Contributed by Frédéric Deschamps

On October 31st and November 1st, master classes were held by two entirely different performers with almost opposite repertoires: Maurice Larcange, the "Musette Star" and Pascal Contet, a specialist in contemporary music. The two classes took place in a new school run by Jérôme Richard and Frédéric Deschamps in Paris, as a way of inaugurating the school.

Maurice Larcange shared his professional experience by covering on-stage behaviour, choosing a pseudonym, dangers and traps of the profession, information about the many works composed by him, and advice on album recording.

Pascal Contet incites and provokes composers to write works for the accordion. During his masterclass, students shared his "Techno-Electro-Acoustical" experiences, and had a taste of improvisation by creating an ensemble piece. The entire weekend proved full of surprises.

Contributed by Sean Minnie

On November 28th the West Rand Branch of the Boer Music Club will hold a Concertina concert at the Roodepoort Town Hall. Younger musicians are encouraged to perform at this event to gain performance skills.

For further information phone Oom Ben Low: + 27 011 764 2205

Contributed by Intermusik Newspaper

Russian accordionist Efim Jourist will perform a concert on December 11th with his quartet in the Small Music Hall in Hamburg, playing an exciting program of Russian composed tangos. The quartet will also be performing on New Years Eve (December 31st) at 8pm at the same venue.

Contributed by Jos Vaney

Prizewinners of the international accordion competition Coupe Mondiale, Marielle Roy (France), Frederic Baldo (France) and Daniel Lis (Poland) gave concerts on November 8th at "De Weijer" in Boxmeer and November 9th at "Gaviolizaal" in Helmond. The concerts were organised and sponsored by Stichting "De Weijer", "Accordeana", Taverne Verberne, Rest-O-Ricus, Logisch Bed, and Muziekhandel Arie Willems BV.

The audience enjoyed the high level of these world class accordionists who performed a variety of pieces including Sonata in E Major (Scarlatti), "Tea for Toots" and "New York Tango" (R.Galliano), "Valse du clown" (F. Angelis) and "Winterbilder Suite" (A. Kusjakov).

Contributed by Paul Rogers

Those Darn Accordions performed a popular concert at the "Palms Playhouse" in Davis, California on November 14th. The group have been making plans for 1999. In January, they will start taping for the Penn & Teller's Sin City show in Las Vegas. Following this they will do a live show in Las Vegas. In March they would like to do a live CD recording of their performance at "The Freight & Salvage" in Berkeley, California.

Contributed by Kimmo Mattila

On November 14th an accordion day for young players was held in Kärkölä, near Lahti, organised by the Finnish Accordion Teachers' Association. This annual event, which has been successfully run for the last four years, is designed so accordionists can perform their own repertoire and receive an "official" opinion from the jury. However no places or prizes are awarded. This year over 100 accordion students from music institutes in the Häme district performed and many teachers and parents had the opportunity to meet each other and receive positive stimulus for playing.

Contributed by Linda Czerniak

On November 22nd, French accordionist Jean-Louis Noton will perform a concert at the Arriva Ristorante in Warren, Michigan organised by The Michigan Accordion Society. In addition, accordionist Peter Soave has arranged a "Surprise Opening Act."

Jean-Louis is currently touring the USA, performing concerts in Texas, Michigan and Wisconsin. For further information phone: + 1 313 563-3376

Contributed by Tanya Bozic

The Young Accordionists Association of Calgary will celebrate their Winter Concert at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, South West Calgary on December 13th. The Senior and Intermediate Jarosh Ensembles will perform as well as soloists. There will also be a contest for children who will make accordion sculptures from playdough.

For further information email: hbozic@netway.ab.ca

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

On November 14th, accordionist Lucio Raggiunti was interviewed live by the radio station "Tempo Italiano" on WEEX 1230 AM Radio in Pennsylvania. Show host Pamela Richetta contacted Lucio via telephone for the interview which covered Lucio's history, future projects and featured music from his Compact Disc.

Lucio was appointed Treasurer of the Canadian Accordion Club at a recent meeting in Toronto where they had a full house of club members attending. Included was a performance by accordionist Pasquale Lorello from Kitchener, Ontario.

Contributed by Christine Adams

On November 15th over fifty accordionists travelled by double-decker bus from Auckland to perform at the "Top Notch" family accordion concert in Nawton, Hamilton organised by the Waikato Accordion Orchestra.

An enthusiastic audience enjoyed performances by five accordion orchestras and soloists including Maurice Jones and Lionel Reekie.

