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Last Sunday I organised a dinner for 50 people, as there were 3 ex-New Zealand accordionists Kevin Friedrich, Brett Gibson and Kirsten Thompson who happened to all be in New Zealand at the same time (the latter two were here for the first time in 10 years!). A great time was had by all - accordionists have to be among the most friendly people in the world!

Wayne Knights Webmaster

Contributed by David Batty

The Leyland Accordion club have joined the Robot Wars Club to produce a Robot with which to promote the club on UK TV. The robot is currently in the design stage and it is hoped that it will have an accordion design in the paintwork.

The Leyland club are definitely focussing on the future. They have also issued a statement of Y2K (Year 2000 computer) compliance which they believe makes them the first accordion club in the world to make an assessment and publish it.

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif

On February 27th Friedrich Lips will perform at Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London. He will play a variety of works including "De profundis" (S. Gubaidulina), "Cinema" and "Partita" in 4 movements, Cadence, Dance, Choral and Lullaby (Berinsky), Fantasia for Clockwork, F minor, KV 608 (Mozart) and "Sentido Unico" (Piazzolla). Also being performed is "The River of Love" by Vladimir Rjabov. Rjabov is known as a composer of music for chamber and symphony orchestras and this is his first piece for the accordion. He very carefully studied the structure of the accordion whose effects he uses very well. This piece is modern, but very human, tonal, romantic and shows all highs and depths of love.

"Cinema" was written as a test piece for the 1997 Arrasate, Spain competitions. It is a fantasy on the theme of "Cinema" with sudden musical changes. The piece was written in memoriam of the famous composer Nino Rota who worked with Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. Berinsky uses many quotations of Nino Rota.

For further information phone: + 44 181 873 7373

Contributed by Jean-Claude Pouly

The Bienne Music Conservatory have organised an International Accordion week from March 8th to 12th in Bienne, which is in the Northwest of Switzerland.

The event will include concerts, performing & composing workshops, chats with accordionists, composers, manufacturers and musicians from all over Europe.

For further information email: konservatorium@konsi-biel.ch

Contributed by Li Cong

The Beijing Cup Accordion Competition will be held from February 2nd to 5th in Beijing. To date over 300 entries have been received.

In 1998, three major accordion events were held in China:
- July, Golden Cup national accordion competition (537 contestants)
- August, 5th Chinese accordion festival (over 1000 contestants)
- October, Meishi Cup international accordion competition (over 200 Chinese and foreign contestants)

The Beijing Cup Accordion Competition will be the first major Chinese accordion event in 1999.

Contributed by Billie Hockett

On April 10th the "Ad Vielle Que Pourra" concert will be held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, featuring Daniel Thonon, Alain Leroux, Jean-Louis Cros and Nicolas Boulerice.

Accordionist Daniel Thonon founded this group 12 years ago. They perform a mix of music from Brittany, Europe, Quebecois and Cajun music. The evening will start with a concert, followed by a participatory Breton dance.

For further information email: bhockett@music-for-robin.org

Contributed by Kresten Storgaard

On December 17th Danish KDN Cajun Band with accordionist Karen Munholm warmed up the research community at the "Danish Building Research Institute". They performed stirring hot cajun tunes such as "Amedee Twostep", "Flammes d´Enfer" and "Jolie Blonde". The Cajun tunes were just the right medicine to fight winter depression.

Contributed by Vladimir Ushakov

On January 17th a concert of popular accordion music was held at the St. Petersburg Concert Hall. The concert, organised by Victor Dukaltetenko, was dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Vladimir Dmitriev and the 80th anniversary of Youry Shahnov, who were recognised artists of popular accordion music from the 1950's to the 70's in the former Soviet Union. They had many LP recordings, which were very popular and became historical recordings.

Music from their repertoire was played by Victor Ducaltetenko together with the St. Petersburg Musette ensemble, Vladimir Ushakov and Sergei Likhachev. In addition Nina Shahnov, Vladimir Dmitriev Jnr and students from music schools, colleges and the Conservatory performed. Over 500 people enjoyed the concert.

Contributed by Paul Rogers

On January 21st "Those Darn Accordions" traveled to Las Vegas to tape an appearance on Penn & Teller's "Sin City Spectacular". They performed a piece with Penn & Teller and one on their own. Weird Al performed on the show also, which was taped in front of a live audience.

Contributed by Antonio Barberena

Italian born accordionist Aldo Rizzardi (William Pederzoli) died in Mexico on January 9th, at the age of 68. During the 1950´s he was a national Italian Champion.

In the early 1960´s he came to live to Mexico, where he and his brother Sergio founded a Classical Accordion school. Aldo performed many solo concerts and with Symphonic Orchestras. He performed throughout Mexico and recorded more than 20 LP's of popular music. To his many fans, he was known as "The father of the accordion in Mexico".

A popular accordion festival was held in Ploneour-Lanvern, Bretagne on January 23rd and 24th. The festival included concerts and a workshop on the 23rd and a diatonic workshop on the 24th.

