Breaking News, Gert Nijkamp
Murdered - Netherlands
Gert
Nijkamp from the Musiekhuis Gert Nijkamp in Apeldoorn, Holland has
been shot this morning outside of the school of his son - 21st of
June!
He has run this musikhuis for 20 years and has just recently organised
an accordion weekend with Renzo
Ruggieri as special guest on the 2/3 June.
It appears that two people on motorcycles came next to his car and
shot him through the window in gangland style. This murder is possibly
connected to the Casino Gert Nijkamp was planning to open. Gert Nijkamp
who was 47 years of age and leaves behind: a son and wife Anita.
An updated report from the Dutch Police says that the Police sent
sms messages to over 2,500 people in the area of the Primary School
to try and get a better description of the person who fired the gun
shots and for general leads to find the murderers.
The
5th International
Competition (World Championships) for Styrian and Diatonic Accordion
was held in Sterzing/Vitipeno, Italy from June 7th to 10th. The event,
which offered both national and international categories for contestants
from any country in the world, finally attracted about 130 candidates
from Austria, Italy, Germany, Slovenia and the Ukraine.
The level of the performances is constantly improving. All the contestants
showed a wide range of music including variations of common themes
and melodies from all the established diatonic-composers, and had
great success by charming their public in the crowded Teatro Comunale
Vitipeno.
The winner of the international senior class was the young Tyrolean
Markus Oberleitner who already had won the junior class in Saalfelden
two years ago, and the 2nd and 3rd prizewinners Matej Banovsek and
Primoz Zvir came from Slovenia. The young German Michael Rettig (pictured below) won
the junior-section, and once again the runners-up Necj Pacnik and
Matic Stavar came from Slovenia. National prize-winners in their respective
categories were Martin Josef Jungmaier (A) (left), Verena Kapl (B), Luis
Geiser (C) and Andrea Kern (D).
The whole competition was a great success for the Austrian Harmonica Society (HVOe), who held this international championship for the fifth time. The next event is scheduled in St. Johann/Tyrol in the period of May/June 2009.
Contributed by Minna Plihtari, Public Relations Manager
The
35th Sata-Häme Soi accordion festival will take place from 26th
June to 1st July in Ikaalinen Finland (download
English program 300KB). Set amidst the idyllic parks and wooden
houses of lakeside Ikaalinen, this large-scale annual accordion festival
attracts about 30,000 visitors and 800 Finnish and foreign performers
every year.
The
festival includes all genres of accordion music, formal and informal
concerts, dances. (Download
Festival color brochure - 1.4MB). Each year Finnish traditional
accordion music is heard alongside styles from many other cultures,
including French musette, Russian music, Argentine tango, accordion
jazz, American Tex-Mex and Zydeco, plus lots of Latin.
Accordion competitions are an essential part of the festival program
and includes the Finnish Accordion Folk Music Championships, The ‘Golden
Accordion’ competition will take place on June 27th, and a highlight
of the festival will be the third International Primus Ikaalinen Accordion
Competition which will be broadcast live on Finnish TV on Friday 29th
June.
Seven international contestants have been invited to take part. Pietro
Adragna (Italy), Julien
“Speedy” Gonzales (France), Wang Ii (China), Amaia
Iraola (Spain), Grayson
Masefield (New Zealand), Veronika Todorova (Bulgaria), Bojan Volcevski
(Macedonia) plus the winner of The Golden Accordion 2007, Finland.
The Jury for this live TV show will be Renzo
Ruggieri (Italy), Kevin
Friedrich (New Zealand), Frédéric
Deschamps (France), Alexander Poeluev (Russia), Mika
Väyrynen (Finland) and Klaus Järvinen (Finland). These
competitions are televised live throughout Finland, and always make
compulsive viewing.
The
International guests will be headlined by Italian Renzo
Ruggieri (Italy - picture right) who will perform with the Finnish
Olmarin Unioni Quartet. Other international guest artists include
Alexander
Shirunov (Russia), Alexander Poeluev (Russia), Julien
‘Speedy’ Gonzales (France) & Cyril Carbonne (clarinet),
Valentin Osipov (Russia - concertina and xylophone), the Baltic Accordion
Quintet, and the band Zum featuring Edward Hession (UK).
The
Pineto Jazz Accordion Festival, which takes place from July 20th
to 22nd, aims to highlight and encourage jazz accordion. Performers
include Renzo
Ruggieri, Luciano Biondini, Renato Borghetti (Brazil), Sergio
Caputo (USA), and the Dixieland Brass Band, directed by Pine Mannello.
