Bandoneon Story Iuliana Münch, André Parfenov, Omar Massa

• André Parfenov (b. 1972): Buenos Aires:
• 1 Parfenov: Buenos Aires 02:55
• Adagio:
• 2 Parfenov: Adagio 04:29
• Bandoneonschöpfung:
• 3 Parfenov: Bandoneonschöpfung 05:45
• Solo:
• 4 Parfenov: Solo 02:12
• Maschinentanz:
• 5 Parfenov: Maschinentanz 02:36
• Tanz der Tücher:
• 6 Parfenov: Tanz der Tücher 04:23
• Wedding:
• 7 Parfenov: Wedding 05:08
• Polka:
• 8 Parfenov: Polka 01:43
• Ländler:
• 9 Parfenov: Ländler 01:57
• Familienszene:
• 10 Parfenov: Familienszene 08:25
• Protest:
• 11 Parfenov: Protest 03:45
• Intro-Männertanz:
• 12 Parfenov: Intro-Männertanz 03:30
• Tango:
• 13 Parfenov: Tango 03:16
• Finale:
• 14 Parfenov: Finale 03:01
• Total Runtime 53:05

Info for Bandoneon Story

The bandoneon was remarkably popular as part of Argentinian culture during the 20th century and was brought into the Western mainstream through Astor Piazzolla’s ‘nuevo tango’. It was invented in Germany in around 1850, and for a while became a familiar part of musical life there. André Parfenov’s dramatic and evocative Bandoneon-Story delves into the instrument’s rich history turning it into a surprisingly varied audio journey, exploring its humble origins, expressive poetic palette and artful dance syncopations to create a cinematic historical panorama.

Iuliana Münch, violin
Andre Parfenov, piano
Omar Massa, bandoneon

André Parfenov
was born in Königsberg, now Kaliningrad, in 1972 to a German mother and a Russian father. His extraordinary musical talent, including improvisation on the piano, was discovered at an early age. When the family later moved to the distant city of Ufa, he was offered one of the rare and coveted places at a music grammar school. This later paved the way for him to study piano at the world-renowned Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. For family reasons, the young pianist moved to Germany with his parents and siblings at the age of 22. He studied at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen and received his concert exam with honours in 2000. André Parfenov has already performed with many orchestras, including the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Brasov, the Lower Rhine Symphony Orchestra and the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia. Among the works he frequently performs are Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1, Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 3, Beethoven’s Concerto No. 5, as well as George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Parfenov’s solo performances have been documented on four solo albums to date.

He has also increasingly expanded his compositional experiments, creating a highly acclaimed homage to Maurice Ravel for the left hand only and an independent finale for Johann Sebastian Bach’s unfinished Quadruple Fugue. 2015 saw the world premiere of a violin concerto composed by André Parfenov, which he dedicated to Vadim Repin.

André Parfenov’s universal musical abilities led to a permanent position at the Mönchengladbach/Krefeld theatre. As a composer and pianist with a wide range of experience, he has created music for all genres and productions and has written highly acclaimed ballet music for Robert North’s choreographies. In 2013, André Parfenov was honoured with the special prize for composition of the Ensemblia Mönchengladbach. In 2014, he received the Theatre Oscar from the Rheinische Post for his ballet music for Robert North’s choreography Verlorene Kinder. In 2013, André Parfenov received the title and medal Honoured Artist of Bashkiria from its president. Further ballet music for Chagall Fantasy and Pinocchio followed soon after. Elmar Lampson, composer and President of the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre, wrote in a letter about the Parfenov Duo’s first joint album: ‘I deeply admire the art of the composer André Parfenov, the richness of his imagination, the depth of his expression, his unbridled power. He continues the tradition of the composer-virtuoso’.

André Parfenov has also been a lecturer at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Leipzig University of Music since 2015. He met Iuliana Münch in 2009. Together they founded the Parfenov Duo and have since maintained an intensive artistic collaboration in the creation of new works and their presentation of unconventional concert programmes. Since then, André Parvenov’s passions have included writing music for the violin and thus ‘growing beyond the piano’ – as he describes it in his own words.

Iuliana Münch
née Geambasu, felt “the artist soul within her” early on, as she herself describes it. Music was very present in her family surroundings – and Rumania itself is a highly musical country. From her earliest childhood, Iuliana Münch had the wish to play no other instrument but the violin. She had enough ambition to master the entrance exams for the secondary music school “George Enescu” in Bucharest, where she enjoyed a comprehensive education until her graduation in 1995. Building on this foundation, she went on to study at the Bucharest Music Academy. There, the répétiteur Florina Cozighian was a decisive artistic influence. She advised Iuliana Münch to continue her artistic career in Germany, because she felt that Germany would offer the obvious talent of the young violinist greater chances for development.

