Contributed by David Batty

The International Accordion Festival was held from March 26th to 30th at the Blackpool Holiday Centre, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. There was a great variety of accordion entertainment including Steve Roxton (Jersey) who also demonstrated the accordion at Trade stalls. Barbara Ann Martindale (Canada) played a selection of classical pieces and presented the Masterclass.

Also performing were The Alexander Brothers, Alexander Korbakov (Russia), Roberto Enzo (Italy), Johnny Duncan and various accordion orchestras. Gary Blair (Scotland) with his ceilidh dance band provided dance music every evening. George Hicks organised a buskers workshop and the accordion auction included the sale of a 156-year-old instrument.

Contributed by Wu Jie

From April 16th to 24th a Russian Delegation will hold the First Russian Art Festival in China, performing concerts in nine cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Changchun, Shenyang, Dalian and Qingdao, sponsored by the Cultural Department of China.

The delegation of over 100 musicians, dancers and singers includes five accordionists performing solo, duet and orchestral Russian folk music. It is estimated that there will be over 500,000 people attending their performances.

Contributed by Dr. Herbert Scheibenreif

Finnish accordionist Mika Väyrynen has just completed his tour of Austria, performing at the Musikschule Neunkirchen, Kärnten, Wolfsberg, Hermagor, Villach and Klagenfurt. He also gave a masterclass at the conservatory in Klagenfurt. His program included arrangements of classical works like "Holberg Suite" (Grieg), "Gott unter uns" (Messiaen), contemporary original compositions and virtuoso entertainment music which was appreciated by the audience.

Mika Väyrynen has won many prizes in international Competitions and has recorded 5 CDs. He is a member of the Music Committee of the "Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes". He actively works with composers in order to develop new literature for the accordion.

Contributed by Renzo Ruggieri

On Saturday March 18th, the "Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese" (conducted by Giorgio Mezzanotte) featuring accordionist Eugenia Marini, held a concert at the Maruccino Theatre in Chieti, Italy. The programme included pieces by Boccherini, Villa-Lobos and Piazzolla. Eugenia Marini is President of the AIFC (Classical Accordion Association of Italy) and has been active for many years in the promotion of accordion culture in Italy and abroad. This concert is part of a national tour during which she will play with prestigious Italian orchestras.

"SPRING CONCERT" TO FEATURE IN TELEVISION DOCUMENTARY - USA

Contributed by Kevin Friedrich

The upcoming concert of the University of Missouri, Kansas City Accordion Orchestra (UMKC) under the direction of Joan C. Sommers will be filmed as part of a television documentary. The concert which is the 37th Annual Spring concert for the orchestra, will be held on Sunday, April 26th, at 2pm in the White Recital Hall, on the University of Missouri-Kansas City Campus.

The 25 piece orchestra will present a challenging program, ranging from original accordion orchestra compositions to elaborate orchestral transcriptions. For program details email: 72753.2567@compuserve.com For ticket information please phone: + 1 816 235-2700

Contributed by Intermusik

On June 27th, an accordion festival for soloists and duos will be held in Todtmoos, Germany organised by the Akkordeon-Orchester Todtmoos and the Deutschen Harmonika-Verband Bezirk Dreilandereck. Accordionists from Switzerland and France have been invited to attend. For further information phone Thomas Luthy: + 49 7674 909120

Contributed by Christine Adams

On Sunday April 5th, accordionists from Auckland and Hamilton performed at Auckland's famous fun park, Rainbow's End. The venue has proved so popular with accordionists and fun park visitors that this is the third consecutive year the concerts have been held. A great variety of items were performed to the appreciative crowd by soloists and seven accordion orchestras.

Contributed by Vladimir Ushakov

On April 6th an accordion concert, "Accordion on the threshold of the 21st century", was held in the Concert Hall of the St. Petersburg Academic Capella, Russia. The opening performance was by the ladies folk-quartet "Ivushka" lead by Alla Gavrilova who played three popular traditional compositions. The group consists of traditional Russian instruments such as the domra and accordion.

