T o p i c a l   N e w s

• II National Accordion Competition in Plovdiv - Bulgaria
• 70th Birthday Celebrations for Besfamilnov - Ukraine
• New Compositions for Accordion were premiered at the New Music Festival - St.Petersburg
• National Accordion Competition in Surgut - Russia
• I International Accordion Competition in Chebyabinsk - Russia
• XVII International Festival of Accordion Music - St.Petersburg
• Seminar and master classes in CNIMA - France
• 1st International Competition for Accordionists - Russia
• Sergei Naiko tours China - China
• International Festival of Accordion Artists - Yugoslavia
• Alexander Dmitriev releases 6th CD and publishes the treatise "The Positional Fingering for Accordion" in English - St. Petersburg
• LAA's Summer Festival of Accordion - Lithuania
• "Tournee around "Messe de Tournai" - St.Petersburg
• New CD of Sergej Voitenko - Russia

II National Accordion Competition in Plovdiv

The 2nd National Accordion Competition was held at the Plovdiv Academy of Music, Bulgaria from November 15th to 18th. The event, which was organized by the Plovdiv Academy of Music (AMTI) and Asenovgrad "Accordion" Foundation included categories for both soloists and ensembles. There were 64 participants who competed in 5 age groups for soloists and 15 ensembles (in 3 age groups) from Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Republic of Macedonia.

The jury included Chairman Petar Marinov (Plovdiv Academy of Music), Alexander Vasic, (Yugoslavia) and Bulgarian teachers of accordion Mitev, Drenska, Melnik, Poterov, Galabov.

The competition was open with a concert given by the students and the orchestra of the Plovdiv Academy of Music. The next day Alexander Vasic (Yugoslavia) gave a recital which was very well received by the audience. The final concert included the performance by "Acoustics" Duo, which consists of accordionists Stanimir Demirev and Nikolai Mitev. Those competitors who won prizes in categories over 15 years old were awarded cups. They are:

(up to 19 years old):
Iova Drenska (Bulgaria)

(without age limit):
Milena Panceva (Bulgaria)

Zoran Kirjakovski (Macedonia) was awarded special prize as the best performer at the competition.

the most succesful team from Macedonia; -they won four awards and the cup. Pictured: Goran Stanskovski, Zlatko Madevski, Elizabeta Ilievska, Kosto Todorovski, Professor Zoric Karakutovska, Zoran Kirjakovski and their manager Anica Karakutovska.

70th Birthday Celebrations for Besfamilnov

On December 6th a concert will be held at the "Lisenko" Ukrainian National Philharmonic Hall dedicated to the jubilee of famous Ukrainian accordion concert artist and Professor at the Ukrainian National Music Academy - Vladimir Besfamilnov. Besfamilnov, who was awarded the title of "Peoples Artist of Ukraine" by the Ukrainian Music Council (the most prestigious award and title given to any artist in the former Soviet Republic), will be celebrating his 70th birthday and 65 years of his performing career.

OPerformances will be given by famous Ukrainian accordion artists such as V. Murza and S. Grinchenko, as well as Besfamilnov's present and past students Hovrun, Padij, Kistenev and Hruschevich.

As a part of the concert, recordings of Besfamilnov performing will be played to the audience including "Czardas" (Monty/Yashkevich), "Rumanian Dance" (Rizolj), "Flight of the Bumble Bee" for the accordion, violin and bass (Zubitsky). Over 300 people are expected to attend this concert. Following this, a banquet will take place with 100 of Besfamilnov's colleagues, fellow musicians, family and friends.

The next day (December 7th) a concert in the honour of Besfamilnov will be held at the Ukrainian National Music Academy. Besfamilnov dedicated his whole life to the accordion, performing, teaching and promoting it. He was the first Soviet representative at the Coupe Mondiale (together with Galkin in 1956), where they both shared the 3rd Prize. Since then, Besfamilnov has tirelessly worked on promoting the instrument. He was a pioneer in the area of playing with symphony and chamber orchestras, organ and piano and was always keen to promote new repertoire and composers for the accordion. Amongst his students are Vladimir Zubitsky, F. Guerouet, Tania Lukic-Marx, G. Tirnanich, D. Modrushan, Mamliga, Hovrun, Padij and many, many more.

