JP Jofre is known as one of the world’s foremost soloists on the bandoneon: the soulful, Argentinian instrument that is the main voice of tango and that Astor Piazzolla catapulted to fame. But Jofre is also a brilliant and pioneering composer whose work transcends nuevo tango to encompass neo-romantic, indie classical, and world music. This special evening features a first time performance of Mr. Jofre's Double Concerto for Violin and Bandoneon No. 1, a piece that he recently recorded with the world re-known Orpheus Chamber Orchestra featuring virtuoso violin player Eric Wyrick, concertmaster of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Argentine pianist/producer Pablo Cafici.

This program is made possible by the New York City Artist Corps

Native from San Juan, Argentina, Juan Pablo Jofre Romarion aka JP Jofre, is an award-winning bandoneon player and composer. Mr. Jofre has been repeatedly highlighted by the New York Times and praised as one of today’s leading artists by Great Performers at Lincoln Center. His music has been recorded by the legendary London Symphony Orchestra, 16 times Grammy winner Paquito D’ Rivera and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra among others. He has performed and given lectures at Google Talks, TEDtalks, and The Juilliard School of Music. Mr. Jofre has performed all over the globe including Carnegie Hall, Celebrities Series of Boston, Umbria Jazz Festival, KaposFest, Seattle's Town Hall, Taiwan National Concert Hall, Seoul Art Center, Lincoln Center, Beijing National Theatre among others.

Violinist Eric Wyrick has been Concertmaster of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 1998. He is an established leader/member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and is currently an Artistic Director with that international ensemble. In addition to annual New Jersey Symphony solo appearances, Wyrick has appeared as a soloist with Danish Radio Orchestra, the Orchestre de Toulouse and solo television appearances in the Dance in America presentation of Chausson’s Poème for American Ballet Theater on PBS, and as a featured soloist in the BBC’s “Great Composers” series playing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5. He has collaborated as soloist with Neeme Jaarvi, Jacques Lacombe, Zdenic Macal, Michel Plasson, Gunther Schuller and with Andrew Constantine. An active chamber musician, Wyrick can be heard frequently with the NJSO Chamber Players and, as he comes from a large family of musicians, performs regularly with the Wyrick Chamber Players. Mr. Wyrick is a lecturer regularly at Richardson Auditorium as Concertmaster of the NJSO and has collaborated with the Richardson Chamber Players.

Pablo Cafici is an Argentinian pianist, producer, and composer based in New York City. He's been a member of the JP Jofre Hard Tango Chamber Band since 2015 and has toured extensively in Asia with clarinetist Paquito D' Rivera, a sixteen-time Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winner. A native of Mendoza, Argentina, Pablo started piano at age 9 and studied under pianist Roberto Urbay, who teaches at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Argentina. As a composer, he is embarking on a new album project due to be released in 2020. As a producer and a pianist, he has worked on multiple recordings, with the Orpheus Orchestra, JP Jofre, Catalyst Quartet, Daniela Mack, Kyung Sun Lee andmany others.