Accordions Worldwide The Squeeze

5th June 1998
- Weekly Accordion News from around the world -
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Editors note:

Whew! What a great weekend of competitions, with over 400 entries at the New Zealand Championships. It's great to see how this competition has developed over the past few years, and what a well organised committee can do. When everyone pulls together, it's amazing how great the accordion world can be! I'm currently on tour with a quintet I'm in, along with Maurice Jones, Bernadette Conlon (1998 South Pacific champion) and Paula Harris (1998 New Zealand champion).

Wayne Knights
Webmaster

This weeks news:

South Pacific Championships - New Zealand
Scottish Accordionists to Perform in the Middle East
10th Annual Accordion Concert – Japan
Lips Performs in Slovakia
Jazz Accordion Class in Chongqing – China
Ivano Battiston in Concert at Villa Caruso – Italy
Battle of the Bands in New Orleans – USA
First International Accordion Meeting – Austria
Leyland Accordion Club – UK
Success in the Teaching Field – Ukraine
New Accordion Club in Perth – Australia
Festival Celebrations - Austria
Paris Accordion Concert – France
New Book on MIDI Accordion – Italy
Russian Festival Concert – USA
World Record for Largest Accordion Orchestra – Germany
Accordion Concerts in Switzerland
Accordion Quintet Features on Breakfast Television – New Zealand
Tango Fever in Dresden - Germany
Day of the Accordion! – USA


SOUTH PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS - NEW ZEALAND

Contributed by Christine Adams

The New Zealand South Pacific Accordion Championships and festival was held in Auckland from May 29th to 31st. The successful event included contestants from China and Australia, who were welcomed at a social gathering. In addition to the competition categories, guest accordionists performed festival items including Tracey Collins, Maurice Jones, Grant "Yogi" Martin, North Shore Accordiana Orchestra and the quintet "SCWALT". Campbell Bettridge and Charlotte Rutherford performed 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody as a memorial to the late Samantha Rutherford, an outstanding young accordionist who passed away shortly after last year's festival.

Results of the South Pacific Accordion Solo classes were as follows:

12 years and under
  1st Guo Yue Ming (China)
15 years and under
  1st Guo Xias Feng (China)
Premier Championship Solo
  1st Bernadette Conlon (Australia)
New Zealand Solo Accordion Championship
  1st Paula Harris

The senior orchestra class was a close battle between last year's champions, the West Auckland Accordion Orchestra (conducted by Erica Knights) and the North Shore Musicale (conducted by Lionel Reekie), with the Musicale orchestra winning by half a mark!


SCOTTISH ACCORDIONISTS TO PERFORM IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Contributed by Gary Blair

Accordionist Gary Blair and his Ceilidh Band (Scotland) have been invited to perform for the Dubai Caledonian Society's ''Chieftains Ball'' at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dubai in the Middle East on June 18th. They will play Scottish dance music to over 300 guests.

A few hours after they return from the 5-day trip, they will be playing at a Ceilidh in Drymen, Scotland


10TH ANNUAL ACCORDION CONCERT - JAPAN

Contributed by Tsutomu Inouye

The Hirayama Accordion Society held their 10th Annual Accordion Concert on May 30th at the Kawasaki Industrial Hall, Kawasaki. Twenty six accordionists performed over two hours of solos, duets and ensemble music including Annen Polka (Strauss), La Campanella (Paganini), Czardas (Monti), Jolly Caballero (Frossini), Esprit (Remar), Olive Blossoms (Frossini) and Andalusia (Requona) to an enthusiastic audience of 200 people.


LIPS PERFORMS IN SLOVAKIA

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif

Accordionist Friedrich Lips was invited to the International Festival for Chamber Music held in Zvolen, Slovakia, where he had the pleasure of performing at the closing concert. His program, which included works by Derbenko, Berinskij, Gubaidulina, Mozart, Albeniz, Schubert, Rossini and Piazzolla was well acclaimed by the public.

Over the next three months, Lips will be holding seminars in Kragujevac (Yugoslavia), Alcobaça (Portugal) and Portogruaro (Italy).


JAZZ ACCORDION CLASS IN CHONGQING - CHINA

Contributed by Wu Jie

Accordionist Mr Yue Wei (President and teacher at Chongqing Art College) plans to hold a Jazz Accordion Class at the college during the summer vacation. The class will enable over 30 students to study how to play and write jazz accordion music. Yue Wei has studied jazz accordion in Japan and is eager to teach this style of music in China.