New compositions for accordion at the 13th "Sound Ways" New Music Festival

The XIII th International New Music Festival "Sound Ways" was held in St.Petersburg last week, featuring performances, workshops and lectures given by John Palmer (UK/Germany), James Clapperton (UK/Norway), Matthias Mueller, Magda Schwerzmann, Martin Yaggi, KONTRA-TRIO (Switzerland), Maxim Mrvica, (Croatia) and other performers and composers, including accordionist S.Tchirkov who took part in 4 festival concerts performing both solo and in various ensembles. His programme included works by Berio, Tuchowski, Nordheim, Radvilovitch, Lavrova, Gubaidulina. Several new works featuring the accordion were presented at the event; the festival was open with the concert which included the world premiere of Alexander Radvilovitch's new work "Sinfonia Sacra" for accordion, violin, horn, percussion and choir. Petersburg composer Svetlana Lavrova who teaches composition at the Special School of Music used the accordion in her new work entitled "Two waiting for rainbow" (soprano, mezzo-soprano, accordion, violino, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, flute, trombone and tape).

A concert dedicated to Sofia Gubaidulina was held on Saturday and featured the performances of De Profundis (for accordion), In Croce (accordion and cello) and Silenzio (accordion, violin and cello). The cello part was performed by Annina Voellmy (Switzerland) and the violin part was performed by Michail Kroutik (St.Petersburg). The accordion parts were performed by S.Tchirkov.

National Accordion Competition in Surgut

The first National Open Competition "Yugoria 2001" for accordionists was held from November 3d to 10th in Surgut, Russia. The event, which was organized by the Russian Minestery of Culture, International Centre of Culture and the administration of Hanty-Manssiysk region included 3 age groups for soloists as well as category for ensembles.

The jury included Chairman - V. Semionov (Moscow), Z.Alyoshina (Hanty-Manssiysk), A.Belyaev (Moscow), Yu.Dranga (Moscow), Yu.Shishkin (Rostov), V.Filshev (Saratov).

The event also included the performances given by members of jury Vyatcheslav Semionov and Yury Shishkin and accordion quintett "Russian Timbre"

Results:
Cat. up to 12 years old.
1st I. Prokopenko
2nd E.Slinko
3d P.Zyryanov

Cat. up to 15 years old.
2nd (equal) V.Sabrekov, S.Kataev
3d (equal) V.Anikin, E.Pivovarova, A.Malkov

Cat. up to 22 years old
1st Yu. Medyanik
2nd N.Sivchuk
3d (equal) M.Popov, R.Valisov

Ensembles (junior)
1st O.Ivashina / E.Listunov
2nd A.Grilya / D.Adaev
2d (equal) M.Kozlova/ K.Oganyan Z.Utkina / V.Mazurkevic

Ensembles (senior)
1st N.Sivchuk / A.Peresidly

I International Accordion Competition in Chelyabinsk

The 1st International Competition for Accordionists was held in Chelyabinsk, during the annual Festival of Accordion (fron November 9th to 14th). The competition was organized by Tchaikovsky Music College of Chelyabinsk and the local administration. The jury members included Chairman - Radomir Tomic (Yugoslavia), Nikolay Ischenko (Russia), Elsbeth Glauber (Germany), Mikhail Imhanitsky (Russia) and Radjap Shaihutdinov (Russia).

Results:

Junior category (up to 18 years old):
2nd (equal) Ilyas Vadutov (Russia), Sergey Sinyura (Ukraine)
3d Albert Hutmullin (Russia)
Other finalinsts included E.Neustroev and D.Reshetnikov

Senior category (up to 32 years old):
1st. Artem Kouznetsov (Russia)
2nd (equal) Mikhail Bourlakov, Dmitry Khramkov (Russia)
3d (equal) Dmitry Anisimov, Mikhail Kiselyov
Other finalists included Vadim Skripnitchenko (Ukraine) and Sergei Chudov (Russia)

XVII International Festival of Accordion Music

XVII International Accordion Festival was held from November 2nd to 4th in St.Petersburg. The event was organized by Prof. Alexander Dmitriev Cultural Commitee of St.Petersburg, Kalininsky Concert Hall Administration and sponsored by the local accordion manufactures, S. Kolesnik and other accordion enthusiasts.

The first festival concert was held on Friday and included performances by the students of music schools and colleges, while the evening performance was given by famous accordion duo from Vilnus featuring Eduardas Gabnis and Gennady Savkov (Lithuania) who performed works by Franck, Piazzolla, Vittene as well as variete and folk music. This concert was opened by Professor Boris Aron (Samara, Russia) whose programme included a variety of virtuoso pieces and folk music arrangements.

The next day started with another morning concert which a lot of young musicians took part in. The first part of the evening concert included performances by Campbell Bettridge (New Zealand), Paul Chamberlain (Scotland) and accordion trio which consisted of Teijo Rekonen (Finland), Yevgeniy Fokin and Artyom Kuznetsov (both from St.Petersburg). Campbell's programme included works by Bach, Repnikov, Paganini and Zolotaryov, while Paul Chamberlain performed Scottish traditional music. Both musicians as well as trio were very well received by the audience.

