The Musikmesse Frankfurt is the International trade
fair for musical instruments, music software and computer hardware,
sheet music & accessories and be launched from 28 March
to 31 March 2007. With the slogan "Live for the music",
the Musikmesse is the meeting point for the sector and for all those
interested in music worldwide.
(picture left Hohner artist Viktor
Romanko)
New
exhibition area: "musikbiz"
In 2007 the Musikmesse is including a significant extension to the
sector: under the title "musikbiz”. This section will include,
as exhibitors, companies which produce and market music, as well as
those who are concerned with professional musical development. ( stamping
of CDs and the record labels, which market the media).
Top performances in the evening
For the first time, the Musikmesse will also be part of the hr3@night
band festival in Frankfurt. There will be bands and DJs playing and
parties at a large number of venues all over Frankfurt. A single ticket
is valid for entry to all the events. Jon
Hammond and his band will give his yearly warm-up party at the
Jazzkeller on Tuesday 27th March.
The live programme: professionals demonstrate their
skill together with new products Many national and international stars
of the music scene will allow themselves the privilege of demonstrating
their skills and the new products. At the Agora Stage – the
festival marquee in front of Hall 3 – three stages are available.
And in Hall 3.1 you will find the world of the accordion. Almost
all accordion-harmonica-midi producers from around the world are exhibiting
their products.
Frankfurt Musikmesse: “Made in Castelfidardo” - Italy/Germany
There
is an official presentation in this edition of Musikmesse: the “Certificate
of Origin and Quality” for the accordions “Made in Castelfidardo”.
The Music Marche Accordions
consortium – an association for the protection, promotion
and development of musical instruments produced in the Marche region
(in Italy) – has established a certification for musical instruments,
whose purpose is to guarantee both to customers and to manufacturers
a tradition of over 150 years old craftsmanship.
This consortium represents the major accordion producers of the
Castelfidardo area, who decide to attach the indelible seal on the
instrument and to enclose the “Certificate of Origin and Quality”.
Manufacturers
requesting seals and certificates to the consortium must undersign
the regulations who engage themselves to conform to construction
norms, handed on from generation to generation until today, and
to use select materials and components exclusively produced by Castelfidardo
craftsmen.
There willbe an officialpresentation of the “Certificato di
origine e qualità” in the “ITALIA-Stand”
by I.C.E. (Istituto per il commercio Estero) on thursday 29th march
H. 11.30 (a.m.) during the Musikmesse. The followingaccordionfactories
can attachseals and certificates to their instruments:
On March 23rd the world premiere will take place of ’Perpetual Pulsing Transience’, a composition for six accordions and chamber orchestra by Russian-born composer Zibuokle Martinaityte. The performance, which begins at 8pm, by the Mons Conservatory Chamber Orchestra – MD Daniel Gazon, takes place at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons.
There will be a repeat performance on March 24th, 4pm, at the Eglise des Dominicains (Dominican Church), 40, Avenue de la Renaissance, B-1000 Bruxelles (Brussels).
The Harmonikafest, a three-day accordion festival, takes place from
March 23rd to 25th at Stainz. The event includes activities for players
of all abilities, from beginners to professionals. Fuller details,
click picture right.
The duo Nuevo Mundo - accordionist Lácides Romero Meza, Professor at National Pedagogical University of Bogota, and the clarinettist Francisco Javier Rivera - won a music competition, organised by the Bogota Philarmonic Orchestra, held on February 21st.
The duo obtained a maximum and unanimous score from the Examining Jury: 100 points out of 100. There were 22 competitors in the section. This award represents a great triumph for the accordion in Colombia, where the accordion is usually associated only with ethnic traditional music.
The release of the Dutch-based Bosnian classical accordionist Nihad Hrustanbegovic’s first solo album ‘The Best of Concert Accordion’ will be on March 27th 2007. The debut presentation of this CD will be on the National Dutch television in the most famous Dutch TV Show – ‘De wereld draait door’ - on March 28th.
‘The Best of Concert Accordion’, a self-produced recording, includes classical transcriptions (Bach, Scarlatti, Grieg, Paganini), original contemporary works for solo accordion (Gubaidulina, Schmidt), and ‘world music’ compositions (Semionov, Hrustanbegovic).
Lydie Auvray & the Auvrette are in concert on April 28th, at 8pm,
at the Bröltalhalle in Ruppichteroth, sharing the program with
the Ruppichteroth Akkordeon Orchestra.
