Payadora

Payadora is an award-winning chamber music ensemble based in Toronto, founded in 2013 by violinist, vocalist, and composer Rebekah Wolkstein. At the heart of the ensemble is tango: the music of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, from the great orchestras of the golden age through the revolutionary music of Astor Piazzolla and beyond. But Payadora has never been interested in simply recreating the past.

The ensemble combines deep knowledge of tango with classical, jazz, Argentine and Uruguayan folk music, and original composition. The result is a distinctive Canadian approach to tango — virtuosic, expressive, playful, and alive with the musical personalities of its members.

Payadora's musicians are each exceptional artists in their own right. Founder and leader Rebekah Wolkstein is a multi-award-winning composer and violinist with a Doctorate in Violin Performance from the University of Toronto. Grammy-winning producer, arranger, bandoneonist and multi-instrumentalist Drew Jurecka brings an extraordinary range of musical experience to the ensemble. Pianist Mark Camilleri is a veteran theatre music director, orchestrator, and performer. Bassist and guitarist Joseph Phillips performs across classical, jazz, folk, and world music. And Uruguayan vocalist Elbio Fernández — known across South America as “El Pequeño Gigante del Tango” — brings an unmistakable voice and deep connection to the tradition.

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Together, they have created something that is greater than a traditional tango ensemble. Payadora's repertoire moves freely between classic tangos, milongas and waltzes, Argentine folk traditions, Piazzolla's nuevo tango, and original compositions by Wolkstein and Jurecka. The music can be sultry, explosive, humorous, tender, virtuosic, or deeply moving.

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What distinguishes Payadora is the freedom to move between traditions without treating any of them as fixed boundaries. The ensemble approaches tango as a living art form — one that has always evolved by absorbing new influences. Jazz, classical music, chamber music, Argentine folklore, and contemporary composition all become part of the conversation.

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Over more than a decade, Payadora has built an international career through performances across Canada, the United States, South America, and Europe. The ensemble has appeared at major festivals and concert halls including the National Arts Centre, Ottawa Chamberfest, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto Summer Music, and the Rudolstadt Festival in Germany. Its sold-out 2023 European tour included performances in Madrid, Copenhagen, Budapest, and London, culminating in a live-to-air BBC performance.

Payadora's recordings have become an important part of the ensemble's artistic identity. Silent Tears: The Last Yiddish Tango reached #1 on the World Music Charts Europe and won the 2024 Folk Music Ontario Award for Best Album. In 2024, Payadora also received Germany's Weltmusikpreis RUTH Award, one of the country's major world music prizes. The album received international coverage from the BBC, CBC, NPR, CTV, Deutsche Welle, the Bangkok Post, and RTÉ Irish Public Radio.

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The ensemble's work also extends beyond the traditional concert format. Payadora creates programs with full symphony orchestras, tango and ballet with PointeTango, and multimedia productions combining music, storytelling, illustration, and dance. The Legend of Carau, created by Wolkstein with CBC broadcaster Tom Allen, brings an Argentine folk tale to the stage through original music, narration, and dance. Silent Tears: The Last Yiddish Tango transforms the poetry and testimonies of Holocaust survivors into a concert work rooted in the sound of 1930s Polish tangos.

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These projects reflect what Payadora does best: taking musical traditions with powerful histories and finding new ways to make them speak to audiences today.

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Payadora can be presented as an intimate chamber ensemble, a full-scale concert experience, a collaboration with dancers, a multimedia production, or with a symphony orchestra. Across all of these formats, the essential Payadora sound remains the same: extraordinary musicianship, deep feeling, infectious energy, and a genuine love of the music.

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More than a decade after its founding, Payadora continues to create new Canadian tango while honouring the music that inspired it. The ensemble's work is rooted in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, shaped by the musicians who make up the group, and continually transformed by the musical world around them.