Accordionist Guy Klucevsek has been invited to perform at the Experimenta 98 Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Klucevsek will perform a solo recital of American accordion music on December 5th at the ICI (Instituto de Cultura de España). On December 7th he will present a workshop for composers.

For further information email Claudio Koremblit at: experimenta@datamarkets.com.ar

Contributed by Sergei Latjishev

From November 7th to 14th bayanist Youry Sidorov (Russia) performed concerts in the Netherlands. Sidorov has performed twice before in the Netherlands as a soloist and to accompany the "Choir of Don Kazak" under Marcel Verhoeff.

This year's concerts were organised by Vita Nova and Peter Klaver from Alkmaar. Youry Sidorov and the "Choir of Don Kazak" gave 51 concerts and workshops. Local Radio stations also broadcast part of their program.

Contributed by David Batty

The Leyland Accordion Club have just released their own audio cassette, which includes 90 minutes of accordion solos from club members who volunteered to record on the cassette and chose their own tunes. Players include David Batty, Tom Bennett, Basil Berry, Ian Carter, Andrew Figg, George Hicks, Robert Hood, Agnes Mclaren, Rebecca Postlewaite and Leo and Les Thurston.

Professional accordionists Steve Roxton and Walter Perrie, (who are also club members) have added tracks such as Under Paris Skies, Figaro's Aria, Whistling Rufus, Scottish Jigs, Luci E Ombre, Coquette, La Valse Des As and Parissiene Holiday Medley.

Altogether eighty tracks consisting of three hours of accordion solos have been recorded on two cassettes entitled Volume 1 (out now) and Volume 2 which will be released for Christmas.

Contributed by Kimmo Mattila

An accordion week was held in Nakkila from November 6th to 15th organised by the Nakkila Accordion Society. During this time, many concerts and events were held in schools and factories in Nakkila. The idea of the week is to promote the accordion for people in their normal daily working place. A competition for young accordionists was also held.

Contributed by Li Cong

Last month, a double cassette called "Accordion Light Music" was released by Liao Yi Xuan, an accordion teacher at the YunNan Conservatory. The set includes a mixture of light music and traditional accordion pieces that you can sing or play along with.

Liao Yi Xuan has been playing the accordion for over 20 years and after graduating from the YunNan Conservatory, decided to stay at the school as an accordion teacher. He is well known in the YunNan Province and has taught many accordionists during his teaching career.

For further information phone:+86 871-5321503

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif

The 1998 festival of contemporary music "Wien Modern" was dedicated to composers from the "borders of Europe", including Russia, Lithuania, Finland, Bulgaria and Roumania. Professor Alfred Melichar, accordion teacher at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, has worked with many composers of contemporary music. His program at this festival consisted of a solo piece by Edison Denissow (Des ténèbres à la lumière) and chamber music by Violeta Dinescu (Ruga for saxophone, accordion and double-bass), Mindaugas Urbaitis (Recycling tango for saxophone, accordion, double-bass and percussion), Karmella Tsepkolenko (Wenn die Kette zerisse, fände sie bestimmt nicht all Perlen wieder for saxophone, accordion, double-bass and percussion). The enthusiastic audience also had the chance to listen to Sofia Gubaidulina's "Seven Words" for accordion, violoncello and string orchestra.

Contributed by Robert Chudek

The first jam session of the Minnesota Accordion Club (MAC) was held on November 8th in Maplewood, Minneapolis. The audience enjoyed a wide variety of music styles from a number of accordionists including Bob Fry on MIDI accordion, the von Hoeg family trio, Lloyd Krob and Tom Sullivan who performed on MIDI accordion and vocals.

Robert Chudek, Dee Langley and Tom Sullivan joined together to perform "Corrine" and Dee gathered everyone together for a popular "Group Squeeze".

Contributed by Oliver Dutt

Accordion manufacturer Harmona Akkordeon GmbH will be moving its production from Klingenthal to Markneukirchen, Germany, staying in the Vogtland region where accordions have been manufactured since 1852. Company President Mr Dieter Froehlich, expects the initial start of construction to be in July 1999. Harmona Akkordeon GmbH manufactures the Weltmeister brand of accordions.

http://www.accordions.com/dmitriev Well known Russian accordion professor and concert artist

http://www.accordions.com/tula Russian accordion and reed manufacturer

http://www.accordionsearch.com Search engine dedicated to all bellows-driven instruments