The second part of the evening concert was one of the highlights of the festival as it included the performance by Petri Makkonen (Finland) who performed his own works showing perfect techichal skill, sense of humour as well as ability to create various moods and images with his music. His programme included following pieces:

• Polka Furioso
• Children Suites Nr 1 and Nr 2
• Flight Beyond the Time
• Disco -Toccata
• The Red Bike
• ...like Swans

In addition, Julia Idina, Artyom Kuznetsov and Sergei Tchirkov performed in trio Makkonen's rock music "Longing For Primitivity".

The last day of the festival started with a concert given by Andrei Dikoev and Michail Kiselyov (both from Russia) and continued with the final gala-concert which included performances by C.Bettridge (New Zealand), A.Valkov, V.Shirobokova, A.Pugachev, Prof. A.Dmitriev (St.Petersburg), Prof. B.Aron, M.Kiselyov, A.Dikoyev (Russia), P.Chamberlain (Scotland), T.Rekonen, P.Makkonen (Finland), V.Dmitriev, A.Kuznetsov, A.Shirunov, Ju.Idina, S.Tchirkov (St.Petersburg).

Seminar and master classes in CNIMA

A lot of amateurs and professionals could benefit from the master-classes which were held from October 29th to November 3d in the International Center of Accordion (France) conducted by Prof. Jaques Mornet.

Tutors included Roman Jbanov, Natali Boucheix,Domi Emorine Franck Angelis, Nikolas Massoutie, Claude Sovage.

For details and information on next year courses, please, email CNIMA@wanadoo.fr

1st International Competition for Accordionists

The 1st International Accordion Competition is currently being held in the town of Chelyabinsk (Russia). The jury includes Chairman Radomir Tomic (Yugoslavia), Nikolai Ischenko, Natalia Ischenko (Chelyabinsk, Russia), Elsbeth Glauber (Germany), Michail Imkhanitsky (Moscow, Russia). More information, including list of winners is to come soon. Please, check back in few days. Thank you.

Sergei Naiko tours China

Honored Artist of Russia, Professor Sergei Naiko (who teaches at Krasnoyarsk Academy of Music and Theatre) toured China, recently, by the invitation of the Chinese Accordion Assosiation and the 8th China International Accordion Art Festival. Sergei Naiko gave two recitals which were held in Harbin and Bejing, on August 7th and 12th. His programme included works by Panitsky, Rubinstein, Tchaikowsky, Zolotaryov, Couperin, Scarlatti, Rameau, Granados, Rodrigo, Albeniz, Falla, Kurmangazy and Gottschalk.

On August, 8th he presented a lecture and conducted master-class for students at the Music Department of Harbin Pedagogical University. For more information email: naiko@krsk.ru

International Festival of Accordion Artists

The 11th International Festival of Accordion Artists was held in Kragujevac, Yugoslavia, from of July, 4th to14th, 2001.

As a part of the festival, traditionally, there were three accordion manifestations held:

• International Accordion Summer School,
• Festival of Accordion Soloists
• Yugoslav Federal competition, at which competitors were selected to represent Yugoslavia at the 2001 Coupe Mondiale and Trophy Mondiale International Accordion Competitions

Tutors at the Accordion School were Elsbeth Moser - Hannover, Germany, and Radomir Tomic - Yugoslavia. Participants were from Yugoslavia, France and Croatia. Tuition was held daily from 9-1 and 15.30 - 18.30 in the = form of the open classes. The most successful participants performed at the Farewell concert held at the conclusion of the Festival ,on the 14th of July. The audience had an opportunity to listen to festival concerts, which were held daily and included performances by Dragan Vasiljevic (Yugoslavia), Dmitrij Hramkov (Russia), Konstantin Ischenko (Russia), Jan Majsl (Czech Republic), Konstantions Raptors (Greece), Ajdar Gajnulin (Russia), Snezana Nesic (Yugoslavia), Professor Elzbeth Moser (Germany).

Ten competitors from the Yugoslav Federal Competition were selected to represent Yugoslavia at the following international competitions :

Trophy Mondiale (Lorient - France)
   Stojkovic Nenad - junior
   Stojanovic Nenad - junior
   Mitorvic Ljubomir - junior

Coupe Mondiale (London - UK)
   Beloica Miljan - junior
   Marinkovic Vladimir - junior
   SImic Ivan - junior
   Stevic Miroslav - junior

   Vasiljevic Dragan - senior
   Milivojevic Milos - senior

   Dzinovic Branko - piano accordion

Alexander Dmitriev releases 6th CD "Mosaic" and publishes the treatise "The Positional Fingering for Accordion" in English

Professor Alexander Dmitriev has just released his new CD entitled "Mosaic" which contains a variety of popular pieces and arragements by Shalaev, Panitsky, Kouznetsov, Tchernikov, Rebane & Dmitriev, Joplin, Vesterinen, Piazzolla, Jutila, Rodriges, Pihlajamaa, Vossen, Magnante, Vlasov etc. Most of these works were recorded in duo with Vitali Dmitriev and in trio together with Elena Dmitrieva.

