XXIII "Arrasate-Hiria" International Accordion Competition |
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December 2015, Basque Region, Spain |
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XXIII "Arrasate-Hiria" International Accordion Competition |
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December 2015, Basque Region, Spain |
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| For the 23rd time, the prestigious accordion competition "Arrasate-Hiria" gathered
professionals of accordion music between the 4th and the 7th of
December, 2015. The competition took place in Arrasate-Mondragón
(Basque region), Spain. The event was organized by the 'Hauspoz' (Euskal Herriko Akordeoi Elkartea), the City of Arrasate, and the County Council of Gipuzkoa. In spite of the winter season, the weather and mood of the people involved in this project was very sunny. The organizers created a welcoming atmosphere for the competition, and they provided participants and Jury members with comfortable accommodation and tasty food. |
| The 11 efficient and skilled competitors who arrived in Arrasate came
from the different countries - Serbia, Austria, Slovakia, Poland,
Finland, Germany, Slovenia, China and Russia. Each of them had had
successes and achievements in different accordion events before. And certainly each of them came to Arrasate-Mondragón to win, so the competitive tension intensified with the performance of each player. The battle was really intense and all jury points were hard-won. The Jury was composed of eminent musicians of several nationalities as usual. There were Stefan Hussong (Germany), Vojin Vasonic (Serbia), Matti Rantanen (Finland), James Crabb (Scotland) and Inaki Alberdi (Spain). By the way "Kadenza" by Sofia Gubaidulina had been selected as a compulsory piece for the qualifying round. And this piece was dedicated to the famous Spanish musician Inaki Alberdi, one of the Jury members. |
| It’s significant, that one of the competitors (Arseniy Strokovskiy)
included in his perfomance, the accordion work “Cinema” by
Sergei Berinsky's.
Not everyone knew that “Cinema” was written specially for the
competition Arrasate Hiria as a test piece in 1996! There are very strict requirements for the artists program in Arrasate: Points are removed by Jury for any deviation from the rules and its interesting that the names of the winners are kept secret until the last moment every year. Spectators and competitors learn the names of laureates only at the official Closing Ceremony! The same thing happened this winter. At the final part of the Gala Concert, the winners, diploma holders and special prizewinners were announced.  1st Janne Valkeajoki (Finland) 3.600 €, a certificate, a trophy and a
concert tour.2nd Shen Wang (China-Finland) 1.800 €, a certificate and a trophy. 3rd Arseniy Strokovskiy (Russia) 900 €, a certificate and a trophy. Later Janne Valkeajoki wrote on Facebook: «Yesterday one little dream came true: I won the Arrasate Hiria competition for accordion soloists - maybe one of the most respected competitions!! In addition I also got the prize for the best performance of the test piece by Sofia Gubaidulina. This means that I'm very very happy now!» *** It’s great that the other participants have time and chance to make dream come true too: to come once more time in Arrasate-Mondragón and win. Don't forget, that the Arrasate Hiria is open to soloists of any age! |
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