New Tango Vision: The Binelli-Ferman Duo

The singular partnership of bandoneón (Daniel Binelli) and piano (Polly Ferman) enlivens the tango, milonga, candombe and other Latin American dance rhythms with music by Piazzolla, Villoldo, Ramos, Castellanos, Binelli and others.

"The two musicians engaged in ravishing improvisatory flights of fancy that spelled pure jazz." - Washington Post

Performance playlist:

Underscore - Pre-concert dialogue with Symphony Space's Artistic Director Laura Kaminsky and the artists. 

Daniel Binelli: Images of Buenos Aires

Astor Piazzolla (arr. Binelli): Libertango

Angel Villoldo (arr. Binelli): El Choclo

James Williams: Renaissance Lovers

Cobian-Cadicamo: Los Mareados

Julian Plaza (arr. Binelli): Nocturna

Astor Piazzolla (arr. Zunini-Cosentino): Oblivion

Daniel Binelli: Anhelo y Misterio

Astor Piazzolla: Triunfal

Pintin Castellanos (arr. Zunini-Cosentino): La Punalada

Daniel Binelli: Fueyazo

Anselmo Aieta (arr. Orlando Tripoli): Palomita Blanca

Anibal Troilo (arr. Daniel Binelli): Responso

Astor Piazzolla: Verano Porteño from Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas

Astor Piazzolla: Adios Noniño

Gerardo Matos Rodríguez: La Cumparsita

World-class musicians Daniel Binelli and Polly Ferman have united their talents to develop and further the appreciation of the tango, milonga, candombe, and other Latin American musical forms in the rarely heard partnership of the bandoneón and piano. Their performances reflect the elegance and the subtlety of the traditional tango, the sauciness of the milonga, the romance of the waltz, and the temperament and power of the contemporary tango.

The Binelli-Ferman Duo’s ability to reach out to their audiences in conversation and through music has made its performances an amazing experience for concert enthusiasts worldwide. Since their debut in January 2000 in NYC, they have toured extensively throughout the world including performances in Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Rome, Paris, Munich, Berne, and Saint Petersburg, as well as in New York City, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and Miami. In addition to concert appearances, they have presented master classes on the music of Argentina and the tango in the United States, Canada, and in cities throughout Japan and China.

The Duo also performs as featured artists with chamber and symphony orchestras worldwide in a project called “Orchestango,” that highlights the music of Binelli, Piazzolla, Salgán, and Ginastera, among others. Recent appearances have been with the San Francisco Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra, The Montevideo Philharmonic, the Symphony of Concepción, Chile and the symphonies of Mendoza and Parana in Argentina. The Duo has recorded “Imágenes de Buenos Aires,” for Roméo Records and Epsa Music, Orquestango and Orquestango 2, for Sondor Records with the Montevideo Philharmonic, and New Tango Vision with the Binelli-Ferman-Isaac Trio.

Internationally renowned master of the bandoneon, Argentine Daniel Binelli tours extensively in concert and recital. This unique and sensuous instrument is showcased in a wide range of compositions, many of which have roots in the tango of Binelli’s native land.

A seasoned composer in his own right, Binelli is also widely acclaimed as the foremost exponent and torchbearer of the music of Astor Piazzolla. In 1989 Daniel Binelli joined Astor Piazzolla´s New Tango Sextet, touring with them Brazil, Chile, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Holland and Switzerland before Mr. Piazzolla’s death in 1992.

Conductors with whom Binelli has worked include Charles Dutoit, Lalo Schiffrin, Franz Paul Decker, Isaiah Jackson, Germán Gutiérrez, Simón Blech, Herrera de la Fuente, José Carli, Luis Gorelik, Jamil Maluf, Alfredo Rugeles and Francisco Rettig. He has developed a long-term collaboration with Maestro Charles Dutoit, appearing in 2001 as a solo artist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York, in 2003 with the Sydney Symphonic Orchestra at the Sydney Opera, and in 2004 with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

One of the leading interpreters of the music of the Americas, New York-based pianist Polly Ferman continues to captivate audiences with her outstanding performances of works by Gottschalk, Nazareth, Gershwin, Villa-Lobos, Ginastera, Piazzolla, and many others. Her mastery of the literature prompted The Japan Times to recognize her as “a Musical Ambassador of the Americas.”

Ferman’s extensive tours as a soloist have included performances with the Symphonies of San Francisco, Colorado, Vancouver, and Indianapolis, as well as the Tokyo Philharmonic, Kharkov Philharmonic Orchestra (Ukraine), Philippines Philharmonic, Sâo Paulo State Symphony., the National Symphony of Argentina and Camerata Romeu in Cuba, in addition to recitals at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Tokyo’s Suntory and Takemitsu Halls, Virginia’s Wolf Trap, London’s St. Martin in the Fields, Koncert Halle of Munich and the Buenos Aires Teatro Colon. Ferman was the only soloist selected to play at the Pan American Games of 1992, where she performed with the Indianapolis Symphony.

Her performances were featured in a 2005 nationally televised PBS documentary special Tango the Spirit of Argentina and in the Brazilian movie A Viuva da Rua Siria.

Polly Ferman began her musical studies at the age of three in her native Uruguay, giving her first recital at age 7 and winning the Jeunesses Musicales Competition at the age of 9. She went on to attend the J.S. Bach Conservatory as a pupil of Santiago Baranda Reyes. Later she studied with Celia Bronstein in Buenos Aires, and Eugene List and William Daghlian in New York City.