Far removed from any tango romanticism, the premiere of Astor Piazzolla's tango operetta María de Buenos Aires was poetic and visually stunning at the Kammeroper yesterday. The story of Maria, the prototype of the "saint and whore", tells of a woman trapped in the desires of a world characterised by crime and machismo. Transfigured into a saint, degraded to an object, she goes her own way undeterred and is reborn like a phoenix after her death. Piazzolla's tango opera, which premiered in 1968, is a work that is both thought-provoking and intoxicating, highlights social grievances and celebrates life, and is both a declaration of love and an indictment of the tango.

The audience thanked the entire ensemble with long-lasting applause: Juana Inés Cano Restrepo for her directorial debut in the Kammeroper, Luciana Mancini in the title role, Jorge Espino as Payador, Daniel Bonilla-Torres as Duende as well as the four students of the Perfoming Centre Austria and the ensemble folksmilch.