Martin Chalifour spent 30 years as Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the longest tenure in the orchestra’s history. He played the first notes from a musician in the newly opened Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003. Now retired, he is performing in a room with 99 seats.
On April 10-11, Chalifour and multi-Grammy-nominated guitarist Mak Grgic will present “History of the Tango” at Sierra Madre Playhouse, a few miles from Pasadena in the San Gabriel Valley foothills. The program is anchored by Astor Piazzolla’s four-movement Histoire du Tango, a work that traces the genre’s evolution from the bordellos of turn-of-the-century Buenos Aires through the melancholy café music of the 1930s, the modernist nightclubs of the 1960s, and on to the concert stage of today.
The concerts are part of a season-long Chalifour residency at the Playhouse, which began in February with a recital of Romantic-era works. The tango program broadens the scope considerably.
“We will complement the music of Piazzolla with Spanish folk songs by Manuel de Falla, the charm of early music in a Vivaldi Sonata in C, and the timeless Schubert ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata, presented in a new light for violin and guitar,” Chalifour said in a statement released by the Playhouse. “We will also perform the irresistible music of Fritz Kreisler and the famed Bartók Romanian Dances.”
The instrument pairing is part of the point. The tango was first played on guitar and flute in Buenos Aires in 1882; Piazzolla composed Histoire du Tango for that combination. Chalifour and Grgic perform it with violin in place of the flute — a common substitution that preserves the intimate two-voice dialogue at the form’s origins. In a 99-seat room, that dialogue will land differently than it would in a 2,265-seat concert hall.
A native of Québec, Chalifour graduated with honors from the Montréal Conservatory and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music. He served as Associate Concertmaster of both the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra before joining the LA Phil in 1995 under Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen. Over three decades, he performed more than 60 concertos as soloist, according to the LA Phil.
Grgic is a Slovenian-born guitarist whose repertoire spans classical, avant-garde, microtonal, and Balkan folk traditions. He has performed at venues including the Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Musikverein in Vienna, according to his professional biography. In 2018, singer-songwriter k.d. lang invited him to open for the North American leg of her Ingénue Redux Tour. He holds a teaching position at the University of South Carolina.
Sierra Madre Playhouse, which traces its history to 1910, has earned multiple Ovation Awards and in 2023 was named a leading Nonprofit of the Year in the San Gabriel Valley by U.S. Representative Judy Chu, according to the Playhouse. The venue is part of the Playhouse’s 2026 season, branded “Small Stage, Big World,” which includes more than 90 programs across theater, dance, music, and film, according to the Playhouse.
“History of the Tango” plays Friday and Saturday, April 10-11, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Tickets are $40, according to the Playhouse, and are available at sierramadreplayhouse.org or by calling (626) 355-4318. Doors open one hour before curtain. Box office opens 30 minutes before showtime.
Piazzolla spent his career moving the tango from the dance hall to the concert hall. On April 10, Chalifour will take it one step further — into a room small enough to hear the bow touch the string.
MUSIC: HISTORY OF THE TANGO – MARTIN CHALIFOUR Date & Time: Friday, April 10, 2026, 8:00 p.m. Venue Address: Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Phone Number: (626) 355-4318. Website: https://www.sierramadreplayhouse.org/event/historyofthetango2026