IVANO BATTISTON IN CONCERT AT VILLA CARUSO - ITALY

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

On May 31st Ivano Battiston held a concert at the Villa Caruso (Lastra a Signa) with a program that was chosen with the Caruso Hall specifically in mind. In addition to works by Piazzolla, Deiro and his own composition "Alter Ego", Battiston performed the premiere of a suite of popular Russian themes by Daniele Zanettovich (dedicated to Igor Stravinskij) and transcriptions of famous opera pieces for classical accordion such as the Pilgrims' Choir from the "Tannhauser" (Wagner) and Cavatina from "The Barber of Seville" (Gioachino Rossini). Battiston is currently teaching at the "Cherubini" Conservatory in Florence.


BATTLE OF THE BANDS IN NEW ORLEANS - USA

Contributed by Kevin Friedrich

The American Accordionists' Association will hold a "Battle of the Bands" competition on July 9th in New Orleans. This competition is open to bands which feature the accordion, bandoneon, button box, concertina, melodeon or any other bellows-driven instrument.

Music styles may include cajun, zydeco, blues, jazz, gospel, tex-mex, rock, alternative music or any other entertaining style. The time limit for each performance is minimum of 15 minutes, maximum of 20 minutes.

The bands will be judged by Art Van Damme, talent scouts and record company personnel. First prize will be $1,000.00. For further information phone: + 1 516 746-3100


FIRST INTERNATIONAL ACCORDION MEETING - AUSTRIA

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

  Entertaining in the Streets The First International Accordion Meeting took place in Wolfsberg from May 22nd to 24th, organised In Concertby the town of Wolfsberg and "Harmonika Müller". The successful weekend included accordionists from Austria and abroad who competed for the "Prize of Wolfsberg" and musicians entertained in the streets of Wolfsberg. A "Mountain Mass" concert was held at the top of the "Kor - und Saualpe" at a height of 1,800m and all players performed together in a final "mega concert".


LEYLAND ACCORDION CLUB - UK CONTEST - BULGARIA

Contributed by David Batty

On May 13th Deirdre Adamson was guest artist at the Leyland Accordion Club meeting. She played a variety of popular pieces including Edinburgh Castle, Clarinet Polka, Black and White Rag, Highland Cathedral, Scottish Waltzes and Reels, Pipe Marches and Canadian Jigs. Following this, six accordionists joined Deirdre playing old time sing-a-long tunes.

Deirdre has just released a new 18 track CD called "The Perfect Blend", that also features Ian Muir (accordion), Richard Currie (piano), Billy Craib (bass guitar) and Malcolm Ross (drums). The CD includes marches, jigs, reels medleys and polkas.


SUCCESS IN THE TEACHING FIELD - UKRAINE

Contributed by Igor Gordienko

On May 27th an accordion concert was held at the Ukraine National Music Academy by Slobodan Sharshevic and Nenad Bogdanovic (4th year students of Pavel Fenjuk). This concert was one of the first teaching presentations by Pavel Fenjuk, who is a laureate of five International Accordion Competitions, renowned artist of Ukraine and associate Professor of the Ukraine National Music Academy. His students have gained prizes in several competitions, including Ivan Letie who won 1st place at the 1st International Accordion Competition, Ukraine in 1995.


NEW ACCORDION CLUB IN PERTH - AUSTRALIA

Contributed by John Dickson

Plans for a new accordion club in Perth, Western Australia began last week with a meeting to set up an organising committee and the first club night planned for August. The success of the Leyland Accordion Club (England) has inspired Perth accordionists to start their own club.

Early in July, there will be accordion performances by Italian accordionist Marcosignori and the Salzburger Accordion Orchestra in Perth.

For further information email: jdickson@global.net.au


FESTIVAL CELEBRATIONS - AUSTRIA Cologne Accordion Orchestra

Contributed by Winfried Haushalter

On May 23rd the 1st Cologne Accordion Orchestra performed a four-hour concert at the Altstadt in Innsbruck, Tyrol. The concert was part of the 6th International Accordion Festival celebrations. The audience were so enthusiastic that the orchestra had to play "Guildo loves you all" (arranged by new conductor Matthias Hennecke) four times. The orchestra's previous conductor (Heinz Gengler) also conducted some popular pieces.

The 1st Cologne Accordion Orchestra was founded in 1935 and currently has 42 members. They have performed in Scandinavia, Europe, USA, South Africa and Brazil.


PARIS ACCORDION CONCERT - FRANCE

Contributed by Herve Latapie

On June 11th the French Accordion Orchestra (Paris) will perform a concert at Le Tango, 13 rue Au Maire, Paris at 9pm. The group consists of sixteen accordionists who play a classical and variety repertoire.