Professor Dmitriev's treatise "The Positional Fingering for Accordion" which shows his progressive technical ideas is now translated in English language and will be available in a week, including examples of the positional fingering for C-griff, B-griff and Finnish-griff. The treatise is published by "Artists Union" Publishing House and translated by Sergej Tchirkov.

Publisher's note:

This work is a result of the rich pedagogical experience by the renowned musician Alexander Dmitriev, Professor of the St.Petersburg Conservatoire, Honored Artist of Russia.
His brilliant concert practice allowed him to try and approve all the methodical principles and to bring these principles together in this work. His great experience is being successfully developed by his students, as well as by the musicians who benefited from the artistry of A.Dmitriev at the numerous master-classes and courses.
The recommendations proposed can be used by teachers and performers both professionals and amateurs.

This year Alexander Dmitriev celebrates his 50th anniversary and, in addition to this new CD release and treatise, there are several others transcriptions and editions to be available soon. Keep watching this space.

For more information and about purchasing the CD and the treatise e-mail: Alexanderdmitriev@GMX.NET

LAA's Summer Festival of Accordion

The International Summer Festival and Seminar will be held from August 8th to 16th in the famous Baltic health-resort Palanga, Lithuania. The event, which is annual is organized by the Lithuanian Accordion Association. The president of the LAA is Professor Ricardas Sviackevicius, the Vice-president is Eduardas Gabnys. This year the event will include master - classes, workshops, the United Orchestra performances (the conductors will include Prof. Ricardas Sviackevicius, Eduardas Gabnys and Elisabeth Glauber (Germany) who will present her new compositions) as well as the concerts given by Prof. Alexander Dmitriev (St-Petersburg), Peter Gerter (Germany), Henn Rebane (Estonia) and the best soloists and ensembles of Lithuania.

Tutors of the seminar will include Prof.Alexander Dmitriev, Elena Dmitrieva (both from St-Petersburg), Peter Gerter (Germany), Henn Rebane (Estonia) and the best Lithuanian musicians who teach at the Vilnus Academy of Music; Ass. Prof. Zita Abromaviciute, Prof.Eduardas Gabnys, Prof.Ricardas Sviackevicius. Many talented Lithuanian students are looking forward to attend the master-classes and to present their skills before the guest teachers.

For more information e-mail LAA: laa@takas.lt

"A tour around "Messe de Tournai"

-that's the name of the show which was held in the PRO ARTE Institute (State Museum of History) in St.Petersburg recently. The concert was given by "eNsemble" of New Music in collaboration with "Laterna Magica" - the ensemble of early music. Here is the list of works which were performed at this concert:

• Anonym (XII century) "Messe de Tournai"
• Anonym I (XXI century) "Une messe de..."
• "Messe de Tournai" - arr. Anonym II (XXI century)
• "Une messe de..." - arr. -Laterna Magica

Anonym I has composed "Une messe de...." , which is based on the structure of the famous middle aged "Messe de Tournai" but is written for the contemporary instruments (English Horn, Corn, Saxophone, Accordion and Electric guitar) using some modern musical language. The same cast was to perform an arragement of "Messe de Tournai", which has been done by Anonym II, while 'Laterna Magica' performed both original music of 12th century and its own version of "Une Messe de...", which differs from the 21st century original.

Thus, a "re-intrerpretation" of the contemporary work to the early music language has taken place.

In addition, both "Laterna Magica" and "eNsemble" performed together a little work , entitled "Ite Missa Est".

It is Boris Filanovsky, who developed the concept of the show , he is also the leader of "eNsemble".

The accordion part was performed by Sergej Tchirkov.

New CD is released

The presentation of the new CD of Sergej Voitenko was held recently in the Concert Hall of the Samara Philarmony. Sergej performed several works from this CD with Samara Philarmonic Orchestra. The CD calls "A Symphony of Time" and includes works for bayan and orchestra by V.Semionov, I. Shamo, A. Repnikov and V. Zubitsky. On the CD Sergej plays with Ural Folk Instruments Orchestra. The conductor is L. Shkarupa.

At the presentation, S.Voitenko also performed his new work for accordion and string orchestra, which is dedicated to his teacher Alla Kats. The new work was well received by the audience because of its dramatic sense.

Recently Sergej Voitenko and his "Non Stop" quartet were awarded first prize at the International Klingenthal Competition as the best ensemble. Their program included own composition as well as works by Moscovian composer A. Rosenblatt. When the musicians arrived back to Samara , the town once again greeted them warmly.