“Beyond Tango,” pianist Pablo Zielger’s 17-song performance, fused the sharp sexiness of tango music with the jaunty improvisation of jazz to create an enlivened and engaging musical experience at the Mondavi Center on Friday. Zielger began performing classical music at age 14 in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the 1960s, Zielger’s career made the leap to jazz music. Inspired by both classical and jazz compositions, as well as classic tango rhythms, Zielger formed his Quartet for New Tango in 1990. The Mondavi Center’s 1801-seat Jackson Hall was nearly full for the performance, accommodating all ages of music lovers, from the young family to my left to the college-aged women

Composer, arranger and pianist Pablo Ziegler will bring his "Beyond Tango" arrangements of jazz tunes infused with tango rhythms to the Mondavi Center at UC Davis Friday night. He is a 2005 Latin Grammy Award winner for “Bajo Cero,” which won Best Tango Album of the Year. Ziegler was born in Buenos Aires and said he worked with the piano first. “I started at the age of 5,” he said. He studied at the Buenos Aires Music Conservatory and graduated as a piano professor and said that he has been playing jazz music since he was 15. In 1978, Ziegler joined Astor Piazzolla’s quintet and toured with the Argentine composer. Piazzolla is famous for his tango music and bandoneón playing and intro