts, Wintergreen Music Festival, and Eastern Music Festival. Over the past 13 summers, she has enjoyed performing with the Grand Teton Music Festival.
Jon Nazdin, bass, is a native of Washington DC. A graduate of The Berklee College of Music, he plays all genres of music on double bass and electric bass. Noteworthy highlights include working with Barbra Streisand, The Three Tenors, George Benson, Doc Severinson, Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road project, Denise Graves, Branford Branford Marsalis. Mr. Nazdin has appeared on numerous "indie" recording projects.**
Susanna Mendlow, cellist, has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Central Asia. A versatile musician, she enjoys playing a variety of styles, including classical, ethnic folk, pop, and improvisation. Her projects have brought her to such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Miller Theatre, Symphony Space, Le Poisson Rouge, the Verizon Center, the National Gallery, and the National Cathedral. Susanna has collaborated with numerous artists, including Alan Kay, Frank Morelli, Dmitri Neikrug, Frank Stemper, Stacy Garrop, and Judith Shatin, premiering works by the latter three. As a member of Moyindau, a semi-improvisational experimental jazz ensemble, she traveled to Kazakhstan and the remotest parts of the Kyrgyz Republic in order to establish cross-cultural connections via music. She currently plays in the Kassia Music Collective and Noam Faingold’s Burning City Orchestra. Susanna received her DMA from SUNY Stony Brook, her MM from Michigan State University, and her BA in both psychology and music from Columbia University.
Joan Singer, violin, is the founder and music director of QuinTango. She has performed in concert in England, France, Mexico, Italy, Holland, Germany, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India, Sikkim, Uruguay, and Argentina, as well as throughout the United States. Since founding QuinTango, she has become a record producer, tour director, grant administrator, arts panelist, Master Teaching Artist, and international lecturer on tango, realizing her dreams of combining music performance, travel, and writing isha Quint, and Colin Carr.
Jeffery Watson, piano, has appeared as soloist with the Honduran National Symphony, Pan American Symphony, Rosario (Argentina) Chamber Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony, and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, with additional performances in Croatia, Alaska, Uruguay and Peru. Dr. Watson was associate conductor for the Kennedy Center’s award-winning production of” Sunday in the Park with George” as part of the Center's 2002 Sondheim Festival