Therefore, Iuliana Münch traveled to Germany at the age of 22 to continue her studies at the Academy of Music and Dance in Cologne/Aachen. In 2003 she graduated, having studied with Prof. Charles-André Linale.

Her first orchestra positions followed in Koblenz and Mönchengladbach. After these, Iuliana Münch became a member of the “New Philharmonic of Westphalia”. In 2009 she met the pianist André Parfenov, with whom she has formed a regular duo ever since, realizing her own artistic ideals in an unheard-of manner. She is actively involved in the development of André Parfenov’s compositions. “It is a great privilege to work directly with a composer,” thus her creed.

Iuliana Münch brings her sparkling talent for communication to the Parfenov Duo’s performances – both in humorous introductions and dialogues with André Parfenov and in imaginary conversations with composers of bygone eras.

Iuliana Münch works with the composer not only within the Parfenov Duo. As a violinist, she also appears on stage when his ballet music for choreographies by Robert North are performed at the Theater Krefeld Mönchengladbach – this was the case for the ballets Chagall-Fantasie and most recently Pinocchio, premiered in October 2016.

Omar Massa
Composer and bandoneon player Omar Massa was born in Buenos Aires in 1981 and has been based in Berlin since 2019. Internationally acclaimed as one of the leading artists on Tango Nuevo and the bandoneon, he received several “Opus Klassik”, “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” and “International Classical Music Awards” nominations in Europe, as Composer of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year.

He has participated in projects with internationally renowned artists such as Placido Domingo, Jonas Kaufmann, Daniel Hope, Paquito D’Rivera, Guy Braunstein, Alondra de La Parra, Fatma Said, Pablo Ferrandez, Bruno Delepelaire, Alexis Cardenas, Ute Lemper, Sarah McKenzie, Kai Strobel among others, and participated in recordings for important labels such as Deutsche Grammophon and Sony Classical.

In 2023 Omar was awarded with the Bandoneon Prize by the city of Krefeld, Germany (city where the Bandoneon was invented). His tours have been declared of ‘Cultural and Artistic importance to the country of Argentina’ by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Praised in Argentina as “one of the most brilliant bandoneonists of recent years” (Diario de Cuyo, Argentina) Omar debuted at the age of 6 years old playing Piazzolla´s music at Cafe Tortoni, a famous traditional tango house in Buenos Aires and subsequently began studying music at the National Conservatory of Argentina at the age of 12. After being nominated to the most important award in the recording industry in Argentina for his CD “Tribute to Piazzolla”, the family of Astor Piazzolla invited him to play Piazzolla´s bandoneon 25 years after his death – Massa being the only musician allowed to do that.

Devoted as a composer to bring the legacy of Tango Nuevo into the 21st century, Massa composed many works for different ensembles and received several commissions in Europe and America. His “Concerto for Bandoneon and Chamber Orchestra” was premiered at the Berlin Philharmonic and later recorded together with the Berlin Symphony orchestra, conducted by Mark Laycock. His “Stradivarius Duo” was recorded and premiered at the CBC Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. His “Tango Etude” and “The Light from Andalusia” were premiered at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and “Negro Liso” and “Tango Lullaby” at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. His work “Caminos y Desvios” was premiered at the Konzerthaus in Berlin and “Suite Patagonia” and “Concertango” at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico. His “Interlude for Bandoneon and Strings” was premiered at the National University in Brasilia.

As a soloist Massa has performed with symphony orchestras like the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Asturias Symphony Orchestra, the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, the Moldova Philharmonic Orchestra, the Biel Symphony Orchestra and the Brasov Philharmonic among many others in America and throughout Europe. He performed in several important venues such as the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the National Concert Hall (Dublin), the Colon Theatre (Buenos Aires), the Berlin Konzerthaus (Germany), the Palace of Fine Arts (Mexico), the George Enescu Festival (Bucharest) , the Berlin Philharmonic (Germany) and Deutsche Grammophon's Yellow Lounge.

Massa was also the composer and musical director of theater and dance projects, such as the 2014 production of Eugene O'Neill's play "A Touch of the Poet" directed by Barry Primus (Actors Studio-American Film Institute) with choreography by Julie Arenal (Broadway's original "Hair" choreographer). In 2023 he also collaborated with New York ballet soloist Unity Phelan, who danced Omar's music at the PAAX GNP Festival.

Booklet for Bandoneon Story