Video Pick of the Week: Alexandra Whittingham Plays Piazzolla’s ‘Verano Porteño’

Nineteen-year-old English guitarist Alexandra Whittingham has been on our radar for a while, as she keeps popping up at concerts and events around Europe (France, Hungary, the UK, Lithuania, et al). She’s currently a student at the Royal Academy of Music, following seven years studying classical guitar, piano, jazz guitar, and composition at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, England.


Advertisement


In this beautifully made, perfect-for-summer video from 2016, she plays the popular Verano Porteño movement of Astor Piazzolla’s jazzy late-’60s tango devoted to the four seasons of Buenos Aires, Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas. “Verano” is “summer.” This piece is one of several that appear on Whittingham’s debut album, Verano, which also includes works by Leo Brouwer, Dyens, Villa-Lobos, de Falla, and Albéniz. Keep an eye out for her!