About Owen Salomé - composer and bandoneonist

Owen Salomé is an Australian composer/performer based in Buenos Aires. Owen’s ensemble Tángalo were recipients of a 2014 JUMP mentorship from the Australian Council for the Arts, to study in Buenos Aires. In 2018 Owen received two grants for artistic development, allowing him to relocate to Buenos Aires. Owen has received commissions as a composer from numerous ensembles, including a 2019 commission to compose the music for a ballet from the renowned Australian artist Ken Unsworth. In 2021 his trio, Guanaco Trio, were given a grant by the Argentine National Institute for Music, to record a studio album. Owen is one of the bandoneonists of the 16th iteration of the 2 year ‘Orquesta Escuela Emilio Balcarce’ tango program in the city of Buenos Aires: the first ever Australian to hold the position.

About the Brisbane Tango Orchestra 

The Brisbane Tango Orchestra (BTO) is an ensemble which Chloe Ann Williamson (Double Bassist and Artistic Director) started as a way to bring the thrilling repertoire written for tango orchestra to Queensland audiences. In 2021, despite the constraints of the pandemic, a pilot project was created uniting three smaller Brisbane-based tango ensembles to form the basis for a local tango orchestra. The sold out performance “The Piazzolla Effect”, a tango concert to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Astor Piazzolla’s birth, was hosted at Brisbane’s Old Museum Building and delighted both tango dancers and music lovers. In 2022, the opportunity to perform at the inaugural Moonlight Tango Winter Festival gave Chloe the opportunity to restructure the ensemble, now featuring eight virtuosic musicians who perform across a variety of styles of music. The instrumentation of the Brisbane Tango Orchestra reflects the early days of tango orchestras, with percussive sounds from piano and double bass, a big string sound from three violins and a cello and the haunting beauty of a wind section featuring flute and bass clarinet.