Maximiliano Larrea is a 2023 recipient of the Southwest Folklife Master Artist Award. He has been playing, composing, arranging, and teaching tango and other styles of Argentine and Latin American popular music for more than 20 years. He has collaborated with a wide range of musical groups in Argentina, and the United States. His solo album is entitled “Donde Termina el Rio/Where the River Ends” and can be heard on all streaming platforms.

The Tango Guitar Project is a new tango trio, unique in its instrumentation in the United States. The group is composed of three highly trained classical guitarists three diffrent countries: the project’s creator and director, Maxi Larrea from Argentina, Andres Pantoja from Chile, and Bin Hu from China.

The Project performs new compositions and original arrangements, showcasing a repertoire of traditional and contemporary tango pieces, including works by renowned contemporary tango composer and bandoneon player, Astor Piazzolla.

The trio is made up of three accomplished soloists. In addition to their trio repertoire, each of the members showcases their individual skills introducing audiences to the beauty of Argentine tango arrangements for solo guitar. 

El SurCo is a musical collective that blends guitars, violin, charango, bombo, and vocal harmonies to bring to life chacareras, cuecas, chamamés, gatos, and other popular and folk stringed music traditions from Argentina, Chile, and surrounding regions. The word surco means groove in Spanish, and references the furrows where seeds are planted in agricultural fields. A musical term with a rural subtext that speaks to the landscape where many of these styles emerged and continue to thrive, El SurCo (or The Southern Collective) transport their listeners into the diverse and vibrant musical ecosystems of the Southern tip of the Americas. El SurCo is composed of Maxi Larrea (guitar, vocals, bombo), Jennie Gubner (violin, vocals, bombo), and Andres Pantoja (guitar, charango, bombo, vocals).