Entrance to all concerts is entirely free.
In recent years the annual attendance has grown from 2,500 to 4,000,
and accordionists featured in previous festivals include Peppino
Principe, Art
Van Damme, Frank Marocco, Germano Mazzocchetti and Renzo
Ruggieri. The festival takes place in the beautiful coastal
town of Pineto near to Pescara Airport.
Joxan
Goikoetxea, Accordions Worldwide’s new Spanish news collaborator,
is soon to tour Italy with the Balen Lopez de Munain quartet. His
dates include:
July 26th – Rovito, Calabria
27th – Verona
29th - de Julio – Gorlago, Bergamo
August 2nd - Montecavoli, Pisa, Music Festival
3rd - Friuli
5th - Varese Jazz
6th - Trento Claustro del Centro Cultural, Santa Chiara
8th – Altamura, Puglia
Riccardo Galimi and Gianluca Casadei have been awarded maximum points
in their Jazz Music Diploma courses at the Pareggia Music Institute.
They are the first graduates of the special jazz course taught by
Renzo Ruggieri.
Luca prepared his thesis on the accordionist Antonello Salis, and
Riccardo on the pianist Theloniuos Monk.
The
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) Traditional Music
Grade Exams would like to announce that they will be implementing
an exam sessions up to Grade 5 in three syllabuses – fiddle,
accordion and harp. Their first exam session will be held during the
RSAMD Fèis (festival) in Glasgow from October 21st to 28th
2007.
RSAMD reports receiving financial backing for the validation of the syllabii and the website featuring full syllabii and registration details, to be announced at an official launch of the exam program in late July or early August.
‘Many Facets of the Harmonica’ Concert, Vienna - Austria
Contributed by Hermi Kaleta
A harmonica concert takes place on Thursday June 21st, 7pm, in the Blauen Theater of the Franz Schubert Conservatory, Mariahilferstraße 51/II, Stock, 1060 Vienna. The performers include the students of the harmonica and accordion classes of Christian Höller, and the Isabella Krapf harmonica quartet. The music demonstrates the versatility of the harmonica by covering everything from JS Bach to jazz, Russian themes to Astor Piazzolla.
After
the very successful Musical Festival in Scarborough in May 2007, the
NAO Executive Committee are delighted to have accepted an offer to
hold the 2008 festival on the North west Coast of England at the famous
seaside town of Blackpool.
The event will be held in the centre of the town on the famous Blackpool
North Pier and at the nearby magnificent Metropole Hotel from Friday
25th to Sunday 27th April 2008. (Download
Acrobat File - size 250KB).
The Festival hotel, which will host the traditional trade show and
the Opening International Gala as well as competitions throughout
the weekend is anticipated to fill the accommodation quickly so promptly
make your bookings..
Anne
Landa this month inaugurates a new higher course of study for
accordion in Madrid. The course aims to develop an accordionist’s
formation as a musician.
The cultural association Acco Land, is responsible for organising
the new course, which is open to Spanish and overseas accordionists.
The course offers flexible modes of study, concerts, and the opportunity
to meet other accordion students in Madrid.
IMAC
(Peter Soave, Madeleine Soave and Jean-Louis Noton - picture left)
offers 7 days of workshops, lectures, master-classes and private instruction
in a professional setting that harmonizes nature and learning.
Professional and amateur participants of all ages gather from around
the world at IMAC
Courses to perform, train, and share the beautiful art of the
accordion.
During the seminar all lectures, lessons, meals and room accommodation
is in a center that emphasizes camaraderie and progress in a friendly
environment.
Aside from music making, once can enjoy the breathtaking panorama
of the Italian Dolomites in Sauris, Italy (Venice/Udine region) on
July 22nd to – 29th and August 1st to 8th.
The
International Tango Quintet, featuring accordionist Franko Bozac,
will be performing Piazzolla Tangos on Wednesday June 27th, 1.05 pm,
at the Dukes Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London
NW1 5HT. Owen
Murray is the resident accordion professor at the Royal Academy
of Music.
The International Tango Quintet program includes ‘Resurreccion
del angel’, ‘Verana Perteno’, ‘Milonga del
angel’, ‘Escualo’, ‘Biyuya’, and ‘Libertango’.
Admission is free.
The 17th National Accordion Competition, the 7th International Competition
for Classical and Variety accordion, and the 9th Premier International
Competition for concert accordionists, takes place from 5th to 7th
October in the Fedele Fenaroli Theater, Lanciano. Entrance is free
to all events.
