Production Details

New Directions in Tango
San Francisco based Tango pianist Sumi Lee and her colleagues will present original compositions and nuevo tango pieces, taking the audience on a musical journey from the mid-20th century to the present. Sumi will also premiere her solo piece, Appa, which is dedicated to her late father. An excellent opportunity to discover the new wave of contemporary tango music and experience these young musicians taking tango in exciting groundbreaking directions.

Artist Biographies

Sumi Lee (Piano)
A classical pianist with an M.A. in Music from SF Conservatory of Music. She worked with opera companies until she moved to Buenos Aires to study Tango music at La Orquesta Escuela de Tango, Emilio Balcarce. She studied with maestros, such as Victor Lavallén, Colangelo, Piro, Pablo Estigarribia, etc. Since returning home, she has presented contemporary tango music with her “Las Almas” & “Sumi Lee Collective” groups for the SF International Arts Festival, Flower Piano Festival, Sebastopol Arts & La Nuestra Tango Festival, NY. She was featured in the “Gobbi Inedíto” album and is pursuing an interdisciplinary graduate degree at Berklee School of Music and a new solo album set to be recorded in April in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Clara Stern (Bandoneón)
Mexican bandoneon player Clara Stern graduated from Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce (Buenos Aires) in 2019. She recorded the CD “Gobbi inédito” with this orchestra. Clara was a soloist bandoneon player for Madero Tango, a famous tanguería in Argentina. In recent years, she has been invited by the Argentine embassy in Mexico on various occasions, once to accompany distinguished tango singer Lidia Borda and to perform at official Argentine celebrations. In 2024, she launched her first CD with Claroscuro Sexteto, a tango sextet she currently co-directs, and with which she has performed at two national tango festivals in Mexico. Instagram

Keiko Cadby (Violin)
A mixed native to Northern California and Southern Japan, Keiko Cadby began playing violin at five years old, performed at Carnegie Hall in New York by 11, and continued her studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where she was first introduced to Argentine tango through the music chair Antonio Lysy (late son of the legendary Argentine violinist Alberto Lysy). Over the last decade, she has performed internationally with countless tango performers and ensembles, including GRAMMY winners Hector Del Curto and Pablo Estigarribia and numerous other nominees, the West Coast Tango Ensemble, and the Stowe Tango Music Festival orchestra.

Hannah Macgillivray (Contra Bass)
Hannah is a dynamic bassist and educator based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, she celebrates the versatility of her instrument through exploring orchestral, jazz, tango, and commercial music. Holding a section position with the Lubbock Symphony and performing regularly in West Michigan, she also spends her summers with the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theater, involved in various productions. Hannah is a dedicated educator who maintains a thriving private studio and teaches double bass and bass guitar at Grand Rapids Community College.