For further information phone: +33 1-40409656


NEW BOOK ON MIDI ACCORDION - ITALY

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

A new book by Renzo Ruggieri on MIDI accordion and keyboards called "Emozioni Elettroniche 2" ("Electric Emotions II") was recently released by the "Edizioni Berben" publishing company in Ancona. The book contains five pieces of varying difficulty intended for musical essays, small concerts and competitions. The style of the pieces is contemporary (rock, pop and jazz) and there is great emphasis on the importance of MIDI sounds during the creative process of composition. One of the pieces imitates the sounds produced by farm animals, two pieces are accompanied by short stories and the remaining two focus on technique and improvisation. All of these compositions were tested on students with excellent results. The musical tracks are available for free (in MIDI File format) by contacting the author: ruggieri@net-uno.it. This book is a sequel to two previous volumes by Renzo Ruggieri ("Tournèe" and "Emozioni Elettroniche 1").


RUSSIAN FESTIVAL CONCERT – USA

Contributed by Dick Hulan

On May 30th the Washington Balalaika Society performed a Russian festival concert at the Lisner Auditorium, Washington DC. Two accordionists, Tamara Volskaya and her husband Anatoly Trofimov performed with the string orchestra.


WORLD RECORD FOR LARGEST ACCORDION ORCHESTRA - GERMANY

Contributed by Horst Hirschmüller

The "Guinness Book of Records" (1998 edition) lists the largest accordion orchestra as having 761 players. On May 1st, a new world record was set with nearly double this number of players at the "Congress Centre Leipzig", Saxony. 1480 students and teachers of the "Musikschule Fröhlich" played "Sachsenlied", "Ode an die Freude" and "Happy Birthday" which was a special tribute to the mass orchestra conductor Dieter Fröhlich (founder and owner of the "Musikschule Fröhlich"), which has 461 locations, more than 600 teachers and over 54,700 students. More than 150 orchestras have successfully performed in Germany and abroad.


ACCORDION CONCERTS IN SWITZERLAND

On May 28th Richard Galliano (accordion) and Michel Portal (clarinet) performed a concert at the Volkshaus, Zurich where they played their own compositions and pieces by Hermeto Pascoal and Astor Piazzolla. Dino Saluzzi also performed with his trio.

The following day a "Swing Accordion" concert was held at the Basel Hotel, Bajazzo, Basel which featured a Jazz quartet with Ruedi Dahinden jun. that performed to a very enthusiastic audience.


ACCORDION QUINTET FEATURES ON BREAKFAST TELEVISION – NEW ZEALAND

Contributed by Lionel Reekie

New Zealand accordion quintet "SCWALT" performed live on the top rating TVNZ breakfast Show "Good Morning" on May 29th. This group, made up of past NZ champion accordionists Sarah Langley and Campbell Bettridge along with Wayne Knights, Lionel Reekie and Tatiana Lanchtchikova, were interviewed about the accordion's increasing popularity and versatility, before playing to a nationwide audience. Show host, Mike Hosking was amazed at the ability of the accordion to play such a wide variety of music from rock and roll to classical and country to baroque.


TANGO FEVER IN DRESDEN - GERMANY

Contributed by Andrea Rautenberg

The "Gare da la Lune" is a well-known location for tango fans in Dresden and the home stage for the "Tango Andorinha Sextett". This group which comprises of two bandoneons, two violins, double bass and piano, is one of three worldwide with classical tango instrumentation.

In May, they represented Germany at the 4th Tango Festival in Portugal which is one of the biggest tango festivals in the world. For the "2nd Dresdner Tangofest" in June, colleagues from Argentina have been invited to perform.


DAY OF THE ACCORDION! - USA

Contributed by Toby Hanson

The 8th annual "Day of the Accordion" will be held on June 21st at the Seattle Center House from 9am to 6pm. The Northwest Accordion Teachers' Association competition will take place from 9am to noon. A concert will be held in the afternoon with guests including Bonnie Birch, Frank Hopfinger with The Joe Spano Combo, Ken Olendorf, Schaefer Brothers, The Smilin' Scandinavians and John Vukonich.

For further information email: jthanson@aa.net


Email of the week

Subject: New email address

Hi!

I love your accordion site, keep up the good work on behalf of the accordion!! Please change my e-mail address, my new e-mail address is: patacchia@hotmail.com

Thank you very much

Bill Patacchia

Hello Bill,

Thanks for the kind words about Accordions Worldwide. Your email address has been updated in our database and will appear online next week.

Yours musically,

Wayne Knights
Webmaster
Accordions Worldwide
http://www.accordions.com



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