Contributed by Toru Katou

On January 24th the "Bellows New Year Live At Middle House" concert was held in Nakano, Tokyo. This free concert included performances of Irish and English traditional music on concertina and melodeon.

Contributed by Mickie Zekley

Registration forms are now available for the Lark In The Morning Music & Dance Celebration 1999 which will be held from July 30th to August 7th. Their 1998 camp sold out within one month so register early!

The camp will host a variety of events including music & dance workshops (Bulgarian, European and Tangos), story telling, parties, dances and performances. Tutors will include accordionists Simo Tesla, John Paul and Iliya Beev.

For further information email: larkinam@larkinam.com

Contributed by Brenda Anaya

Accordionist Antonio Barberena performed a live classical accordion concert recently, along with an interview on the "OP.94 Radio Imer" radio station, which is a popular classical music station in Mexico City. His program included works by Volpi, Scarlatti, Zolotarev and Gardel.

Contributed by Li Cong

A meeting was held by the Sichuan Province Accordion Association last week in Chengdu, chaired by Professor Wu Shouzhi.

1999 Association plans include the following:
1. Organise accordion activities in May, including inviting accordion players from neighbouring provinces for concerts. Professor Wu Shouzhi to undertake subject lectures.
2. Regarding accordion examinations, the association will undertake training of accordion teachers, who can qualify for the association teacher certificate. The accordion examination system will lead to standardisation of accordion qualifications for the Sichuan Province.

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Italian accordionist Renzo Ruggieri is deepening his commitment to the "Alice Project", a jazz group that has released two CD's to date and aims at mixing different aspects of music using improvisation as the binding element. The group gave a Christmas concert in the Auditorium "SS XII Apostoli" in Chieti, Italy on December 20th. The program consisted of pieces composed by double bass player and group leader M. Sebastiani, as well as a special arrangement of "Pastoral Variations" (by M.S. Rousseau). Other instruments in the group include flute, saxophone, percussion and Harp.

The Duquesne University Tamburitzans, which include accordionists, singers and dancers have a busy concert schedule in February with performances in Wilkes-Barre and Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, Bel Air, Maryland, Bridgeport, Connecticut and Warren, Michigan.

The Tamburitzans are a multicultural song and dance company made up of full time students from the Duquesne University who perform songs, and dances from Eastern Europe and other folk cultures.

Contributed by Neil Wayne

On February 10th, E. Geoffrey Walsh will give a lecture entitled "Sir Charles Wheatstone: no mere bridge builder !". The lecture will be held at the Lothians Radio Society, Orwell Lodge Hotel, Edinburgh at 7.30 pm.

For further information email: Geoffrey.Walsh@ed.ac.uk

On December 12th, Duo Zubitsky (accordionist Vladimir Zubitsky and his son, Stanislav on flute) performed at a festival concert at the Circolo Sociale in Sermide, Italy which was held to celebrate the Santa Lucia holiday. The duo performed a variety of light music including classical and jazz pieces arranged by Vladimir.

On December 21st, Vladimir took part in a solo recording for Radio Rome. The Duo also recorded a 40 minute program on the Italian classical music station Radio-3. They performed RAI - 3 Suite and music by Bach, Schubert, Rimski-Korsakov, Khachiaturian and Zubitsky. The recording will be broadcast on February 28th.

On December 30th a "Jahreskonzert" was held at the "Leibnizschule" School Hall. The concert was held to honour the 75th birthday of the founder, Dietmar Walther.

Contributed by Alison Macfarlane

On February 7th workshops with John Kirkpatrick will be held in the Allsorts Community Arts Centre, St Albans. The day will begin with a dance workshop at 11am, followed by a melodeon workshop from 2 to 5pm. About 25 people are expected to attend this workshop. A music session will be held at the White Lion at 12 noon. A concert starting at 8pm will conclude the day's events.

For further information email: alison.macfarlane@perinatal-epidemiology.oxford.ac.uk

Contributed by Faithe Deffner, President of the American Accordionists' Association

Last week Jay Leno, host of the "Tonight Show", announced the search for the "sauciest accordionist" to the many millions in his TV audience. He will feature the winning entertainer on his program. A number of other TV shows are already showing interest in having the winner perform.

"USA Today" also ran an article on the "Search for the Hottest" campaign on January 20th.

Contributed by Vladimir Besfamilnov

The Accordion Quartet "Conconance" (Bulgaria) recently released a new CD which includes classical and contemporary music, including works by Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi and Piazzolla. Quartet members are Petr and Angel Marinov and Elena and Victor Melnik. For information on this CD email: accordion@asgr.ttm.bg.

Studio "Media Records", has released a new CD by Irina Orlova (domra) and Anatoly Mamalyigin (accordion). CD tracks include Russian and Ukrainian traditional tunes arranged by Tsigankov, Maiboroda, Gridin, Mamalygin and other composers.

www.accordions.com/casarzalig International Competition for Accordion and other instruments.

www.music-marche.com Consortium to promote the sale of musical instruments produced in Marche region, Italy.