Album Notes

Maurizio Najt (Pianist)

From Argentina, has played a very important role as tango pianist and arranger in the US tango renaissance and scene of the last decade.

Maurizio has played with some of the best tango musicians all over the world, from Europe, Mexico, South America, Russia, Korea, China and Japan.  He is currently a member of the Tony-award winning production of Luis Bravo’s Forever Tango and tours with international tango singer Anna Saeki. 

Pianist with the acclaimed New York Tango Trio, has performed with masters bandoneonists such as Raul Jaurena, Tito Castro, Alberto Quiroga, David Alsina, Daniel Diaz, Hector del Curto and Victor Lavallen.

As a composer, he has written music for short films, documentaries and off Broadway musical theater; among which, Don Quixxxote, received a nomination for an ACE award in 2002.

In January of 2005 co-produced and directed in Chicago the show Crónicas de Buenos Aires, a multimedia and educational Tango show about the history and evolution of the art of Tango.


Alberto Quiroga (Bandoneon)

Bandoneon performer and teacher
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay where he appeared with the orchestras lead by Donato Raciatti, and Antonio Cervino. Alberto has played in concerts
around the world, South and Central America, Mexico, Tokyo and Seville, at
the tango festival in Toronto, and in New York at Carnegie Hall, with the
Little Orchestra Society at Lincoln Center, performing the music of
Astor Piazzolla, and the Thalia Spanish Theatre, in Queens.

He performed in Madrid, Santiago, Seville, and Granada and then went to Tokyo as a guest bandoneon player with a group from Forever Tango, the Broadway Show.
Alberto has played with performers such as Raul Jaurena, Hector del Curto, Miguel Arrabal, Federico Brito.
Recently he toured Japan with Japanese Tango Singer Anna Saeki.

Romulo Benavides (Violin)

Won the first place in the Second Competition "Juan Bautista Plaza”, in Caracas, Venezuela. He graduated from Juilliard School of Music, and later he attended postgraduate classes at Brooklyn College.
His teachers were Emil Friedman, Dorothy DeLay, Naoko Tanaka, and several occasions he attended master clases with Itzhak Perlman.
He studied chamber music with Samuel Sanders and Brian Zeger.
As a memberof the "Carpentier” string quartet, Mr. Benavides promotes the music of Latin America in both repertoires: the traditional and the contemporary. He has been also a member of the first violins sections
in the Harrisburg Symphony (Pennsylvania).

Francinito Iwaki ( Violin )

Joined Orquesta Tipica Sakamoto in Japan.
From 1967 to 1970, he toured South America, including Buenos Aires (the center of the Tango), and other cities in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Venezuela. He and other members of the orchestra also played in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Spain. Presently, he lives in New York City and during the 80' and 90' played at the Restaurant La Milonga. He has expanded his repertoire of Latin music and now plays the tango whenever he can.