The
annual National
Accordion Association Convention (Norman Seaton - President, picture
left) took place, March 7th to 11th, at the Richardson Hotel, Richardson
in Texas, attracting approximately 250 players for a weekend of non-stop
music that involved a variety of genres. A happy atmosphere prevailed
throughout the Convention, and accordionist Dee
Langley (right) spoke for many when she declared that she wished
the event had lasted for a full week!
The Convention included workshops, orchestras, seminars, concerts and jam sessions. Other features of the festival were the ‘Swap Shop’ and the ‘Polka Festival’. Participants included Dick Albreski, Alice Aman, Joe Brikha, Jessica Faltot, Marge Ford, Patti Gersich, Joel Guzman, Daniel Kott, Louise Kucera, Dee Langley, Don Lipovac, Daniel Orza, Debra Peters, Ron Pivovar, Norman Seaton, Becky Simmons, Trio Bez Ime, Dale Wise, and Fred Ziwich.
The trade show included Accordion-O-Rama,
Ballarini/Petosa, Castle Accordions, Kohl Music Company, Monarch
Accordions, Accordions Plus, Accordions by Fry, Accordion Stuff,
Mr. E's Music and a swap shop. The NAA
Convention received widespread media
coverage (218KB).
In
Kiev (Ukraine), at the age of 88, legendary Soviet Bayan Artists and
Professor, peoples Artists of Ukraine Nikolai Rizol has passed away.
Picture left shows three generation. Nikolai Rizol who taught Vladimir
Besfamilnov who taught Tania Lukic-Marx photographed in 2003 in Kiev.
Nikolai Rizol was a founder and music director of the famous “Bayan
Quartet of Kiev”.
With its original members (picture below, left to right: I. Zhuromski,
M. Belickaia, R. Belickaia, Nikolai Rizol) the quartet existed from
1939 to 1978. Reputedly the first professional accordion quartet in
Soviet Union and maybe the world. The Quartet still exists and was renamed
the “Rizol Quartet”. Its musical director is a former
student of Rizol, Sergey Grinchenko.
Since its inception until today – the quartet is employed by the official government concert agency in Ukraine - “Kiev Philharmonic” and has performed all around the Soviet Union and internationally.
Together
with Ivan
Yashkevich, Rizol was one of the founders of the early bayan school
in this part of the former Soviet Union – Ukraine. He taught
bayan at the Kiev National Music Academy since 1948. He retired from
his teaching position late last year at the age of 87. Amongst his
students are the winners of the international accordion competitions:
Vladimir
Besfamilnov, Sergey Grinchenko, A. Tihonchuk, V. Bulavko.
In 1999 during the Moscow Bayan Festival “Bayan and Bayanists”
Rizol was awarded the “Silver Disc” award for his enormous
contribution to the bayan in his country. He was a performer, composer,
arranger and an author of many accordion books.
Adrian Stieglitz and Simon Zimmerling, two accordionists of the Hof
Accordion Society, Germany were invited together with their teacher
Günther
Zeilinger for a concert in Lefke, Northern Cyprus by festival
organisor Yilmaz Taner. He is also the organizer of the world famous
"Bellapaisfestival" in Girne, Northern Cyprus.
The program of both players included "Romanze in Am (Reger), "Tango Prism" (Ishii), "Sonata No.3" (Zolatariev) and many more original compositions and as well as interesting duet titles like "Tarantella" (Trojan), "Ballad" (Lundquist) and transcriptions from Soler. The performance of the two accordionists was very successful and Yilmaz Taner has invited the Akkordeonorchester Hof to the next years festival.
Picture, left to the right: Yilmaz Taner, two piano players from Lefke
with Günther
Zeilinger behind, Adrian Stieglitz, Simon Zimmerling, Mayoress
and Mayor Zafer.
Since
the closing of "Ring of Fire", the Broadway show which featured
Jeff Lisenbyon accordion in the story of Johnny Cash, Jeff has been
working on his home turf in Nashville, Tennessee where he appears
regularly with high profile groups.
Lisenby will return to New York City on Friday and Saturday, March
23-24, to provide the musical accompaniment for
Cindy Marchionda in a beautiful one-woman show called "Early
One Morning," at 8:00 pm at Theatre 315, 315 West 47th St. This
is a well-crafted musical about the Biblical character, Mary Magdalene,
the show's music is by Ron Melrose, the Music Director of the current
hit "Jersey Boys."
