The Tango Siempre Septet

Orquesta Tangazo

London based tango orchestra “Orquesta Tangazo” is a septet featuring the musicians of Tango Siempre and the Sigamos String Quartet. The London, UK based Tango Orquesta Tìpica recreates the lush, romantic sound of the great Argentinian orchestras of tango’s golden age in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, bringing together some of the UK’s leading exponents of tango, contemporary and world music to perform traditional, nuevo and contemporary tango music with energy and passion.

The septet has performed on Radio 3 “In Tune” and appeared at UK venues including the Purcell Room. Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, York Early Music Centre, Oxford Playhouse and the St James Theatre. It regularly performs for the Tango Movement APARU Balls, a highlight of the London tango calendar.

The Sigamos String Quartet, led by Ros Stephen of Tango Siempre, specializes in collaborations with jazz and world music artists. The quartet has recorded three critically acclaimed albums (including “For The Ghosts Within” with Robert Wyatt) and has toured throughout the UK and Europe. Their recordings have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4 including Late Junction, Front Row and Jazz on 3.

Orquesta Tangazo is available for concert performances, milongas, and theatre shows with world class Argentinian tango dancers.

Please see below for audio and video clips of the ensemble, and biogs of the musicians.

For enquiries see our contact page.

“Their playing has the verve and gut-wrenching rhythmic drive associated with the greatest Argentinian bands… here is the tango, raw, intoxicating, speaking with its true voice.”Financial Times on Tango Siempre.

“…the well-tempered, note-perfect string quartet shifted through romance, irony and despair on the point of a pin… they impressively integrated classical textures with jazz delivery.” (*****) Mike Hobart, Financial Times on the Sigamos String Quartet.

“This is the most exquisite album I have heard this year.” – Keith Bruce, Scotland Herald, on the Sigamos String Quartet’s 2010 album with Robert Wyatt.

Audio and Video

Tango Siempre and the Sigamos String Quartet perform “Oblivion” by Astor Piazzolla:

Tango Siempre and the Sigamos String Quartet perform Quejas de Bandoneon:

The Musicians

The core of the septet is made up of the members of Tango Siempre’s quartet :

Julian Rowlands  – bandoneon
Ros Stephen        – violin
Jonathan Taylor   – piano 
Rory Dempsey     – double bass

Additional players in the septet are:

Marianne Haynes (violin) studied at Chethams School of Music before gaining a full scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music. She studied with Lydia Mordkovitch, Mateja Marinkovich and Howard Davis.

Marianne enjoys a varied career and particularly enjoys playing different styles of music. She enjoys working in Theatre and with Dance companies, most recently leading Top Hat in the West End and UK tour, workshopping and recording Stephen Ward, and workshopping and performing with the Drew McConie Dance company. Marianne also enjoys performing with artists within the pop world, most recently performing live with Robbie Williams, Michael Buble and writing string charts and performing with Chase and Status, Labrinth and Clean Bandit.

Marianne has led/co-led the Heritage Orchestra for 7 years. This has led to working with artists as varied as Massive Attack, Beardyman, Stan Sulzman, Django Bates, Jamie Cullum, Dizzee Rascal and Goldie amongst others. Marianne also enjoys freelancing with the London Concert Orchestra, RPCO, Glenn Miller Orchestra and London Contemporary Orchestra amongst others.

Felix Tanner (viola) studied at the Royal Academy of Music where he was awarded the Sir Arthur Bliss Prize, the Marjorie Bunty Lempfert Award, the Sir John Barbirolli Award, the John Ireland Chamber Music Award and the Theodore Holland Viola Prize. He is a member of the prize-winning Brodowsky String Quartet, with whom he has performed at leading concert venues including the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Hall, Purcell Room, the Edinburgh Festival and the Brighton Festival.

Laura Anstee (cello) studied at the Royal Academy of Music where she was awarded a Dip.RAM for one of the highest performance achievements in 2002, the Herbert Walenn prize for cello, the Douglas Cameron prize for cello and piano, the McEwen quartet prize and the Gwyneth George prize from the Beethoven piano society of Europe. She has performed as a soloist on BBC Radio 3, has collaborated with contemporary composers including György Kurtág, Arvo Pärt and Judith Weir and has performed with the Goldberg Ensemble, the Bournemouth Symphony’s Kokoro ensemble and with the English National Opera’s choral group Knack.