Bárbara Varassi Pega

Dr. Bárbara Varassi Pega

 

Bio

 

I am a Rotterdam based pianist, arranger, composer, researcher and educator born in Rosario, Argentina. Specialized in River Plate tango, classical and contemporary music, I have toured the world with diverse ensembles, recorded several CDs and published articles related to my fields of expertise. I have created and collaborated in works including music, theatre, dance, puppets, fine arts, animation and audiovisuals, and am currently working on diverse inter and transdisciplinary projects with international artists. Tango Tinto, f-LUID and Tango Gradus ad Parnassum are my main own ensembles. I am also the pianist of the famous Quinteto Astor Piazzolla (https://quintetoastorpiazzolla.com/), Latin Grammy winner as best tango album 2019, with which I have intense world tours. I also collaborate as a pianist and composer with other ensembles, including the NEuE (https://www.neweuropeanensemble.com/).

 

Parallel to my activities as musician, I have a big trajectory as researcher. I am the author of The Art of Tango, a unique book with a companion website on tango performance, arrangement and composition published in 2021 by renowned Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. I currently work as artistic research coach and piano and ensemble teacher in the Master of Music at Codarts University of the Arts, Rotterdam, where I also coordinate the Tango (World Music) Department and fulfilled a postdoc project focused on tango music creation and education in 2022. In addition, I also work as an artistic research coach in the Master of Music at Fontys University of Fine and Performing Arts, Tilburg.

 

My music education started in my hometown Rosario, Argentina, and continued in Europe, where I moved in 2000 to study and continue growing as an artist. I obtained two Bachelor degrees in piano, at the Instituto Provincial del Profesorado de Música in Rosario (1998) and the Conservatorio Statale di Musica Giuseppe Verdi, Milan, Italy (2003). In 2009 I completed a Master of Music at the Tango Department within the World Music Department at Codarts University of the Arts, Rotterdam, and in 2014 a PhD trajectory at the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts, Leiden University, as part of the docARTES programme. My written dissertation entitled “Creating and Re-creating Tangos. Artistic Processes and Innovations in Music by Pugliese, Salgán, Piazzolla and Beytelmann” was presented in December 2014 in a three-day event including a concert, an international symposium I organized myself and the public defense proper. In both occasions (Master and PhD), Maestro Gustavo Beytelmann was my artistic supervisor. I also completed studies in composition at the Conservatoire de musique, de danse et d'art dramatique du Pays de Montbéliard, France, 2015, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jacopo Baboni Schilingi.

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Parallel to my academic training, I have played tango music since an early age, starting out in the two most important tango youth orchestras in my city: the “Orquesta Juvenil de Tango del IPPM” conducted by Javier Martinez Lo Ré and Pepe Ferrer, and the “Orquesta de Tango de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario”, conducted by famous bandoneon player and composer Domingo Federico. I have later founded, integrated and conducted several tango ensembles, with which I have extensively toured Argentina and Europe, and recorded diverse CD's. 

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You can know more about my artistic life and watch and listen my music by clicking PROJECTS on this page. 

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