Quote: "The purity of Tosello's voice is matched by the vibrancy of her emotional palette and inventiveness of her cross-cultural technique. The next wave in Latin American Jazz may well begin with Tosello" – Christopher Loundon, Jazz Times
Bio: Sofia Tosello sang her first professional concert at the age of 8 in her hometown of Córdoba, in the heart of Argentina. Tango, the best-known music of her homeland, has always been a part of her musical life. She remembers her father listening to tango on the radio and her niñera singing tangos to her as a child. Jazz was also heard in the household, and to the north of the city was the fount of Argentinian folklore, with its zambas and chacereras. When she moved to New York in 1999, it was inevitable that she would encounter even more forms, both Latin American and worldwide. She has performed in tango shows as well as concerts, singing in Recuerdo Tango and Tango Connections: A Love Story by Mariela Franganillo and touring internationally with Polly Ferman’s Glamour Tango. She is attracted to tango because it lets her sing the way she talks in life. “The fullness and affective depth of Tosello’s interpretations,” writes one blogger, “remind me more forcefully with every hearing … that singing and acting are in some way sister arts, that less leads to more in each, and that tango is the drama and the tragedy of a life lived between nostalgia and hope” (osburnt.com).
Yuri Martín Juárez Yllescas (Lima-Peru 1973), is a guitarist, arranger and composer who began his career in 1996 as guitarist for various groups of Afro-Peruvian music, folk and fusion. He has shared the stage and recorded with musicians like Arturo o'Farrill, Ron Carter, Eva Ayllón, Susana Baca, Claudia Acuña, iconic Peruvian composers such as Kiri Escobar and Javier Lazo, and trail blazing bands including the Gabriel Alegría Afro Peruvian Sextet, Arturo O'Farrill Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Novalima, among others. In November of 2008, Yuri released his first album, Afroperuano, with its own repertoire and important composers Chabuca Granda, Carlos Hayre and Chucho Valdes, achieving great success in domestic and international criticism.
John Osburn is an instructor of Theater Studies and Dramatic Literature at NYU, as well as an aficionado of Argentine tango and Afro-Peruvian jazz. He has written extensively about both on his performing arts blog osburnt.com, in addition to liner essays and online notes for recording projects in both genres. Tango is an important part of his social and professional life, including co-facilitating workshops in Tango and Communication at Cooper Union, participating as a dancer in NeuroTango: Brainwaves in Sync? for Brain Awareness Week NYC in 2014, being host dancer on a tango cruise, and curating tango events. He is writing text and conducting for a book of tango photography as part of the Social Tango Project this August in Buenos Aires. His work crosses artistic and disciplinary boundaries. CONNECT, which he co-developed and directs at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, uses performing arts to enhance the communication skills of undergraduate engineering students. His background includes directing, performance composition, editing and criticism, dramaturgy, and research that connects drama and performance to law, news, and engineering.
Residency Public Sharing: 6/30/18