Roger Helou

Roger Helou is an Argentine pianist, composer, and orchestra director born in 1978 in Buenos Aires. Initially trained in Baroque organ at the Manuel de Falla Conservatory in Buenos Aires, he moved to Europe in 1998 to study medieval keyboard instruments at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. In 2001, he founded the Orquesta Típica Silencio, a multinational European ensemble that has become one of the continent’s most renowned contemporary tango orchestras. From 2005 onward, Helou served as pianist and arranger for the legendary Cuarteto Cedrón. Currently based in Paris for over twenty years, he has established himself as a key figure in introducing Argentine tango to European audiences through extensive touring at major tango festivals across Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. In 2023, he was named “Académico Miembro de la Generación Intermedia” by Argentina’s National Academy of Tango. Beyond tango, Helou is an accomplished organist specializing in 15th-century music and maintains an active teaching career.

Sources note: No major conflicts detected in available sources. Birth year 1978 is consistently cited across multiple Argentine news sources. The Conservatory is identified as either “Conservatorio Manuel de Falla” or “Schola Cantorum Basiliensis” for different study periods (Buenos Aires vs. Basel), which are sequential rather than conflicting.