Tango Buenos Aires to Perform SONG OF EVA PERON at Segerstrom Center, 1/17-18

Tango Buenos Aires, the internationally acclaimed and most uncompromisingly authentic Tango company in the world, will make its third appearance at Segerstrom Center for the Arts dancing four performances of Song of Eva Perón January 17 & 18, 2015 in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Song of Eva Perón journeys through the sensational life of Argentina's formidable First Lady with powerful and seductive music and dance.

Song of Eva Perón traces a life that was a vivacious and poignant spectacle, from Eva Duarte de Perón's humble beginnings through her meteoric rise to power and fame in the 1930s to her untimely death in 1952. The Washington Post states, Song of Eva Perón is "...repeatedly crafted swirling, fast-paced tapestries of movement, laced with proud postures and sensual couplings."

Tickets for Tango Buenos Aires start at $39 and will go on sale Sunday, November 23 at 10 a.m. PST. Ticket will be available at SCFTA.org, by calling (714) 556-2787 and at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. For inquiries about group ticket discounts, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746. Ticketholders are encouraged to attend one hour prior to each performance as there will be on-stage demonstrations followed by a Q&A.

Tango Buenos Aires has become one of Argentina's great cultural exports, known throughout the Americas, Europe and the Far East. Tango Buenos Aires was created for the "Jazmines" festival at the famous Buenos Aires cabaret "Michelangelo" by renowned composer and tango director Osvaldo Requena. The company met with tremendous success and was immediately added to the season of the General San Martin Municipal Theatre.

In 1986, the company traveled to the United States in order to represent Argentina at the Latin American Festival, which took place at the Delacorte Theatre in New York City's Central Park during the month of August. This event was followed by an extensive tour throughout the United States, along with trips to Mexico, Puerto Rico and El Salvador, followed by a return to the United States via Miami and San Francisco. In December 1986, the group appeared on NHK television in Tokyo, and it completed 62 performances throughout Japan, as well as a CD recording for Sony titled Quejas de Bandoneon.

In 1987, the company undertook a lengthy tour of the principal cities of Argentina, performing at the Spring Festival in Bariloche, at the Galli Auditorium in Mendoza, at the Municipal Theatre in Ciudad de Rosario, in Santa Rosa La Pampa and in the city of Rio Negro, in addition to various appearances on television channels for the S.A.D.A.I.C. series and in the series sponsored by the Argentinean Ministry of Culture, before ending the season at the Auditorio in Mar del Plata.

In March 1989, the company traveled to Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany; to Granada, Spain for the International Tango Festival and to Madrid for performances at the Teatro de la Villa and at the National Auditorium. In October 1989, the company began a Latin American tour, appearing in Quito and Guayaquil in Ecuador, in Mexico and ending in Los Angeles.

In March 1990, Tango Buenos Aires participated in the International Festival in Adelaide, Australia, and in April, the company performed at the New Zealand Festival. In June 1991, the company traveled to Southeast Asia, giving performances in Singapore and Kuala Lupur, Malaysia and Bangkok, Thailand. Under the patronage of the president of Argentina, the company introduced the Tango to Indonesia for the first time ever.

In 1992, Tango Buenos Aires performed in Santiago, Chile and on Chilean television, with further performances in Vina del Mar and a subsequent trip to Brazil, performing at the Memorial. 1993 was a year of extensive travel in Argentina, Spain (Granada, Madrid and Andalucia), Finland and Chile (Vitacura, Santiago, Vina del Mar and Valparaiso). Beginning in November, the company toured Malaysia, Japan and China. In Beijing, the company hosted a series of unprecedented master classes and residencies with Chinese dancers at the Dance University of Beijing, teaching the origin and evolution of tango and further international understanding and cooperation.

In 1994, Tango Buenos Aires traveled to Spain, performing for the third time at the sixth International Festival in Granada, and also performing at the University and National Auditorium in Madrid. In June, the company took part in performances and master classes at the Kuopio Festival in Finland and also performed in Copenhagen, followed by another trip to Malaysia.

The company spent most of 1995 performing in Buenos Aires and touring throughout South America, culminating in a season at Buenos Aires's Museo Ferna?ndez Blanco, Teatro Gral San Martin and the Teatro Presidente Alvear. In 1996, Tango Buenos Aires toured Portugal, and in the autumn the company traveled to Greece and ended the year with a tour of Japan extending into January 1997. Tango Buenos Aires toured the United States for its first coast-to-coast tour during the 1998 - 1999 season to great critical and popular acclaim, appearing in cities including Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Cleveland, Louisville, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Lincoln, Toronto and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In June 1999, the renowned pianist Cristian Za?rate succeeded Requena as music director, and Pablo Mainetti, the world's greatest bandoneon player, joined the orchestra. In 2005, Julian Vat, Argentina's most prolific composer and leading musician assumed the title of music director. The company returned to North America in winter 2003 for a two and half month tour of the Unites States. Due to the extraordinary success of this tour, the company returned in the fall of 2007 and winter of 2011 for a two month national tour of the United States.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is unique as both an acclaimed arts institution and as a multi- disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center traces its roots back to the late 1960s when a dedicated group of community leaders decided Orange County should have its own world-class performing arts venue.

As Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization, Segerstrom Center for the Arts owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Rene?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' ongoing Free for All series.

The Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.

In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.?