Tonight (April 29) the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts goes “beyond tango” to the tango without the dance — to the music of tango, and, specifically, the classical element.

Latin Grammy-winning pianist Pablo Ziegler calls his show Beyond Tango, and, if you missed it at the Symphony Space in New York City last week, then you need to see the show at the Mondavi Center, Ziegler’s second and last U.S. stop this spring.

Ziegler began his classical training at the age of 14 in Buenos Aires, his hometown. He developed a taste for jazz in the early 1960s, influenced by bebop and Dixieland.

Then, in 1978, he received a call from the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, who had revolutionized the music of tango — fusing tango, jazz and classical music into “nuevo” tango, usurping the traditional Argentine tango music.

Piazzolla invited Ziegler to play in Piazzolla’s New Tango Quintent. “I said, ‘What?!’ — because it was like getting a phone call from Miles Davis,” Ziegler said in a telephone interview.

“I said, ‘I don’t play tango,’” Ziegler said. “In 20 days, I had to learn three to four concertos, and I tried very hard. Everybody knows he (Piazzolla) was demanding, because he was a quality musician. It was a big honor that he called me, and the since that time to now, I have played this type of music.”

Ziegler played in Piazzolla’s quintet for more than 10 years — an experience that would define his career, even after Piazzolla’s death in 1992.

“Piazzolla was the guy that moved the tango from the dance floor to the concert stage,” Ziegler said.

“It was incredible learning beside him. He changed tango in a big way. Famous tango players criticized his music, but he always fought for his music. He was a fighter.”

Zigler formed the Quartet for New Tango in 1992 and now leads the 12-piece Beyond Tango band.

Having won the Latin Grammy for best tango album in 2005, Ziegler is certainly a gifted composer and musician — but can he dance?

“I can dance when I play, and I can feel the rhythm and flavor in my body, but it is very complicated choreography!”

He ended with a laugh: “I can walk and feel the tango music, but I think tango demands a little more than just walking.”

Tonight's show is scheduled to begin at 8 o'clock in Jackson Hall. A preperformance talk by Professor Pablo Ortiz of the Department of Music is set for 7, also in Jackson Hall.

More at the Mondavi

• Lucinda Childs: DANCE — A re-creation of Childs' controversial 1979 choreography, complete with the black-and-white film backdrop showing dancers in sync with the live performers. Visual artist Sol LeWitt created the film and Philip Glass wrote the music. When DANCE debuted at the University of Minnesota, some members of the audience walked out, outraged at the piece’s experimental nature. 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, Jackson Hall. Preperformance talk by Ruth Rosenberg, artist engagement coordinator at the Mondavi Center, 7 p.m., Jackson Hall. Post-performance question-and-answer session, moderated by Professor Della Davidson of the Department of Theatre and Dance.

• Roby Lakatos Ensemble — In the Crossings series. Part gypsy violinist, part classical maestro and part jazz improviser, Lakatos is the rare musician who defies definition. Featured regularly in the great halls and festivals of Europe, Asia and America, Lakatos brings a vibrant, bohemian energy to his shows as he connects the works of Liszt, Brahms and others with their gypsy roots. 8 p.m. Thursday, May 5, Jackson Hall. Preperformance talk by Henry Spiller, associate professor, music, 7 p.m., Jackson Hall.

• Henry Louis Gates Jr. — Harvard University professor, head of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Studies, in the Distinguished Speakers series. In a talk titled "African American Lives — Genealogy, Genetics and Black History," Gates will address research and DNA analysis and poignant family stories in a lively discussion on individual lineage and African American history. 8 p.m. Monday, May 9, Jackson Hall (postponed from an earlier date).

• Tony Bennett — He has been leaving his heart in San Francisco for decades, and now he can leave it here, too, performing there for the first time at the Mondavi Center. 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, Jackson Hall.

• Alexander String Quartet — Beethoven's String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132, and String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135. This is the last of the quartet's four concert dates in the Mondavi Center's 2010-11 season, and brings to a close the quartet's three-year Mondavi Center cycle of performing all of Beethoven’s string quartets. 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, June 5, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. Postperformance question-and-answer session with quartet members. The 2 p.m. concert is sold out; check with the box office about the waiting list.

• Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra — The “greatest large jazz ensemble working today,” according to the Chicago Tribune, draws from an extensive repertoire, including original works by Marsalis, Ted Nash and other members of the group. Marsalis, trumpeter, and the orchestra’s leader and music director, received the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1997 — becoming the first jazz artist to be so honored. He earned the prize for Blood on the Fields, a commissioned work for Jazz at Lincoln Center, the orchestra’s parent organization (with Marsalis as artistic director). 8 p.m. Saturday, June 18, Jackson Hall.

• Pink Martini — A 12-member band that draws inspiration jazz, classical, old-fashioned pop and the romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and ’50s — with a more global perspective. As Pink Martini bandleader and pianist Thomas Lauderdale said, “If the United Nations had a house band in 1962, then hopefully we’d be that band.” Pink Martini’s latest album is Splendour in the Grass, described as a virtual carnival of musical influences, with one grand purpose: to rebuild a culture that sings and dances. 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, Jackson Hall.

Tickets are available online, or by visiting or calling the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.