”...he creates bridges to Classical Music with his own compositions without losing the inner melancholy of the true Tango Nuevo. Massa catapults the music of Buenos Aires into the 21st century."

Presto Music (United Kingdom)

Biography

“Omar Massa lives and breathes Tango” Daniel Hope (WELT - Germany)

Composer and bandoneon player Omar Massa was born in Buenos Aires in 1981 and has been based in Berlin since 2019. Internationally acclaimed as one of the leading artists on Tango Nuevo and the bandoneon, he received several “Opus Klassik”, “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” and “International Classical Music Awards” nominations in Europe, as Composer of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year.

He has participated in projects with internationally renowned artists such as Placido Domingo, Jonas Kaufmann, Daniel Hope, Paquito D’Rivera, Guy Braunstein, Alondra de La Parra, Fatma Said, Pablo Ferrandez, Bruno Delepelaire, Alexis Cardenas, Ute Lemper, Sarah McKenzie, Kai Strobel among others, and participated in recordings for important labels such as Deutsche Grammophon and Sony Classical.

In 2023 Omar was awarded with the Bandoneon Prize by the city of Krefeld, Germany (city where the Bandoneon was invented). His tours have been declared of ‘Cultural and Artistic importance to the country of Argentina’ by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Praised in Argentina as “one of the most brilliant bandoneonists of recent years” (Diario de Cuyo, Argentina) Omar debuted at the age of 6 years old playing Piazzolla´s music at Cafe Tortoni, a famous traditional tango house in Buenos Aires and subsequently began studying music at the National Conservatory of Argentina at the age of 12. After being nominated to the most important award in the recording industry in Argentina for his CD “Tribute to Piazzolla”, the family of Astor Piazzolla invited him to play Piazzolla´s bandoneon 25 years after his death – Massa being the only musician allowed to do that.

Devoted as a composer to bring the legacy of Tango Nuevo into the 21st century, Massa composed many works for different ensembles and received several commissions in Europe and America. His “Concerto for Bandoneon and Chamber Orchestra” was premiered at the Berlin Philharmonic and later recorded together with the Berlin Symphony orchestra, conducted by Mark Laycock. His “Stradivarius Duo” was recorded and premiered at the CBC Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. His “Tango Etude” and “The Light from Andalusia” were premiered at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and “Negro Liso” and “Tango Lullaby” at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. His work “Caminos y Desvios” was premiered at the Konzerthaus in Berlin and “Suite Patagonia” and “Concertango” at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico. His “Interlude for Bandoneon and Strings” was premiered at the National University in Brasilia.

As a soloist Massa has performed with symphony orchestras like the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Asturias Symphony Orchestra, the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, the Moldova Philharmonic Orchestra, the Biel Symphony Orchestra and the Brasov Philharmonic among many others in America and throughout Europe. He performed in several important venues such as the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the National Concert Hall (Dublin), the Colon Theatre (Buenos Aires), the Berlin Konzerthaus (Germany), the Palace of Fine Arts (Mexico), the George Enescu Festival (Bucharest) , the Berlin Philharmonic (Germany) and Deutsche Grammophon's Yellow Lounge.

Massa was also the composer and musical director of theater and dance projects, such as the 2014 production of Eugene O'Neill's play "A Touch of the Poet" directed by Barry Primus (Actors Studio-American Film Institute) with choreography by Julie Arenal (Broadway's original "Hair" choreographer). In 2023 he also collaborated with New York ballet soloist Unity Phelan, who danced Omar's music at the PAAX GNP Festival.

Music

DISCOGRAPHY

BERLINER SYMPHONIKER
& OMAR MASSA - 2021
NUEVO TANGO CONCERTOS BY PIAZZOLLA AND MASSA

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MASSA TRIO - 2022
BUENOS AIRES RESONANCES

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ARDE TRIO - 2021
TANGO CONCERTANTE

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KAI STROBEL - 2023
NEOTANGO EPISODES

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Videos

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PRESS

"Massa manages to integrate and further develop essential stylistic devices of Tango Nuevo into his own authentic sound language in an apparently effortless and natural way, which becomes particularly clear in the piece Buenos Aires Resonances. No clichés are served here, rather stories and longings for family, friends and his hometown Buenos Aires are told”

Romald Fischer, Das Orchester (Germany)

"...the Argentinian Omar Massa, who despite his youth, is already a Bandoneon legend"

El Universal (Mexico)

"…and Massa will be again and again (and rightly so) identified as the legitimate successor of Piazzolla."

Crescendo Magazine (Germany)

"Massa, representing today's and tomorrow’s continuing development, has taken the Tango Nuevo to a prestigious ‘Tango Concertante’ level, without losing its original character."

Adrian Quanjer, HRAudio (France)

"Authentic, that's how you can describe Omar Massa and his music. He doesn't need big words or gestures to draw attention to his music. Omar's music stands on its own. Each of his compositions live, breathe and beat."

Camilla Hildebrandt SWR 2 (Germany)

" Massa has been called the successor of Piazzolla. He lives up to this claim with his new CD, in which with his own compositions, he consistently develops Tango Nuevo. The music becomes even more powerful with him, even more expressive between melancholy and anger, now and then, as in the Kageliana, also more modern."

Remy Franck, Pizzicato Magazine (Luxembourg)