ARTISTIC DIRECTOR GUSTAVO MOZZI

He is composer, guitarist, producer and teacher. His music is a mixture of the different musical traditions of the Río de la Plata: tango, milonga, murga, national music and the legacy of Europe.

He participated with different projects in international stages like the Konzerthaus of Vienna, the De Doelen in Rotterdam, the official stage of the Carnival of Venice at Piazza San Marco and the La Salle Pleyel in Paris. He was awarded twice with the Latin Grammy together with Gustavo Santaolalla for their production “Café de los Maestros”.

His musical career starts in 1979, with the band MIA -Músicos Independientes Asociados-. In 1983 he recorded an album with the band Membrillar playing free versions of folkloric native music. In the mid 80’s he founded the group Mozzi y La Cuerda; band with a Rio de la Plata tango tone with which he wins the First Latin American Biennale for Young Art. In 1990 he founded the group Mozzi y El Murgón, an ensemble aimed at creating a personal perspective of the universe of the murga. The album Carnavales porteños and many live performances represent this period. He participated in Sergio Renán’s film El sueño de los héroes, as consultant in visual and musical reconstruction of the Carnival in the old times.

In parallel, he recorded and performed along with the musician Juan Tata Cedrón, for whom he arranged the record El botánico, released in France. He made compositions for theatre and worked together with Las Gambas al Ajillo, a company born in the alternative theatre circuit that became a point of reference in the local scene.

In 1998 he recorded the album Los ojos de la noche, an instrumental record in which there is a musical dialogue between the academic language with expressions of the urban folklore. He presented this album together with the Pierrot Lunaire Ensemble Wien, in Vienna. In 2005, he recorded a new instrumental album, Matiné, that gathers together remarkable Argentine musicians with different backgrounds. In the same year he founded the ensemble Orquesta Matiné. In 2006 he was the protagonist of a massive murga rave at Piazza San Marco, as a closing show of Venice Carnival's main program.

At the same time, he performed his music featuring the Dutch ensemble Quinteto Tango Extremo, touring several European cities. With them, he recorded the album Carnaval de Buenos Aires, released and distributed in Holland. Also, he is guest faculty member at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. He was artistic director of the discographic collection BAM/MBA, from Buenos Aires City’s Department of Culture, where he produced Adolfo Abalos, Julio Pane, the Orquesta del Tango de Buenos Aires, Nicolás Ledesma, Glorias Porteñas, among many others.

In 1999 he blended music with the spirit of soccer, in a project that gathered together a group of artists who shared a passion for the traditional soccer team Racing Club: Leopoldo Federico, Atilio Stampone, Eladia Bláquez and Rubén Juaréz, among others. They produced the album La Acadé, for which Mozzi made the artistic production (along with Gustavo Margulies) and composed parts of the repertoire.

He is the artistic producer, together with Gustavo Santaolalla, of the project Café de los Maestros. Since 2003, the project gathers the main figures in the tango of the 40’s and 50’s: Mariano Mores, Leopoldo Federico, Horacio Salgán, Alberto Podestá, Virginia Luque, among others.

The double record Café de los Maestros was presented live at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and was awarded with two Latin Grammys and two Gardel Awards for Argentine Music in the categories “Best Tango Album – Band or Orchestra” and “Best Production of the Year”.

The premiere of the film Café de los Maestros took place at Berlin Film Festival (2008), while the band performed live at the Salle Pleyel and the Palais Royal in Paris.

Also, along with Gustavo Santaolalla, he produced in 2004 the record La criolla, which was the come back to the studios of the 93 years old mythical singer Nelly Omar.

Moreover, he is involved in the artistic production of a traditional version of Bajofondo’s international hit Pa’bailar.

In the field of arts management he has an extensive career. Since 1988 he is Coordinator of the music department at the Centro Rojas de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, where he is also a teacher. He was manager of the Centro Cultural Agronomía, also part of the Universidad de Buenos Aires and the city government (1999-2001).

He was Artistic Director of the General Management of Music of Buenos Aires City Government (2001-2003). He was founder and coordinator of the program “Discográficas de Buenos Aires” (2003-2005). Since the end of 2007, he is the Artistic Director of the Tango Buenos Aires Festival and Dance World Cup of Buenos Aires City Government.