Good afternoon, my name is Marcel Riethmann and I am the Chairman of the "Accordion Examination Board of New Zealand".

It is my pleasure and privilege to present the Accordion Examination Board of New Zealand Merit Award.

Why do we have a Merit award? It is an award to give recognition to those of us that have made a significant contribution to the accordion and the accordion community.

What is the Accordion Examination Board of New Zealand? It was an examination board that was created in the early to mid 1970's to have an examination organisation for accordion that was of equal and recognised standard to that of "Trinity College of London" and "The Associated Board of the Royal School of Music". These being the recognised standards for "Institute of Registered Music Teachers New Zealand".

Why do we exams? It is a way to provide goals and ways of measuring your own personal progress. It is also a way of providing motivation to continue to improve your own personal mastery in learning an instrument and to reach higher levels of achievement.

The person we are here today to honour with the Merit Award is: Gary Daverne.

Before he comes up to receive his award I would like to give a brief back ground on Gary's distinguished and esteemed career, highlighting some of his achievements with an accordion focus.

Gary Daverne was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and was educated at Auckland University and Auckland Teacher Training College. He started his musical career in brass bands as a euphonium player, later changing to clarinet, playing in symphony orchestras, jazz combos and top New Zealand rock bands during the 1960s.

He moved to London in the late 1960s and studied musical composition and conducting, achieving a Fellowship at Trinity College.

Upon his return to New Zealand Gary worked for Television New Zealand as a highly regarded music director, arranger and conductor on many top television shows. He founded the Auckland Symphony Orchestra in 1975 and was resident conductor/music director until 2010 when he was appointed Music Director Emeritus.

Gary is a qualified Secondary School teacher in economics, accounting and music and was Head of Department of commerce at Glendowie College. In 1978 he was selected by the New Zealand Education Department as "Composer in Schools", an appointment that he held for two years. During this time he composed many songs and musicals for children which have remained popular and are still regularly performed.

Gary is New Zealand's most prolific and successful composer and arranger of music for the accordion. His arrangements and compositions for solo accordion and accordion orchestras are used extensively around the world. Also important, is that some of his solo compositions are used in our very own examinations syllabus.

In 1982, Fay Schaw and Harley Jones approached Gary asking him to provide arrangements for the Air New Zealand Accordion Orchestra. This began a long association between Gary and New Zealand accordionists.

From 1984 onwards, more and more of the Air New Zealand Accordion Orchestras arrangements have been unique to them, with the arrangements being highly acclaimed throughout the world with standing ovations on major tours to Europe, Asia and North America.

From 1986 on, Gary toured with the Air New Zealand Accordion Orchestra and at each concert conducted one of his compositions, quite often receiving a standing ovation.

Especially popular on the first international orchestra tour ever to China was the "Rhapsody for Accordion and Orchestra" conducted by composer Gary Daverne, with Harley Jones being the soloist.

This work was performed over 130 times in many different parts of the world with many different orchestras. It was the No. 1 played NZ work on Radio NZ for more than 3 years, with Harley Jones as the soloiost and the NZ Symphony Orchestra.

Gary's compositions have been featured extensively on many CD's/albums by accordionists. They include (alphabetical order), Air NZ Accordion Orchestra, Kevin Friedrich, Eddie Giffney, Harley Jones, Maurice Jones, Sarah Langley, Grayson Masefield, Stephanie Poole, Lionel Reekie, The International Trio, Mary Tokarski.

The number of accordion works has been steadily increasing over the years and last year Kevin Friedrich released a CD titled Kevin Plays Gary Daverne.

In the 2009 Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships held in New Zealand, Gary conducted the world premiere of his commissioned composition Auckland March, performed by the World Accordion Orchestra.

At the 2009 Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships the Confederation Internationale des Accordeonistes (CIA) presented Gary with the CIA Honoured Friend of the Accordion Award. Also at this event he won First Prize for his commissioned solo accordion work Koriana (Maori for accordion).

With such an incredible history of accordion composition and performance, it is my great pleasure, to please ask Gary to come up onto the stage to accept this award for his amazing contribution and commitment to our accordion world.

Thank you for all you have done.
Chairman: Marcel Riethmann