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Parade
of Accordion Stars at 15th Annual Symposium & Festival - USA
  Final
preparations are now underway for the American Accordion Musicological
Society 15th Annual Symposium and Festival from March 1st to 3rd
at the Holiday Inn, King of Prussia, PA. Organizers have arranged
a tribute dinner to honor New Jersey resident and accordion pioneer,
Charles
Nunzio. Mr Nunzio (92 years of age), is only one of two accordionists
still living, who is a founder member of both the American
Accordionists Association and the Accordionists
and Teachers Guild International. He has pioneered innovative
construction changes in the accordion, is a noted composer, performing
artist, teacher of 1961 Coupe
Mondiale winner Donald Hulme and teacher of Jazz Artist Ed Monteiro.
 The
event will also feature workshops and concerts with a "Parade of
Accordion Stars" such as Carmen Carrozza (USA), Victor Danilotchkine,
Stanley
Darrow and Joanna
Arnold, Rita Davidson, Mike Dellapenna & Charles Kofira, Lenn
Feldmann, Sam Fire, Tom Groeber, Joe Grum, Frank Hodnicki, Rick
Kaplan & Tom Tonon, Monsigneur Stanley Kloskowski, Dee
Langley, Dr Robert McMahon, Ron Onda, John Opiela, Lou Persic,
Vitaliy Pirog (Ukraine), Peter Stan, Ed Touchstone, Jim Vandelly,
Jim Wadowick, and accordion entertainer/comedian Bobby
Raye who will present the "Bobby Raye Show".
Festivities include three major concerts, a
banquet, 60 competitive and non-competitive events, 12 workshops,
as well as displays and vendors. Elissa Darrow Eystad will be on
hand with various accordion related items, such as novelty gifts,
shoulder straps, cassettes, CDs etc., and Dave & Anthony Darrow
will be available to repair and service all types of accordions.
For further details phone: +1 856-854-6628
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Guests Confirmed at Accordion Festival
- Australia
Contributed by Tania
Lukic-Marx
Accordionist Mario Messineo (Perth, Western
Australia), will perform as a guest artist at the Australian International
Accordion Championships and Festival, held in Sydney from May 24th
to 26th, 2002 organized by the Australian
Accordion Teachers Association.
During the Festival, the Association will honour
another famous accordionist from Perth - Peter Piccini for his contribution
to the accordion in Australia. The Festival will also feature the
Winner of the 2001 Coupe
Mondiale Piano Accordion Class - Branko Dzinovic. For further
details email:
tlukic-marx@mail2me.com.au
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National Music Teachers Lecture and
Performance - USA
 Accordionist
Dr William Schimmel presented a lecture and performance for the National
Music Teachers' Association recently at New York's Steinway Hall. William
talked about his role in contemporary and avant-garde music with special
emphasis on the music of Sofia Gubaidulina, covering information concerning
his performance of the New York Premiere of De Profundis in 1989 as well
as subsequent performances including a staged version by his wife, choreographer/director
Micki Goodman and accompanying Jessye Norman (opera) and choreographer
Bill T. Jones in their theatre work "How Do We Do".
Dr. Schimmel also performed De Profundis at a 70th
birthday concert for Sofia Gubaidulina on February 12th at Miller Theatre,
Columbia University. The concert was presented by Continuum Joel Sachs
and Cheryl Seltzer, directors.
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Positive Reviews for Viktor Romanko
- Germany
 Contributed
by Jutta Menn
After recent concerts by Viktor Romanko, regional
daily newspapers featured titles such as "Bajan Replaced the Organ"
and "Absolutely Exceptional Performance". The Intermusik
magazine wrote about the great art of this Russian musician, who
has a great fan community in Western Europe, and especially in Germany
as follows: "His professional performance in many different musical
styles has left audiences speechless. With great skill, passion,
and improvising talent, Romanko guides the bayan/accordion away
from the stepchild image, which is how it is often seen in comparison
to the more established instruments".
On April 21st Romanko will perform as soloist
for the Orchestra Association Ferndorftal/Wilden concert at Gebr.-Busch-Theater
in Dahlbruch. Participants include the Ferndorftal/Wilden Orchestra
(conducted by Jutta Menn) and the Youth Orchestra (conducted by
Kerstin Rau).