Next, Dmitri Belekhov and Nikolay Sidelnikov demonstrated accordions with new construction of the right hand keyboard. They are both students of Nikolay Kravtosov (Professor of St. Petersburg Academy of Culture). Oleg Bichkov and Dmitry Gvozdkov then played music by Nagaev, Musiccini, Van Damme, Peshkov and Galiano

The second half of the concert featured Viacheslav Semionov, performing his own compositions including Rhapsody for Bayan "Bramsiana" and "Baskariada", a new composition he played with the "Skomorokhi" Ensemble led by Victor Akulovic.

Contributed by Tsutomu Tom Inouye

For the last three weeks in Tobu World Square (a park famous for its 1/25 miniature models of historically and culturally famous monumental buildings) in Tokyo, Japan, "French Weeks" have been held. During the weekends, accordionist Wolfgang Hoelzle has been performing musette music to enthusiastic audiences.

From December 3rd to 8th the VI International Accordion Competition "Arrasate Hiria" will be held by the Gipuzkoa Accordion Confederation at the Arrasate Town Hall, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The competition is open to soloists under the age of 32 and applications close on September 30th.

Diplomas, trophies and prizemoney of 850,000 pesetas will be awarded to the first three placegetters and the competition winner will be invited to perform at the VII International Competition in 1999.

For further information see Future Events

Contributed by Paul Rogers

On April 25th Those Darn Accordions will perform at a private party for Drew Carey and the cast of The Drew Carey Show. They last performed for Drew on January 26th at the 25th Annual American Music Awards on ABC television to an estimated 10 million viewers. They are honoured to be invited to perform at this party.

Contributed by Alison Macfarlane

The St Albans Festival will be held from July 1st to 12th with a melodeon workshop by Frederic Paris on July 12th at 10 am. Frederic's group "Achille" (France) will be playing for a dance workshop with John Stewart at 12 noon and in an open-air concert which begins at 3pm.

On Friday night July 10th, a concert, featuring the Chipolata brothers (melodeon) will be held and the 24 piece Committee band (including accordionists) will perform at the Saturday night dance. Local accordionists will be squeezing away during the whole festival.

For further information email: Alison.Macfarlane@perinat.ox.ac.uk

Contributed by Wu Jie

A new competition titled "The First International Accordion Competition of China" is expected to be an important event with cash prizes believed to be the largest in China's history. As well as golden cups made in America and certificates of merit, the cash prize for the winner of the senior section is US$6,000 and for the junior section US$2,000.

Contributed by Tsutomu Tom Inouye

On May 30th, the Hirayama Accordion Orchestra will perform their annual concert at Kawasaki City Industrial Hall, Musashi-kosugi, Kanagawa prefecture, Tokyo, Japan. The orchestra of 15 members performs several concerts each year in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Their most recent was a joint concert with the Kanagawa Women's Choir.

Conductor Mr Hirayama along with seven teachers tutor 80 students at fourteen locations in the Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures.

The Trophee Marcel Azzola competition will be held in France from May 22nd to 24th. The jury consists of Marcel Azzola, Lina Bossati, Jean-Marc Marroni, Benjamin Oleinikoff and Peter Soave. The closing date for entries is April 22nd. For further information phone: + 33 4 42 70 14 36

Contributed by Diego Reis

Brazilian accordionist, Diego Reis and his band "Quenga de Coco" have been performing together for three years and have just recorded their second CD. Diego plays the accordion, sings and composes songs for band members who play accordion, guitar, keyboards, bass, drums and percussion.

They perform a very popular style of music in Brazil called "forró" which features the accordion. Many great Brazilian accordionists perform "forró" music including Dominguinhos, Oswaldinho, Sivuca, Mestre Camarão and Waldonys.

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif

Klaus Paier was the first Austrian accordionist to obtain his jazz diploma at the Klagenfurt Conservatory. He has composed nearly all the music on his new CD titled "Accordion" and considers it a special challenge to use the accordion in performing and developing a moving language of music incorporating jazz phrasing and swing improvisation as well as the melancholic mood of the Tango.

His two accompanists Stefan Gfrerer (bass) and Roman Werni (drums) far exceed the functional role of rhythm section and the trio has developed a style of interaction reminiscent of chamber music. It is obvious that the musicians get just as much pleasure from their music as the listeners.

Subject: Accordion Sold

My instrument is now sold. It only took three days after appearing in the Accordion Yellow Pages. THANK YOU!

Keith Anderson