Piazzolla Reloaded: A musical and literary summit in the Philharmonie’s Chamber Music Hall

As a bridge between cultures, eras, and musical styles, the accordion fascinates writers like no other instrument. Novels such as “The Green Accordion” by Annie Proulx or Marie-Luise Scherer’s literary reportage “The Accordion Player” bear witness to this.

The Landesmusikrat Berlin e.V. is exploring this special relationship in the Year of the Accordion with a concert series: “Global Sound Stories: Accordion Meets Literature” brings together musicians and authors of international stature on stage.

In the concert “Piazzolla Reloaded,” a collaboration with Pantonale e.V., this idea is combined with a reflection on the work of Astor Piazzolla. The composer and bandoneon player, who died in 1992 at the age of 71, brought tango from the streets into concert halls, encouraged by his composition teacher Nadja Boulanger. The result was a body of work that is now firmly anchored in the collective memory. With titles such as “Adiós Nonino,” “Oblivion,” or the concerto “Aconcagua,” named after the mountain in the Andes. In the Philharmonie’s chamber music hall, Latvian accordion virtuoso Ksenija Sidorova will perform “Aconcagua,” accompanied by the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn under the baton of Miran Vaupotić. It is the powerful yet melancholic finale of a concert that brings together outstanding soloists while also introducing young composers (Pietro Roffi, Sonia Possetti, Nita Sinaga, Mariano Speranza) whose works were honored at this year’s Astor Piazzolla® Competition. Four world premieres, created in engagement with Piazzolla’s work, will be performed this evening.

The writer María Cecilia Barbetta, born in Buenos Aires, has lived in Berlin since 1996 and writes in German. Having grown up in the immigrant neighborhood of Ballester, the setting of her novel “Nachtleuchten,” she responds to Piazzolla’s work as an Argentine, as an immigrant, and as a writer whose musicality is revealed in her language. “Musik im Schlepptau” is the title of her text, written specifically for the “Global Sound Stories” concert series.

• June 12, 2026
• 6:00 p.m.
• Philharmonie Berlin, Chamber Music Hall

Participants:

María Cecilia Barbetta (reading)

Ksenija Sidorova (accordion)

Romina Balestrino (vocals)

Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi (bandoneon)

Luca Lucini (guitar)

Pasquale Lancuba (bandoneon)

Leo Florin (accordion)

Pietro Roffi (accordion)

Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, Conductor Miran Vaupotić

We would like to thank the LOTTO Foundation Berlin for supporting the project “600 Accordions. Your Stories. Our Berlin” with the concert series “Global Sound Stories – Accordion Meets Literature.”