Riga This Week - FREE RIGA CITY GUIDE made by locals since 1992
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ARTISSIMO Festival. Richard Galliano & PRAGUE STRING QUINTET

Richard Galliano (accordion, France) and his ensemble with a new programme - PIAZZOLLA FOREVER!

In 2002 was recorded the CD 'Piazzolla Forever', which was going to become the richest Tribute to the tango nuevo of the great Astor Piazzolla by his friend Richard Galliano : 350 shows in the world, mostly in Europe of course, but also in North and South America, in Asia and even in Africa. These very "frenchy" versions of the most famous themes of Astor 'The Four Seasons', 'the Concerto for Bandoneon and Orchestra', as well as the immortal 'Oblivion', "Vuelvo al Sur' and 'Escualo' kept alive during 3 or 4 years the incredible melodic lines of the compositions of the Argentinian maestro, who had passed away at the end of the last century.

Richard Galliano has succeeded, through his musical emphasis on melody, rhythm, and harmony, in imposing his instrument in musical contexts that previously ignored it-jazz festivals (Marciac, Vienne, Montréal, etc.) and classical concert halls (Academia Santa-Cecilia in Rome, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Milan' s la Scala, etc.).

He was born in Cannes on December 12, 1950. He studied piano and accordion with his father, Lucien Galliano, before pursuing his musical studies at the Nice Conservatory, presided at that time by organist Pierre Cochereau. He studied counterpoint, harmony, and trombone, graduating with a 1er Prix d' Excellence in 1969. In parallel with this musical apprenticeship he took part in international accordion competitions. Playing J.S. Bach, Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Gershwin, he won first prize in the accordion "World Cup" two years in a row (1966, Valence, Spain and 1967, Calais, France) as well as the President's Prize in 1968 (under President Charles de Gaulle). In 1973 he left the south of France for Paris. For several years he collaborated with Claude Nougaro, Barbara, Serge Reggiani, Dick Annegarn (Frères) Charles Aznavour, Juliette Gréco, Georges Moustaki and Zizi Jeanmaire. His duo performance with singer Allain Leprest for the album Voce A Mano won him the Grand Prix du Disque from the Académie Charles Cros. In the realm of French chanson we should also mention his musical encounters with the singer Catherine Ringer (of the group Rita Mitsouko) at the Cité de la Musique (Paris) and at the Antibes Jazz Festival in Juan-Les-Pins.

In 1983 Astor Piazzolla invited Richard Galliano to be the bandoneon soloist at the Comédie Française in his original music to accompany William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", directed by Jorge Lavelli. It was the beginning of a long friendship between the two men that lasted until Piazzolla's death in 1992.