BEETHOVEN'S TANGO

Kresge Little Theater  W16-035

48 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139

SHOW TICKETS

9/25/26  Friday 7:30 pm, with pre-performance Presentation at 6:30pm by Alfredo Minetti

9/26/26  Saturday 7:30 pm

9/27/26  Sunday 3:00 pm

UNLEASHING THE DUENDE

La Sala Ballroom W20-202

84 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139

WORKSHOP TICKETS: 9/23/26  Wednesday 7:00pm - 9:00pm

About BEETHOVEN'S TANGO

MIT Tango Club is honored to partner with world-renowned tango performer, teacher, and artistic director Fernanda Ghi, together with pianist, composer, and anthropologist Alfredo Minetti, to present this original production. 

Inspired by the artistic legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven, Beethoven's Tango explores the expressive language of Argentine tango through contemporary dance theater and newly created music.  Rather than reproducing Beethoven's compositions, the work uses his life and creative spirit as a source of inspiration to examine the universal nature of artistic creation.  Artists Silvio Grand (Dancer) and Richard Scofano (Grammy-nominated Bandoneon) are completing the cast to make this stunning 1 hour 15 min piece.  

MIT students and theater technicians will participate through both the production itself as well as through artist talk-backs and tango workshops.  We are deeply grateful to the Council For the Arts at MIT (CAMIT) for supporting this project.

About the Performance

Every act of creation is born from an inner tension.

Throughout history, artists, poets, and musicians have tried to understand the mysterious force that drives the need to create. 

Beethoven’s Tango invites the audience on a journey into that invisible territory, exploring three creative forces that shape the artistic process and, in different ways, exist within every human being:

The Muse – The Angel – The Duende

Some forms of inspiration come from the outside. The Muse represents beauty, attraction, and the spark that awakens imagination. 

The Angel symbolizes guidance, protection, and a higher presence that seems to lead us from beyond ourselves.

The Duende, a concept deeply rooted in Andalusian tradition and closely connected to the spirit of tango, is something entirely different. It does not come from the outside—it rises from the deepest part of the human soul. It is visceral, unpredictable, and transformative. It lives in vulnerability, passion, struggle, and truth. It does not seek perfection or comfort; it seeks authenticity.

In this work, Beethoven becomes the symbol of the artist confronting these three forces. His increasing deafness, isolation, and inner battles lead him toward an extraordinary emotional dimension, allowing him to transform suffering into timeless art.

Ticket Prices

BEETHOVEN'S TANGO:  performances  9/25/26 - 9/27/26

Kresge Little Theater  W16-035, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139

$25 Students with ID

$40 MIT Staff, MIT alumni, MIT spouse/partner

$60 General Public

UNLEASHING THE DUENDE:  special 2-hr Workshop from 7-9pm on Wed 9/23/26

La Sala Ballroom  W20-202, 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139

$20 Students with ID

$25 MIT Staff, MIT alumni, MIT spouse/partner

$30 General Public

Please see description of the workshop below.

Registration

LIMITED TICKETS AVAILABLE!

Tickets can only be purchased online and we recommend getting them as soon as possible.

To purchase tickets, go to the appropriate Engage Ticket link. On the link: 

• Click "Register" 

• MIT students only: log in using your MIT account

• Everyone else: sign up as a one-time user (no worries, you will not be prompted to set up an account)

• As a one-time user, write basic contact information, including email - you will be then prompted to verify your email (check Spam folder!)

• Answer registration questions

• Select appropriate ticket category

• Confirm your Registration

• Make a payment by card

Ticket purchase is final. Refunds are not available.

Tickets can be transfered to a person of the same or lower ticket price category (e.g. general public -> general public, or general public -> MIT staff).
Tickets can be transfered to a person of the higher ticket price category and paying the difference (e.g. MIT staff -> general public + pay ticket price difference).
For all ticket transfers, contact the organizers at tango-org@mit.edu, as the tickets need to have assigned correct names. 

Tickets will be checked at the entrance, along with IDs.

Special Features

• Pre-Performance presentation by Alfredo Minetti on Friday 6:30pm 9/25/26, included for opening night ticket holders.

• "Unleashing the Duende", a separate 2-hr Workshop on Wednesday 7:00pm 9/23/26.  Workshop Ticket purchase required.

UNLEASHING THE DUENDE : 

A talk and embodied workshop with Alfredo Minetti & Fernanda Ghi

Wednesday 9/23/26 from 7-9 pm in La Sala Ballroom W20-202, 84 Massachusetts Ave.

What is duende? Poet Federico García Lorca described it as a raw, embodied creative force that overtakes a performer — not skill, not style, but an expressive drive that arrives only through vulnerability and risk. This 2-hour event explores that question first through ideas, then through the body.

Cultural anthropologist and pianist Alfredo Minetti opens with a short talk on why genuine artistic risk has become so rare in performance today. Drawing on Lorca, Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle, and Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, he traces how consumer culture and entertainment saturation have pushed the performing arts toward spectacle and surface polish, sidelining the vulnerability that makes performance feel alive. Using classical concert music as a case study — including pianist Glenn Gould's defiant breaks from convention — Minetti makes the case for reclaiming performance as something lived and risked, not simply produced and consumed. 

Minetti and choreographer Fernanda Ghi then engage in a conversation on these ideas, bringing together their perspectives as musician and dancer before moving into direct physical experience.

Ghi leads participants into that embodied exploration: Is duende an energy? An emotion? A force that wakes the most authentic, creative self? Through guided breathing, free movement, and improvisation — both solo and with a partner — participants will explore what happens when the body moves beyond learned technique and habit. The practice invites letting go, releasing control, quieting the analytical mind, and simply being present — creating the conditions for duende to emerge.

This is not a class in choreography or performance technique. It's an embodied investigation into creativity, presence, and authentic expression — for anyone curious why a performance can feel hollow even when flawlessly executed, and what it takes to bring the danger and depth back. No dance or musical experience required.

Rules & Regulations

• No alcohol allowed

• Photography & Videography by our designated staff will occur at this event, and some of these images may be distributed on social media (Facebook - MIT Tango Club, Instagram - mit.tangoclub)

Parking

We encourage ride-shares, carpooling, and public transportation!

Metered street parking - check map on following link.

Green Street Garage (Central Square) - Night Rate: up to 4 hours - $2.00 per hour; over 4 hours - $9.00

MIT parking is available for a flat fee of $11 (in order of closest to farthest from the Kresge Theater):

• Albany garage (36 Albany St, Cambridge, MA 02139)

• Sloan garage (100 Main St, Cambridge, MA 02142)

• Westgate lot (Vassar St, Cambridge, MA 02139)

Questions & Concerns

Contact organizers at tango-org@mit.edu