Tangissimo has thrilled thousands of people with live concerts, broadcasts and recordings since their formation in 2003. Piazzolla’s violinist Fernando Suárez Paz calls them “… un grupo divino.” Their DVD and CD – Chasing the Tango High – has been viewed and listened to by thousands. A production of Infinity Films, this DVD takes Tangissimo to Buenos Aires to play with the legends of Tango.

Originally Tangissmo was Linda Lee Thomas (piano), Ed Henderson (guitar) and Miles Foxx Hill (bass). In 2011 Tangisisimo expanded to a Quintet called TangissimoPlus. This group was formed in order to play the original arrangements of the music of Astor Piazzolla. The musicians in this Quintet are Joan Blackman (violin), Jonathan Goldman (bandoneon), Dylan Palmer (bass) with Linda Lee and Ed. Any combination of these musicians is Tangissimo. They continue to thrill audiences with their passionate performances of Tango.

Linda Lee ThomasLinda Lee Thomas, principal pianist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since 1972, was Artistic Director of Masterpiece Music, a hugely successful chamber music series for 17 years. In 2000, she was inducted into the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame for her outstanding contributions to the industry. Her passion is the music and dance of Argentina – the Tango.

She is one of Canada’s foremost tango musicians, performing and recording with Argentine bandoneonists Daniel Binelli and Nestor Marconi, with harmonica sensation Franco Luciani and the famous violinist Mauricio Marcelli.

Her trio, Tangissimo, was taken to Buenos Aires in 2006 by Infinity Films to shoot the documentary ‘Chasing The Tango High’ for Bravo TV. Their CD of the same name featured live recordings from Buenos Aires with tango legends of our time.

In her latest recording project, ‘Tango Con Fazioli’, Linda Lee is putting together two of her favourite things – Tango and Fazioli pianos. She is recently returned from Buenos Aires where she recorded for the project with tango musicians there. See www.lindaleethomas.com

edhenderson0260Ed Henderson has worked extensively in Canada’s music community: theatrical scores for the Stratford Festival to the Arts Club Theatre, scores for CBC, CTV, Bravo, Knowledge and Vision networks. Commissioned to compose works for many including the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Elektra Women’s Choir, The Dance Centre, Canadian Music Centre, Vancouver InterCultural Orchestra and musica intima. Nominated for numerous awards and recipient of many including a Juno (Ancient Cultures, El Camino Real), Jessie Richardson and Dora Mavor Moore (theatre) and Cannes (TV score). Recent releases for solo guitar: ‘Intimate’ and ‘Guitar Wall’.

His choral works are widely presented, published and recorded including ‘Birdsong’ (SATB, soloists and tar, the Iranian precursor to the guitar) a cross-cultural 45-minute composition combining Sufi rhythmic elements and scales with Western harmonic textures set to Rumi texts (translations by Coleman Barks) – much performed by musica intima and the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Teachers include: Gordon Delamont (orchestration), David Walden (piano), Michael Strutt, Lennie Breau and more recently Victor Kolstee (flamenco guitar).

He has attended many workshops including those of Sir Malcolm Arnold, Janos Starker, Lehman Engels and Bob Elhai. Plays with his brother Bill’s band Chilliwack, the VSO, Vancouver Chamber Choir, Chor Leoni, Ann Mortifee, Leon Bibb…
Jonathan Goldman_01Jonathan Goldman is a bandoneonist and musicologist. After completing studies at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, he studied with accordionist Marin Nasturica.

He made an arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s Double Concerto ‘Hommage à Liège’ which was published in France in 2002 by Éditions Henry Lemoine. From 2003 to 2007, he performed, composed and arranged the music of the Montreal-based group Sweatshop Tango Ensemble, producing their début CD ‘De la Main à la Boca’ in 2006. In 2007, they performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Since 2006, he performs periodically with Quartango, becoming a permanent member in 2012.

He moved to Victoria B.C. in 2007 to join the faculty of the University of Victoria’s School of Music. As a musicologist, he is interested in the avant-garde traditions of the 20th century; in 2011, he published The Musical Language of Pierre Boulez (Cambridge University Press). Since moving to Victoria, he has performed Kurt Weill’s ‘Threepenny Opera Suite’ with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, as well as a CBC-produced Tango concert in Regina, Saskatchewan with Linda Lee Thomas and the True Jive Pluckers, a concert made into a CD in 2009. In December 2009, Jonathan Goldman performed as a soloist in Luis Bacalov’s ‘Misa Tango’ with the University of Victoria Symphony Orchestra, and in December 2011, he performed in Montreal with I Musici de Montréal and the Chœur de la Montagne in a performance of Martin Palmeri’s ‘Misa a Buenos Aires’.