This guide is part of our overview of the essential classical guitar repertoire. Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992) was the Argentine bandoneonist and composer who created nuevo tango — a musical revolution that fused traditional Argentine tango with jazz harmony, counterpoint, and European classical structures, producing a language that conquered the world's concert halls.
The Man Who Changed the Tango
Born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, to Italian parents and raised partly in New York (where he encountered jazz), Piazzolla studied classical composition with Alberto Ginastera in Buenos Aires and later with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Boulanger encouraged him to follow the tango rather than abandon it — a pivotal moment that sent him back to Buenos Aires to reinvent the music of his city. The tango establishment initially resisted him fiercely; over decades, the world came to his side.
This page collects the works and our own recordings. For Astor Piazzolla’s life and his place in the history of the instrument, see our portrait of Astor Piazzolla.
