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Wayne Knights Webmaster

• AWW Europe Office Manager at Frankfurt Musik Messe - Germany
• Trio Fratres Tours Japan, Austria & Estonia
• 2nd Accordion Festival Begins - Austria
• "Arrasate Hiria" IX International Accordion Competition - Spain
• Patrizia Merciari Performs at Academy Opening - Italy
• Mini Tour Down South - England
• "Klezmer Swing Thing" - USA
• Duo Ukraine in Paris - France
• Accordionist Performs with Pianist and Cellist - Italy
• AAPR Orchestra Performance - Puerto Rico
• New Duo 2000 CD Release - South Africa
• Romanian Accordionist Tours Japan
• Wild Electric Ceilidh Music! - Scotland
• Sylvia Pagni on National Television - Italy
• Accordion Workshop - Germany
• Accordion Sing-a-Longs - England
• Grand Prix Concert - Australia
• Accordionist Interviewed - Netherlands
• Kimmo Pojhonen Wrestles his Accordion - France
• ASA President Studies Internationally - USA
• New Accordion Duo CD - Argentina
• New Quartetto Gelato CD - Canada
• New Look for East News
• New Sites
• Antique Accordion Information

Accordions Worldwide Europe Office Manager, Holda Paoletti-Kampl will be at the Frankfurt Musik Messe, Comune di Castelfidardo/Music Marche stand, Hall 8, Stand L35 from March 7th to 11th. Please take this opportunity to talk to Holda about the accordion and the internet while she is in Frankfurt.

Trio Fratres (Finland) will tour Japan, Austria & Estonia from March 2nd to 16th. During the tour the trio will perform two concerts in Tokyo, one with a program of new Finnish works commissioned by the trio and the second entitled "Fratres in Rock!" which will include rock classics and special live electronics.

The trio will then fly to Austria to take part in the International Accordion Festival in Vienna. Following this, they will travel to Estonia to perform five concerts in Tallinn, Tartü, Haapsalu, Viljandi and Parnü.

The trio includes accordionists Raimo Vertainen, Heikki Jokiaho and Toni Hämäläinen, all of whom graduated from the accordion class of well known pedagogue, Vladimir Dolgopolov, in the Conservatory of Central Finland. For further details email: raimo.vertainen@pp.inet.fi

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif Manager of Friedrich Lips Productions

Vienna's 2nd International Accordion Festival began on February 24th with well received concerts in very crowded concert halls. The first concert was held by well-known Austrian accordionist Otto Lechner, who invited Arnaud Methivier (France) to perform with him. Arnaud was then joined by French soprano Catherine Estourelle (see photo) to perform a program of compositions by Gluck, Purcel, Puccini, Faurés, Ravel and others.

Actress Anne Bennent then read stories accompanied by Otto on the Styrian harmonica. The evening ended with a special birthday celebration for Otto (at midnight).

The following day (25th) Yann-Fañch Perroches presented a program of ethnic music from Bretagne (French region) with his group including Véronique Bourjot (vocals), Erwan Bérenguer (guitar) and Stéphane Morwan (flute).

The festival will continue until March 25th. Further reports will be available in next week's news. For additional information email: friedl.preisl@chello.at

Offering over US$5,000 in prizes the "Arrasate Hiria" IX International Accordion Competition for soloists will be held from December 3rd to 8th in Arrasate-Mondragon (Basque Country), Spain. The event is organized by the "Hauspoz" Euskal Herriko Akordeoi Elkartea, the Town Hall of Arrasate and the County Council of Gipuzkoa.

The competition will comprise of two rounds, with competitors performing set works by Bach and Lazkano and their own choice pieces. The competition winner will be invited by the organizers to perform a series of future concerts. For further details email: hauspoz@euskalnet.net

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

On January 20th Patrizia Merciari performed at the Church N.S. de la Salette in Olbia (Sardinia, Italy) for the opening of the J.S. Bach International Music Academy. Her program included pieces by Deiro, Frosini, Heetfield and Tchaikin as well as some of her original compositions, and was praised by audience and critics alike.