Their program will include "Parlez-moi d´amour"
(Rudolf Würthner), "Libertango" (Piazzolla) and "Intercity" (Adolf
Götz). For details email: JBMenn@gmx.de
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Sextet Entertains at Music Museum
- New Zealand
 Sarah
Langley, Wayne
Knights (Accordions
Worldwide Webmaster), Rhonda Morrison, Campbell Bettridge, Kathryn
Fletcher and Lionel
Reekie make up "Caprice", an accordion sextet based in Auckland,
which were given their name by New Zealand composer Gary
Daverne, after performing a piece written by him.
Recently the sextet performed an entertaining
concert at the Whittakers Music Museum, on Waiheke Island (a large
island in Auckland's harbour). The Whittakers Museum has antique
instruments including many accordions, as owner Lloyd Whittaker
is a very very keen accordion enthusiast.
"Caprice" gained this performance through the
University of Auckland School of Music, as member Kathryn Fletcher
is the first accordion performance student at the University. As
well as various solos, Caprice performed pieces such as a Jesus
Christ Superstar Medley, Entry to the Queen of Sheeba, the Russlan
and Ludmila Overture as well as "Caprice"! The audience was thrilled
by the virtuosity of the players and the variety of music. Caprice
was invited to present another concert there later this year.
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Lithuanian Accordion Quintet "Concertino"
- Russia
 Contributed
by Vladimir Ushakov
On February 15th the Lithuanian Accordion Quintet
"Concertino" performed at the St. Petersburg Concert Hall. The concert
was organized by the St. Petersburg Musette Ensemble as part of a series
entitled "Friends Meeting at the Neva Riverside". Previous concerts in
this series have included performances by the Rizol-Quartet (Ukraine),
Vladimir
Zubitsky (Italy), Roman Bazhilin (Russia), Lithuanian Accordion Duo
Eduardas Gabnnis & Gennady Savkov (Lithuania), Baltic International Accordion
"Excelsior Quintet" (Latvia, Lithuania & Russia), St. Petersburg Musette
Ensemble and prominent accordionists of St. Petersburg.
"Concertino" performed a well received program that
consisted of classical compositions and variety pieces such as Prelude,
Sarabande and Rigodon from the Suite by E. Grieg, "Ballet Tango" Suite
(Piazzolla), "Caravan" (Tizol) and Duke Ellington (arranged by V. Novikov).
Their performance was so successful, the group had to play an encore -
"Step-Dance" (Peshkov).
A special surprise had been prepared for this event.
The St. Petersburg Musette Ensemble had organized the publication of two
volumes of music books which contained compositions from the repertoire
of the "Concertino" quintet by "S.P.M.E. Editions". These were presented
to the quintet in the Concert Hall foyer. As the concert was recorded
on video and audio, organizers and performers are considering the idea
of producing a Video cassette and CD album entitled "Concertino Live in
St. Petersburg".
Next year the quintet will celebrate their 25th anniversary.
Over the last ten years group members have remained the same: Ricardas
Sviackevicius (leader), Ilma Plungaite, Regina Pancekauskene, Zhanna Gumionnaya
and Rasa Mikishkene.
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World Premiere of "Six-Pack" -
England
On February 18th Ian Watson performed in the
World Premiere of "Six-Pack" at the Bridewell Theatre in London.
The performance comprised of six short operas all scored for clarinet,
saxophone, percussion, double bass and accordion, written by leading
British composers Julian Grant, Rachel Leach, John Webb, Helen Grime,
David Bruce and Richard Taylor. There has been much coverage in
the press and media including BBC Radio 3, BBCTV, The Times and
The Independent. Critics have praised the instrumentation and the
performance of the ensemble. This is another great step for the
development of the accordion within British Music. "Six Pack" will
run until March 9th. For details email: ianwatson99@lineone.net
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Contributed
by 
Contributed
by 
Contributed
by 
This
week accordionist Øivind Farmen and violinist Sturla Eide Sundli
participated in a radio program for the Norwegian National Broadcasting
Corporation (NRK). The duo began playing together six months ago
and have a repertoire which includes their own arrangements of a
variety of Norwegian and international folk music. The duo are also
in the process of making a CD recording as the "Flukt" trio with
Sondre Meisfjord (double bass). For further information email: