Who: Quartango with the HPO

When: Saturday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Hamilton Place

Cost: $36, $49, $59, senior $32, $45, $54, student $10, child $5.

Call: 905-526-7756

From the steamy backstreets of Buenos Aires to the opulent ballrooms of Paris, the tango has long been recognized as the dance of desire.

Though it has faded in and out of style, there has been a renaissance over the past quarter-century -- in large measure due to a resurgence of tango dancing in Argentina as well as a host of feature films and hit stage shows showcasing the dance.

In Canada, the first homegrown quartet dedicated to playing Argentine tangos was Tango X 4 in Montreal.

Founded in 1978 by pianist Ramon Pelinski and violinist Adolfo Bornstein, the group eventually morphed into Quartango in the early 1980s with founding bassist Rene Gosselin.

Gosselin still cherishes the memory of sitting in Bornstein's car in 1986 along with legendary tango great Astor Piazzolla listening to the group's first CD.

"Listen guys," said Piazzolla to Gosselin and Bornstein, "don't play anything else except Piazzolla."

Piazzolla had revolutionized the tango in the mid-1950s after returning from studying classical music with Nadia Boulanger in France.

There, he'd heard works by Bartok and Stravinsky, and began incorporating features of their music as well as the jazz music he listened to while growing up in New York.

The result? A potent mix of tangy harmonies, dissonant clusters, percussive rhythms and fugal passages.

Purists however, found Piazzolla's nuevo tango hard to swallow.

As Gosselin explained: "Piazzolla on his own created the concert tango. He was not there to please the dancers. He was there to please the listeners."

And listeners in America and Europe lapped it up.

Gosselin places Quartango squarely in the concert tango camp, though they've frequently worked with dancers and singers.

British-born pianist Richard Hunt has supplied Quartango with most of its arrangements.

The group now sports upwards of 100 pieces in its repertoire including classic and nuevo tangos, jazz and ragtime waltzes, Celtic jigs, plus a number of Hunt's original works.

His Milonga Celtica was voted 60th best tango ever by a Buenos Aires radio station.

Hunt's arrangements, Gosselin says, are in "the Montreal style of tango," following the lead of Tango X 4, who spiced their tangos with musical quotations from works by Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart and others.

For example, in Hunt's arrangement of Dave Brubeck's Blue Rondo a la Turk, the first improvisation section is transformed into a tango with Piazzolla's Libertango thrown into the mix for good measure.

"It's not unique," said Gosselin of the technique, "but it's (a) kind of signature of Quartango on our music."

All of the group's members are classically trained. Violinist Charles-Etienne Marchand studied in Quebec City and Montreal.

Since last May, the group's bandoneon player has been Douglas Schmidt, who also plays in the Vancouver-based Tango Paradiso.

The two constants in Quartango have been Gosselin and Hunt. Double bassist Gosselin, who doubles as Quartango's artistic director, is also a member of the Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal, and teaches at Montreal's Conservatoire.

Hunt, 77, studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, and in Montreal with composers Bruce Mather, Istvan Anhalt and Bengt Hambraeus.

Saturday night's appearance at a Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra pops concert in Hamilton Place will be Quartango's Hamilton debut, though they popped in and out of Copps Coliseum in 2001 when their Esprit CD was nominated for a Juno.

Andre Moisan, bass clarinetist and saxophonist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, will be on the podium.

But Moisan will be doing more than waving his baton at the HPO.

He'll have his clarinet in hand and will play along on Quartango's rendition of Piazzolla's Milonga del Angel.

Leonard Turnevicius is a music educator and organist.

Classical Calendar

Leonard Turnevicius

* Tonight at 7 p.m., the award winning Toronto Mass Choir sings at Victory International Church, 2799 Barton St. E. Proceeds to the church's missions outreach program.

* At 7:30 p.m., the Canadian Orpheus Male Choir and soprano Sarah Valentim are in concert at Burlington Baptist, 2225 New St., Burlington. Tickets: $15. Proceeds to the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Call 905-523-7377.

* Thursday at 8 p.m., jazz pianist Michael Kaeshammer plays Hamilton Place's Studio Theatre. Tickets: $29.50. Call 905-527-7666.

* On Friday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m., guitarist Dylan Fowler and the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus perform at Erskine Presbyterian, 19 Pearl St. N. Tickets: Advance $10, regular $12, family $25.

* At 8 p.m., pianist Eve Egoyan performs at the Art Gallery of Hamilton's Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Pavilion, 123 King St. W. Tickets: $14, student/senior $12, AGH member $10. Call 905-527-6610 ext. 232.

* Also at 8 p.m., smooth jazz guitarist Johannes Linstead plays McMaster's Convocation Hall. Tickets: $17, senior $12, student $5. Call 905-525-9140 ext. 24246.

* On Sunday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m., pianist Hong Xu performs at the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, 126 James St. S. For tickets, call 905-528-4020.

* At 3 p.m., the McMaster Chamber Orchestra performs music by Vaughan Williams, Vivaldi, Elgar and Quesnel at Convocation Hall. Tickets: $10. Call 905-525-9140 ext. 24246.

* Running until Nov. 3, the Canadian Opera Company stages Verdi's Don Carlos with former Burlingtonian Adrianne Pieczonka as Elisabeth at the Four Seasons Centre, 145 Queen St. W., Toronto. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro runs until Nov. 2. Check coc.ca for dates and times. Tickets to either opera: $60 to $275; youth $30 to $275. Call: 1-800-250-4653.