Contributed by Sue and Ron Bennett

Scottish accordionist Gary Blair has just completed a "Mini Tour Down South", performing at an Accordion Ceilidh in Burgess Hill, Sussex (England) and at the Uxbridge Accordion Club. Following these concerts Gary played to a full house at the Guildford Accordion Club which held the event to raise funds towards their NAO Coupe Mondiale fund 2001.

Gary's final concert was held at the Harlow Accordion Club, where he performed to another full house with David Lukins.

"Klezcentricity" will perform at a "Klezmer Swing Thing" on March 31st at the DC Jewish Community Center, Washington DC. The group, which includes Wendy Morrison (accordion), David Gray (clarinet, sax, guitar) and Richard Seidel (bass & piano) will play a variety of klezmer tunes including "Pennies from Heaven" and "Honeysuckle Rose". For further details email: klezmer@klezmusic.com

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Duo Ukraine, which includes Youri (accordion) and Ludmila Fedorov (bandoura and vocals) will perform at Eglise Sainte-Rosalie in Paris on March 4th. Their program will include traditional Ukranian songs and classic melodies. Both members of the duo are soloists with the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra. Entrance to this concert is free of charge.

Accordionist Ivano Battiston will perform at the Villa Pisani in Montebelluna with pianist Daniela De Santis on March 18th. Their program will include works by Piazzolla, Molique, Bartók and Fugazza.

On March 25th Ivano will perform with Luca Provenzani (cello) at the Auditorium di Careggi in Firenze. This duo will play pieces by Piazzolla, Bloch, Marais, Seiber and Vivaldi. For further details see Future Events.

Contributed by Jane Berkovitz

On March 4th the AAPR (Accordion Association of Puerto Rico) Orchestra will perform at the Pabellon de la Paz in Luis Munoz River Park, San Juan. This event is dedicated to senior citizens and sponsored by TV Channel 11. For further details email: janeberkovitz@email.msn.com

Duo 2000 (Amarillie Ackermann - harp & Sergio Zampolli - accordion) have just released their new CD "Song for Anna". The CD includes the title track "Song for Anna" plus a variety of other popular pieces such as "In a Monastery Garden", Wedding March, "Coriandoli Napoletani" (Italian Tarantella) and "Dizzy Fingers". For further details email: duo2000@global.co.za

Contributed by Toru Katou

Romanian accordionist Zaplitnii Radu is currently touring Japan, giving concerts in Tokyo and other prefectures. On February 23rd, he played at the Yamaguchi Accordion Club in Ogori, Yamaguchi Prefecture, charming the audience with his performance of "Czardas", "Queen of the Musette", "Summertime in Venice" and "Carnival in Venice".

Accordionist Sandy Brechin will perform two Ceilidh's with his band "The Sensational Jimmy Shandrix Experience" this month. The first will be held at Prestonfireld House, Edinburgh on March 2nd and the second will be at the Traquair Village Hall, Borders of Scotland on March 10th.

The group will play "wild electric ceilidh music" such as "The Boganach" (reel) and "The Clumsy Lover" (reel). Both of these tunes are performed in a set for the "Dashing White Sergeant" dance. For further details email: sandy@squeeze.demon.co.uk

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Every Saturday at 9pm Sylvia Pagni will bring the accordion into the houses of millions of Italian viewers during the popular show "Scommettiamo che" hosted by Fabrizio Frizzi on the first channel of the national broadcasting corporation. Sylvia will play the accordion both as a soloist and with the show's orchestra.

