Bandoneonist, Director, Composer and Arranger

Hector Castro was born in the city of 9 de Julio, in Buenos Aires province. He moved with his family to the City of Buenos Aires at age 3. From a young age, he got to see the great orchestras of tango’s Golden Age, accompanying his parents to the milongas. Those experiences led him to want to play bandoneon.

At age 14, he began to study bandoneon with Master Eladio Blanco, who played first bandoneon in Juan D’Arienzo’s orchestra. A few years later, Castro began his musical career, performing in the orchestras of Horace Vacarreza and Marco Bagnolo. At age 18, he began performing in the orchestra of Osmar Maderna. He went on to play with the orchestras of Lucio Demare, Fulvio Salamanca, Hector Varela and Juan Sanchiez Gorio.

His first international tour was to Lima, Peru, in 1964, with the Josesito Pace Quartet. From there, he had the opportunity to accompany many of tango’s legends, including Hugo del Carril, Libertad Lamarque, Alberto Marino, Charlo, Raul Beron, Nelly Vasquez, Alberto Podesta, Juan Carlos Godoy and Roberto Goyeneche.

Tito moved to New York in 1998, where he resides to this day, spreading tango in theaters and universities.

He worked on the movie “FLAWLESS” with Robert de Niro and “LUST CAUTION” which won the Gold Lion Award in the Venetian Film Festival. On two occasions, he had the privilege to accompany the great Argentine folkloric singer, Mercedes Sosa, at Carnegie Hall. He accompanied the great operatic tenor Placido Domingo at the Washington Opera House and at the Metropolitan Opera.

In 2005, he accompanied the great Argentine dancer, Julio Bocca, at American Ballet Theater in New York. In 2007-08, he toured Japan, Korea and Hawaii with Japanese Singer Anna Saeki, performing concerts in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, and beyond. In 2009, he began accompanying the German singer, Ute Lemper in “Last Tango in Berlin” at the Café Carlyle New York. Since then, they have toured worldwide together, including appearances in some of the most legendary concert halls of the world like the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris, the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, and Sydney Theatre in Sydney, Australia.

Tango Pianist & Arranger

Born in Italy, Maurizio Najt grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was surrounded
by the burgeoning scenes of Tango. At the Argentine National Conservatory in Buenos Aires,
Maurizio focused his early training in classical music, influenced by his father José Nait, a
prominent soloist Tenor in the Teatro Colon opera house. In the 1980’s, Maurizio Najt
embarked on a musical career in New York City, where he currently resides and is
recognized as one of the pioneers of the New York Tango revival scene. Maurizio contributed
to the formative stage of popularizing the traditional tango music genre, alongside
bandoneon masters Raúl Jaurena, Daniel Binelli, Hector del Curto, Victor Lavallén, and Tito
Castro. Expanding tango to the technological era, he has collaborated with emerging artists
in the field of electrotango including Tanghetto.

On tour with the New York Tango Trio, Maurizio established an iconic presence as a tango
pianist, showcasing the music and dance genre in major international venues including
France, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and Argentina. Accompanying Anna Saeki, a worldrenowned tango singer in Japan, Maurizio was well-received in Asia including Korea, Japan,
and Hawaii. As a member of the Forever Tango Orchestra, he toured the US, Mexico, Japan
and China, performing at prestigious venues including the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall,
Alice Tully Hall, the World Trade Center, El Museo del Barrio; Brooklyn Museum of Art, Met
Museum, Cleveland Art Museum, and Ravinia Festival in Chicago.

As an arranger and composer, Maurizio Najt collaborated with Academy-Award winning film
director Ang Lee for the film “Lust Caution”, where he arranged the tango song “Donde
Estas Corazón.” He often writes music for independent films, documentaries and
independent ACE award winning theater productions.

Currently he is a Class Pianist at New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet at
Lincoln Center where he collaborates with world-class ballet dancers. Previously, he worked
as a musician at the Joffrey Ballet School, Ballet Arts at NY City Center, Frank Sinatra School
of the Arts, and a Teaching Artist at the 92St Y for the Center for Arts Learning &
Leadership. Maurizio Najt serves as an Organist at St. James & St. Matthew’s Church in
Queens.