Pablo Estigarribia is a Latin Grammy nominee and world-renowned tango pianist, arranger and composer. Like many artists of this genre, he began his training as a classical musician and soon branched out into the world of tango. He studied at the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires, where he won the Bienal Juvenil National Competition for Young Artists. After graduating, he spent several years on the frenzied performance circuit in Argentina, collaborating with the Congress Chamber Orchestra, the National Radio Orchestra, and the Chaco Symphony, among many others. Seeking to broaden his musical horizons beyond the classical realm, Estigarribia took a brief detour through jazz and then discovered tango in 2005. He quickly won the Orquesta Escuela de Tango scholarship and performed with this superb ensemble under the direction of Maestro Emilio Balcarce. Estigarribia continued working with Balcarce shortly thereafter when he first toured Europe.

Estigarribia rapidly established himself as a nuanced and masterful tango performer in Germany, France, Belgium, Japan, Russia, Finland, Canada, the United States and Cuba. He has been featured in over a thousand concerts, joining Argentine tango legends like Maria Graña, Victor Lavallén, Leopoldo Federico, Nestor Marconi, Horacio Cabarcos, Emilio Balcarce and many others. Estigarribia’s album Tangos Para Piano (EPSA) won the prestigious 2015 Gardel Prize for Best Tango Album by a New Artist. After receiving wide acclaim for this album, he earned coveted recognition from the Argentine tango industry as an expert in the art of tango music. He is a recipient of the Argentine Tango Society’s Medal of Honor for his educational forays at the Stowe Tango Music Festival (Vermont, USA) in multiple years. Estigarribia’s ascendancy brought him to Japan in 2016 where he was lauded in the Tokyo press following his performances. He then became sought after in the United States, where he played in New York’s famous Blue Note Jazz Club. He has made performance and interview appearances on NBC, Univision, Telemundo, and The Huffington Post.

After enjoying the privilege of 13 years of mentorship by legendary Osvaldo Pugliese arranger and bandoneonist Victor Lavallén, Estigarribia is proud to assume the role of teacher and transmitter of the tango tradition. He is delighted to showcase and share the beauty of tango’s rich lineage, and gladly invites both the experienced and uninitiated to study the unique, seductive flair of tango. New generations of students and seasoned enthusiasts alike can advance their technical knowledge with Estigarribia’s compositions and arrangements. Above all, he seeks to reopen the passage of tango music repertoire to musicians who may not know where to start, so they too can delight in the genre’s legacy. With that goal in mind, Estigarribia published his original compositions and arrangements of traditional pieces, Tangos de Concierto, and teaches, judges, and performs regularly at tango festivals and events all over the world.

Estigarribia splits his time between his native Buenos Aires, Argentina, and New York City.

Since its formation in 1996, El Arranque has gained an excellent reputation as the most important tango orchestra of young musicians worldwide. In 2001 they performed a series of concerts with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at the Lincoln Center in New York, several performances at the Buenos Aires Tango Festival at the Palais Chaillot National Theatre in Paris (2001 and 2006), performances as part of the Buenos Aires Tango Festival at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome (2006 and 2008), sold-out concerts at the Kennedy Center in Washington and more than 50 concerts throughout Japan produced by the famous MIN-ON Concert Association (2002 and 2005).

El Arranque is also an integral and vibrant part of the Buenos Aires tango scene, playing in theatres and halls as well as in the most popular Milongas (dance halls). In its first fifteen years, the group has toured more than 250 cities in Europe, Asia, USA and Latin America, released 7 albums and garnered distinctions such as the Premio Clarín, Premio Carlos Gardel, 2 Konex Awards and two Latin Grammy nominations.

In June 2004, El Arranque made a new European tour with the special participation of Maestros Néstor Marconi, Julio Pane, Raúl Garello and Mauricio Marcelli as guest soloists. This extraordinary collaboration was recorded on the album "Maestros", also nominated for the Gardel Awards (2006).

During the month of March 2007, El Arranque made its first tour in Hong Kong where it closed the 35th International Performing Arts Festival. In 2008, the orchestra presented a new CD, called "Nuevos", which includes original works by the members of the group and other colleagues of the same generation, also nominated for the 2009 Gardel Awards.

In 2010, El Arranque performed with great success at the prestigious Ibirapuera Auditorium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with excellent repercussion from the public and the local press, and again at the Buenos Aires Tango Festival at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome.

That same year, El Arranque presented their seventh album, called "Leopoldo Federico & El Arranque", as part of the “Raras Partituras” collection of the National Library. This album -winner of the Premio Gardel 2011 and also released in vinyl format- rescues the compositional work of the great bandoneon player with arrangements by members of the orchestra and the participation of Maestro Federico as bandoneon soloist.

In 2011, El Arranque celebrated its first 15 years of career, following also with performances at the Festival de Tango de Río Gallegos, Festival de Música de Baradero (where they won the Premio Consagración 2010) and at the Auditorio Ibirapuera de San Pablo, Brazil.

In 2012 they continued to tour Brazil and Paraguay, and a series of performances and recordings with singer-songwriter Kevin Johansen. In 2013 they toured Argentina and Chile, and in 2014 Holland and Belgium. In 2015 El Arranque took part in the celebrations of the May Revolution, performing the Argentine national anthem in the Plaza de Mayo in front of more than half a million people. They also had the honour of inaugurating the concert season of the new Kirchner Cultural Centre with the singer Lidia Borda.

The orchestra celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2016. The celebrations began with a tour of Belgium, France and Luxembourg in February, followed by a tour of Colombia in June and the recording of a live album at Café Vinilo with Fernando Cabrera and Lucas Martí as guests. This album was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2017 as best tango album of the year.

Currently El Arranque has finished recording a new album in collaboration with the legendary bandoneonist and composer Víctor Lavallén, which will celebrate the work of the remembered Emilio Balcarce and Julián Plaza.

In 2021, Orquesta El Arranque is celebrating its 25th year.

Singer, guitarist and composer, Juan Villarreal was born in Puerto San Julian, Patagonia Argentina. He actively participates in different musical projects such as Orquesta El Arranque, Duo Villarreal Crom, Nidia y su Banda, El Muro Tango and Cruces del Plata. He has recorded several albums and performed concerts throughout America and Europe. In 2021, he is presenting a new album with guitarist Pat he is also presenting the album “Camaradas” with Orquesta El Arranque and Maestro Victor Lavallén, historical bandoneonist of Osvaldo Pugliese’s orchestra.

The last milonga of the Festivalito will feature a Holiday Gift Bazaar.