An accordion workshop by tutor Dragan Djokic will be held at the Youth Music School in Neuenbürg, Germany on March 17th. Music teachers, students and guests are invited to take part. For further information email Christian Knebel: staedt.jms@gmx.de

Accordionist Heather Hawthorne will play for sequence dancing and sing-a-longs at Westbourne Court, Nottingham on March 8th. Two days later (10th) Heather will visit the Newark Senior Citizens Club in Nottinghamshire, giving a talk entitled "My life with an Accordion" and performing accordion instrumentals & songs based on events in her life. The presentation begins with "Beer Barrel Polka" (the first tune Heather heard on an accordion at a Victory party in 1944) then continues with other 1940 songs. This is followed by Scottish tunes (Bluebell Polka and Morris Dance tunes), "La Mer", when talking about French events and "Moonlight Serenade" when telling the story of how Heather was Hotel Accordionist in a play during the 1940's.

Both of these events will be repeated at a number of other venues such as the Society for the Blind Social Club and various residential homes. For further details email: heatherhawthorn@totalise.co.uk

Accordionist Bernadette Conlon will perform at a corporate function for the Australian Grand Prix on March 2nd. Her program will include light classical, popular and some jazz pieces. This function will take place on the Observation Deck, which is on the 55th floor of Rialto Towers, Melbourne's tallest building.

Italian accordionist Claudio Jacomucci was interviewed recently in Amsterdam by Jakob ter Leeuw for the Strumenti & Musica Magazine (Italy). The interview included questions on the "Alexander Technique" and on Claudio's experience as an accordionist. Jakob ter Leeuw said that he had "always been very interested and fascinated by the Alexander Technique".

The interview, which covered problems that musicians face, teaching techniques, where the "Alexander Technique" originated and Claudio's future projects will be published on Accordions Worldwide within the next two weeks. For further details email: hbhiac@tin.it

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Finnish accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen will perform at "Le lieu Unique" in Nantes, France on March 10th. Kimmo plays a 5-row accordion and emits bizarre vocal noises during his performance. Using a headset microphone, multi-effects processor and electronic loop recorders he also creates multi-layered music. During his concerts Kimmo will also stand, move, travel around the stage or wrestle with his accordion in an intense and theatrical manner. For further details email Richard Baussay at: richard.baussay@lelieuunique.com

The Accordion Society of Australia (ASA) Federal President, Elizabeth Jones is currently overseas for a 5 month study period. In November 2000 Elizabeth was the recipient of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust award. In early January 2001 she left Australia to study in Canada, the United States of America and Denmark.

The Accordion Duo of Angel Russo and Hector Bocchicchio has launched their new CD entitled "Duo de Acordeones", which includes cheerful Italian and Argentinean songs. Both accordionists are members of the Aida Asociación Internacional de Acordeonistas (Aida International Accordionists Association). CD tracks include "Esperanza Perdida", "Vals de Medianoche" and "Las Margaritas". For further information email: maquinapastarusso@fullzero.com.ar

Contributed by George Meanwell

Quartetto Gelato will release their 4th CD entitled "Neapolitan Café" in Canada on March 6th and in the US on April 10th. For further details email: meanwell@quartettogelato.com

Contributed by Sergej Tchirkov

The Accordions Worldwide East news now has a new design and structure. In addition to a news update, readers can now subscribe to a mailing list to get the news headlines delivered directly to their mailboxes. For further news information email: tchirkov@accordions.com

http://www.accordions.com/rastelli Updated information on Italian accordionist Emanuel Rastelli including sound files now available

http://www.accordions.com/sviackevicius Updated information on Lithuanian accordionist Raimondas Sviackevicius.

http://www.accordions.com/lips Updated information on accordionist Friedrich Lips

Margaret DeWitt would like information on a 120 bass piano accordion with the name "Accordion School" and embellished with rhinestones and mother of pearl keys. Email: dewitt@lenzlink.net

Joe Tomsovic would like detailed information (such as when and where it was made) on a Schutzmarke accordion with "Ands Koch" detail on it. Email: Joe.Tomsovic@nordberg.com