Dino Saluzzi and Anja Lechner

Dino Saluzzi is arguably the foremost innovator of the bandoneón since Astor Piazzolla, his close friend and mentor. An inveterate musical explorer, Saluzzi has collaborated with numerous European and American jazz musicians, including Charlie Haden, Enrico Rava, and Al DiMeola, and introduced a world of listeners to this deep sense of the folk music of South America, his love of jazz, tango, and classical music, and his haunting ability to express the evolution and bittersweet disappearance of musical cultures. He is proud of the fact that he is essentially a self-taught player, coming from the oral tradition, and his goal is a music that can express itself unambiguously and with feeling: “Art doesn’t need muscles, doesn’t need the force created by power or fame. Let’s get back to simplicity, reduce complexity, renew the possibility of dialogue…”

Primarily a “classical” musician, Anja Lechner has also long been intrigued by aspects of improvisation in diverse traditions. Co-founder of Rosamunde Quartet, it was her interest in tango nuevo that made 1999’s Kultrum, a collaboration between the quartet and Saluzzi, possible. Both a critical and popular success, the Saluzzi/Rosamunde partnership is now in its seventh year.

The Argentinean bandoneon master and the German cellist have collaborated regularly for more than a decade and just released an album together, "Ojos Negros." Their duo concerts have been described by Jazz Review/Penguin Guide editor Richard Cook as “As close to perfection as any music-making I can recently recall.”

This performance is part of the Skirball Center's ongoing accordion music series, "Compressing the World."