José Bragato, Argentina         Bragato was born in Udine, Italy, on October 12, 1915, into a family of woodworkers and musicians. Music was the hobby of all his brothers, encouraged by their father, Don Enrico Bragato, a flutist. At one time or another, all the brothers were soloists at the renowned Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (Bruno, flutist, José, cellist, and Enrique Bragato, bassoon player).  But only one devoted himself to composing music -- José. Upon arriving in Argentina in 1928, the Bragato’s settled in the Saavedra neighborhood of Buenos Aires.  There, José resumed his piano studies, but in 1930 severe storms and floods left his family temporarily homeless. Jose’s piano was lost. After this tragedy, the German violoncellist, Peltz, as a gift, gave Bragato his first cello and free lessons. From then on, Bragato dedicated himself to not only classical music, but also to popular music, discovering, reviving and publishing Argentine and Paraguayan folk music.  He helped make widely popular the guarania, a folkloric style of Paraguayan music created by Jose Asuncion Flores in 1925.  The guarania, perhaps the most important musical phenomena of Paraguay, is characterized by slow rhythms and melodic melancholy songs.   In 1954, Bragato took part in Astor Piazzolla's "heroic feat" to assemble the Octeto Buenos Aires. From that moment on, he was a fervent admirer and close friend of Piazzolla, finally joining his Sextango in 1989, upon the urgings of Piazzolla himself.  He also co-founded the Channel 13 Orchestra and joined Leo Lipesker’s First Tango Chamber Quartet , among other tango groups.          From 1976 to 1982, due to his tough defense of human rights under the Argentine military dictatorship, he went into exile in Brazil, where he became a soloist in the Porto Alegre orchestra. Later he joined the chamber ensemble of the Universidad de Natal (Brazil), where he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree. Over the past 14 years, he has been in charge of the Argentine Music Archive, SADAIC, and continues to be active in university music programs and in orchestral performances throughout the world.  He is recognized as bringing the music of Argentine composers to many different countries, providing free music scores to many non-profit artistic and educational institutions. At 80 years old, Bragato performed a cello solo at Radio Music Hall in New York City with an ensemble that accompanied the famous tango ballet dancer, Julio Bocca.  At 81, he played in the Orquesta de Tango de Juan de Dios Filiberto, a tango orchestra conducted by his friend, Maestro Osvaldo Piro.