José Bragato is the most famous cellist in the history of tango. He was born in 1915 in the italian town of Udine and emigrated as child to Buenos Aires, where he studied at the „Conservatorio Nacional de Música Manuel de Falla“.

 

He was soon given the post of solo-cellist of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires and performed until 1968 in the orchestra of the Teatro Colon. He was also a member of various Argentinean and Brasilian chamber music and folklore ensembles.

 

Astor Piazzolla valued this great cellist and composer so much that he integrated him into his different tango-nuevo ensembles. The trust which grew between the two musicians during their years together also led to José Bragato transcribing and archiving many of Piazzolla’s compositions.

 

Since Piazzolla’s death Bragato has been regarded as the administrator of his musical inheritance. Thie musical heritage is also reflected in Bragato’s works, which have now been published for the first time, in order to make his music available to a wider audience.

 

His music as published by TONOS is now played worldwide by renowned orchestras.

 

In May 2005 he was guest of honour of the Musikakademie Luzern in the reason of his 90th birthday, where they dedicated to him numerous concerts.

José Bragato died on 18 July 2017 at his home in Buenos Aires.