Accordionist Ivano Battiston leads a seminar in Castelfranco Veneto on March 23rd and 24th. The seminar includes technical aspects of accordion construction and maintenance.
A
performance of Sofia Gubaidulina’s ‘Seven Words’,
by Owen
Murray – accordion, Tamas Varga – cello, and the Hungarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ivan Fischer, takes place at
The Liszt Ferenc Academy, Budapest, on April 5th.
The annual ‘Box & Fiddle’ Festival takes place at the Haven Holiday Park, Craig Tara, Ayr, Scotland, from April 23rd to 27th. The event includes concerts, dances, dance workshops and playing sessions. The guest artistes include accordionists Dick Black, Sandy Nixon, Fraser MacLean, John Carmichael, James Coutts, and their Scottish dance bands, and the Lomond Ceilidh Band.
The
sixth international competition of young musicians “Ohrid Pearls”
will take place in Ohrid, Macedonia from 16th – 20th June 2007
under the auspices of “Music And Ballet Pedagogues Association
Of Republic Of Macedonia”.
There are three Classical Accordion categories, born 1992 or later,
born 1988 or later and born 1982 or later with prize money in each
– the closing date for entries is 20th May 2007.
Full details are available from well known Macedonian teacher: Zorica
Karakutovska, picture left - Email: anica2206@yahoo.com
The Steirische Volksliedwerk are organising two days of folk music workshops. The first is on Saturday April 28th, from 10am to 6.30pm, at the Zezula Inn, 8761 Pöls, and the second on October 20th, 10am to 6.30pm.
On
Saturday September 29th, at 7.30pm, in the Manuel Lekuona CultureHouse,
Lasarte-Oria, the 4th Lasarte-Oria Accordion Festival Concert takes
place. The artistes performing are Enrike Zelaia, Nathalie
Boucheix (France), the Elsene Accordion Orchestra (Holland), and
the Zero Sette Akordeoi Orkestra.
“I have seen photos of Santa Marsala diatonic accordions, circa 1960s-80s. I know they are no longer made, but I was wondering if there is some store in Europe that still has some on hand. Can you please help? I live in Chicago, USA.”
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New
exhibition area: "musikbiz"
There
is an official presentation in this edition of Musikmesse: the “Certificate
of Origin and Quality” for the accordions “Made in Castelfidardo”.
The
Manufacturers
requesting seals and certificates to the consortium must undersign
the regulations who engage themselves to conform to construction
norms, handed on from generation to generation until today, and
to use select materials and components exclusively produced by Castelfidardo
craftsmen. 
World
Premiere, Mons - Belgium
The duo Nuevo Mundo - accordionist Lácides Romero Meza, Professor at National Pedagogical University of Bogota, and the clarinettist Francisco Javier Rivera - won a music competition, organised by the Bogota Philarmonic Orchestra, held on February 21st.
The release of the Dutch-based Bosnian classical accordionist Nihad Hrustanbegovic’s first solo album ‘The Best of Concert Accordion’ will be on March 27th 2007. The debut presentation of this CD will be on the National Dutch television in the most famous Dutch TV Show – ‘De wereld draait door’ - on March 28th. 
The
annual 
Together
with 
Since
the closing of "Ring of Fire", the Broadway show which featured
Jeff Lisenbyon accordion in the story of Johnny Cash, Jeff has been
working on his home turf in Nashville, Tennessee where he appears
regularly with high profile groups.
Accordionist Ivano Battiston leads a seminar in Castelfranco Veneto on March 23rd and 24th. The seminar includes technical aspects of accordion construction and maintenance.
A concert featuring Isabella Krapf – harmonica, and Susanna Hertel – guitar takes place, 5pm and 7pm (two performances), at Harmonikazentrum Graz 8020, Griesgasse 24, Graz.
A
performance of Sofia Gubaidulina’s ‘Seven Words’,
by 
The
sixth international competition of young musicians “Ohrid Pearls”
will take place in Ohrid, Macedonia from 16th – 20th June 2007
under the auspices of “Music And Ballet Pedagogues Association
Of Republic Of Macedonia”.
On
Saturday September 29th, at 7.30pm, in the Manuel Lekuona CultureHouse,
Lasarte-Oria, the 4th Lasarte-Oria Accordion Festival Concert takes
place. The artistes performing are Enrike Zelaia, 