International
Accordion Summer Seminar, Palanga - Lithuania
The International Accordion Summer Seminar run by the Lithuanian Accordion
Association takes place in Palanga from August 1st to 7th. The event
includes accordion orchestra rehearsals conducted by Professor Ricardas
Sviackevicius, lessons, master classes, and concerts.
Teachers
include Ricardas and Raimondas
Sviackevicius, (picture left), Eduardas
Gabnys, Zita Abromaviciute, Danielius Rozovas, Genadijus
Savkovas, and – by special invitation - Joachim Pichura,
from Katowice Music Academy, Poland.
At 5pm every evening there will be pupils concerts from different
regions of Lithuania or teaching.
At
7pm every evening there will be concerts. Performers include:
Urszula Mizia (cello, Poland) Dan Lonnquist (organ, Finland); Duo
from Moscow.(Bobysheva class); LMTA students accordion orchestra (picture
below with conductor Ricardas Sviackevicius); Trio Chill Out (picture
right); Raimondas
Sviackevicius and Danielius Rozovas students class concerts; Duo
Velikis-Mihajlovs; And others
The
course 2007-2008 of the Accordion High School of the Istituto Musicale
Pareggiato ‘G.Lettimi’, Rimini, consists in 7 master class
with Claudio
Jacomucci (resident teacher - picture left), Yuri Shishkin (Russia),
Geir Draugsvoll (Denmark), James Crabb (Denmark) and Luciano Biondini
(Italy).
The master classes (3 days each) will be held in the period October 2007 to June 2008 according to a schedule. The course is aimed at graduated students, professional musicians or accordion teachers.
The participation fee is 1.000 euros (plus 20 euros for subscription).
The subscription and a deposit of 200 euros has to be sent before
July 15th 2007. To apply for subscription, send a email with your
CV to info@claudiojacomucci.com
before June 31st. The number of participants is limited. For further
information email: info@claudiojacomucci.com
Yehuda Oppenheimer update 2 arrangements of 'Young Love', and ‘Jaffa Nights’. Samples of the music are available online. The music is in eSheet format, able to be emailed to your computer. Purchase with credit card.
The Confédération
Mondiale L'Accordéon - CMA website with the rules and regulations
of the 2007 Trophée Mondial de l'Accordéon to be hosted
in Samara, Russia.
English
Deutsch
Français
Italiano 
Español
Chinese 
Russian 
Gert
Nijkamp from the Musiekhuis Gert Nijkamp in Apeldoorn, Holland has
been shot this morning outside of the school of his son - 21st of
June! 
The
The winner of the international senior class was the young Tyrolean
Markus Oberleitner who already had won the junior class in Saalfelden
two years ago, and the 2nd and 3rd prizewinners Matej Banovsek and
Primoz Zvir came from Slovenia. The young German Michael Rettig (pictured below) won
the junior-section, and once again the runners-up Necj Pacnik and
Matic Stavar came from Slovenia. National prize-winners in their respective
categories were Martin Josef Jungmaier (A) (left), Verena Kapl (B), Luis
Geiser (C) and Andrea Kern (D).
The whole competition was a great success for the Austrian Harmonica Society (HVOe), who held this international championship for the fifth time. The next event is scheduled in St. Johann/Tyrol in the period of May/June 2009.
The
35th Sata-Häme Soi accordion festival will take place from 26th
June to 1st July in Ikaalinen Finland (
The
festival includes all genres of accordion music, formal and informal
concerts, dances. (
The
International guests will be headlined by Italian 
The
Pineto Jazz Accordion Festival, which takes place from July 20th
to 22nd, aims to highlight and encourage jazz accordion. Performers
include 
In recent years the annual attendance has grown from 2,500 to 4,000,
and accordionists featured in previous festivals include 
Joxan
Goikoetxea
The
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) Traditional Music
Grade Exams would like to announce that they will be implementing
an exam sessions up to Grade 5 in three syllabuses – fiddle,
accordion and harp. Their first exam session will be held during the
RSAMD Fèis (festival) in Glasgow from October 21st to 28th
2007.
Accordionists
Anne
Landa
The
International Tango Quintet, featuring accordionist Franko Bozac,
will be performing Piazzolla Tangos on Wednesday June 27th, 1.05 pm,
at the Dukes Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London
NW1 5HT. 
Montagna
Folk Festival, Pistoia - Italy
International
Accordion Summer Seminar, Palanga - Lithuania
Teachers
include Ricardas and 
At
7pm every evening there will be concerts. Performers include:
The
course 2007-2008 of the Accordion High School of the Istituto Musicale
Pareggiato ‘G.Lettimi’, Rimini, consists in 7 master class
with 
