Gerardo Scaglione

Biography

Gerardo Scaglione was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1979 and is currently based in France. He studied at the Juan José Castro Conservatoire in Buenos Aires with Ricardo Planas (principal at the The Teatro Colón orchestra), and also took lessons in tango playing from Horacio Cabarcos (double bassist at the Leopoldo Federico Orchestra). He then completed a masters degree in double bass at the Santa Cecilia Conservatoire in Rome with Massimo Giorgi and undertook further studies with Thomas Martin, Rinat Ibragimov, Giuseppe Ettore, Thierry Barbé, Catalin Rotaru, and Ofelia Stoll. Today, Gerardo is one of the most specialised tango double bassists and part of the Tango all’Opera Project with International Viola soloist Anna Serova and the Tango Sonos trio, with whom he has recently recorded an album which will be released in 2021.

Throughout his career, Gerardo has recorded more than 20 albums with several chamber and tango groups on a number of different labels, some releases winning prizes in Argentina. As part of the prestigious Argentinian Tango Quartet QUATROTANGO, in the last 20 years he has performed in many countries all around the world including Scotland (Edinburgh International Festival), England, Wales, U.S.A., Canada, Bermuda, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Greece, China, Korea, Malaysia, South Africa, and Turkey. The quartet has also appeared many times on public media as BBC radio and television in England, ABC Australia, and ABC New York Television. His solo album Contrabajissimo includes works by Piazzolla, Bottesini, Koussevitzky, Berio, and Bach with pianist Lorena Eckell and QUATROTANGO.

In 2018, Gerardo was invited to the last BassEurope Convention in Lucca, Italy to give a recital and a tango masterclass, and he is frequently invited to play as a soloist and give masterclasses and concerts in Argentina and Mexico at the National School of Music, National Conservatoire, and the National Program of Orchestras and Choirs. He regularly performs as a soloist performing the music of Bottesini, Koussevitzky, and Piazzolla amongst others, and has performed with pianist Lorena Eckell numerous times on commercial radio and at notable festivals throughout Latin America. In 2014 he was a semifinalist at the International Soloist Competition of the Bass Europe Association in Amsterdam.

Gerardo was principal double bass at the Teatro Massimo Orchestra, Palermo, Italy, during the 2016 season, and has been section double bass at the Argentine National Symphony Orchestra since 2008.