The album is the invitation. The live performance is the encounter. Grammy-nominated Argentine-American mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack and Grammy-nominated Argentine bandoneonist JP Jofre bring a distinctive voice to Argentine music today. For Daniela, SUR began with a memory: hearing Astor Piazzolla from the back seat of her father’s car. That sound, with its intensity, melancholy, and freedom, and its unmistakable connection to Buenos Aires, stayed with her. Years later, as an artist with an international career in opera, she returned to that music from a different place. SUR became a way to reconnect with a part of her identity, and to ask what Piazzolla can mean now, in the voice of a contemporary classical singer.

LIVE AT NATIONAL SAWDUST // DOORS AT 6:30PM
November 6, 2026
7:30 pm
BUY TICKETS
This event has passed

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

SUR lives in the space between recital and tango, where Daniela’s emotional mezzo-soprano meets the rhythmic, improvisatory language of tango nuevo in JP Jofre’s arrangements for bandoneon, violin, cello, piano, and double bass.

Join Daniela Mack and JP Jofre’s quintet at National Sawdust for the live launch of this Pentatone debut album, an intimate evening featuring songs including Vuelvo al Sur, Balada Para un Loco, and Oblivion.

Daniela Mack: SUR

Songs of Astor Piazzolla

With JP Jofre and his quintet

Album Launch Performance

Co-produced by National Sawdust & Sarah Williams

‍

QUINTET:

JP Jofre - bandoneon, arrangements and music director

Siwoo Kim- violin

Michael Nicolas - cello

Chris Johnson - double bass

Sohee Kwon - Piano

‍

This is a seated performance. If you require accessibility accommodations, please email boxoffice@nationalsawdust.org.


ABOUT DANIELA MACK

Argentine mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack stands at the forefront of a new  generation of opera singers, bringing a compelling blend of intensity,  adventurousness, and effortless charisma to her performances. In the  2026-2027 season, Ms. Mack debuts in the world premiere of The  Galloping Cure by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek with Edinburgh  Festival and NorrlandsOperan. She also joins San Antonio Opera as  Angelina in La Cenerentola, Seattle Opera as Frida Kahlo in El último  sueño de Frida y Diego, and Des Moines Metro Opera as Nicklausse/Muse  in The Tales of Hoffmann. Ms. Mack released her debut album SUR  featuring compositions by Astor Piazzolla and collaborator JP Jofre. Recent season highlights include Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Houston  Grand Opera and Opera Omaha, Frida Kahlo in El último sueño de Frida y  Diego at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Federico García Lorca in the new  production of Ainadamar at The Metropolitan Opera and Los Angeles  Opera, Idamante in Idomeneo at San Francisco Opera and made her  house debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma as Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia.  She also notably sang Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Opera  House, Rosmira in Partenope at Teatro Real, Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e  i Montecchi at Teatro de la Maestranza, Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict  with the BBC Philharmonic, and Carnegie Hall in a performance of Serse  with The English Concert. 

Her extensive repertoire includes the title role in Carmen, Charlotte in  Werther, Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict, Romeo in I Capuleti e i  Montecchi, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri,  Angelina in La Cenerentola, Bradamante in Alcina, Juno in Semele,  Dardano in Amadigi di Gaula, Rosmira in Partenope, Sesto in Giulio  Cesare, Idamante in Idomeneo, and Dorabella in Così fan tutte. She has created roles in several world premieres, including the title role in  Elizabeth Cree by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell at Opera Philadelphia;  Jacqueline Kennedy in JFK by David T. Little and Royce Vavrek at Fort  Worth Opera and subsequently at Opéra de Montréal; and most recently,  the title role in El último sueño de Frida y Diego at San Francisco Opera. On the concert stage, Daniela Mack regularly performs concerts and  recitals including appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Boston  Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles  Philharmonic. She has also performed with the National Symphony  Orchestra, Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, and the Cincinnati 

Symphony at the Cincinnati May Festival. Internationally, she has appeared  with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sydney Symphony, Hong Kong  Philharmonic, and the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. 

Her concert repertoire includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Missa  solemnis, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Ravel’s Shéhérazade,  L’heure espagnole, and L’enfant et les sortilèges, Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat and La vida breve, Rossini’s Giovanna d’Arco, Vivaldi’s  Juditha triumphans, and Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne. Born in Buenos Aires, Ms. Mack is an alumna of the Adler Fellowship  program at San Francisco Opera, studied at Louisiana State University,  and was a finalist in the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. 

‍ABOUT JP JOFRE

A native of San Juan, Argentina, Juan Pablo Jofre Romarion, aka JP Jofre, is a Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated composer and bandoneon player . Mr. Jofre has been repeatedly highlighted by the New York Times and praised as one of today’s leading artists by Great Performers at Lincoln Center.  His music has been recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, multi-Grammy award winner Paquito D’ Rivera, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra among others. He has performed and given lectures at Google Talks, TEDtalks, The Juilliard School of Music, The New School and other schools. A recipient of the National Prize of the Arts grant in Argentina, Mr. Jofre has been part of many prestigious festivals, including the Celebrity Series of Boston, Australian Festival for Chamber Music, Great Performers at Lincoln Center, and Seattle Town Hall among others.

For more info, please visit: www.jpjofre.com.

‍

ABOUT SARAH WILLIAMS

Sarah Williams makes the case for the unexpected, then makes it happen. An independent producer, curator, and strategist working across opera, music, performance, film, and visual art.

As founder of SarahProduces LLC, Williams commissions, develops, and produces projects with collaborators including Tyshawn Sorey, Kamilah Forbes, Will Liverman, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and Courtney Bryan, and partners including Guildhall Immersive Arts, National Sawdust, Spoleto Festival USA, and Dutch National Opera & Ballet.

Before launching SarahProduces, Williams spent 11 years at Opera Philadelphia, where she built the company’s new works and commissioning practice from the ground up and, as Director of New Works & Creative Producer, commissioned and produced more than 20 world premieres across opera, film, digital media, and interdisciplinary performance. She also led its Composer in Residence program, which has since become a model for other companies. She was instrumental in forging a multi-year partnership with The Apollo Theater to create new work. During her tenure, audiences under 35 grew to nearly half of the company’s single-ticket buyers.

Across her career, she has worked with artists including Bill T. Jones, Esperanza Spalding, Wayne Shorter, Caroline Shaw, Angélica Negrón, Sasha Velour, and Tiona Nekkia McClodden. PBS NewsHour, The New York Times, and ABC News have featured both Williams and the work she produces, as has The New Yorker.

That work has earned three Music Critics Association of North America awards. Four of her productions have made the Times’ list of the year’s best classical music, and one made The Washington Post’s. Her producing was recognized with the Fedora Generali Prize, a first for the United States. Opera Magazine praised her as a “tirelessly inventive curator of new work,” and Musical America named her one of its Top 30 Professionals of the Year and a “savvy commissioner of new works.” The Philadelphia Business Journal named her a Woman of Distinction. 

Williams speaks, teaches, and mentors on artistic leadership, commissioning, equity, and the future of cultural institutions, with engagements at the University of Pennsylvania, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, The New School, Leuphana Universität, and UMass Amherst, among others. She is also a published writer.

Nov 6

National Sawdust and Sarah Williams present Daniela Mack: 'SUR' Songs of Astor Piazzolla With JP Jofre and his quintet

UPCOMING