Accordions Worldwide
Apologises for the Weekly News Delay
until Sunday 12th August. Satellite services to the office which makes the news are still
being repaired.
Mancano poche settimane all’inizio della prima edizione del Roland International V-Fisarmonica Festival. La Roland è l’unica ditta al mondo che produce soltanto fisarmoniche digitali (la V-Fisarmonica) ed organizza il primo concorso internazionale per musicisti che suonano la fisarmonica digitale.
“L’obbiettivo principale”, secondo Luigi Bruti (Direttore/Roland Europa R&D), è di “non solo selezionare uno dei migliori artisti del mondo, ma di dimostrare la grande potenzialità della fisarmonica digitale che ha per interpretare la musica speciale per fisarmonica.
Il concorso Roland permette a tutti fisarmonicisti di ogni livello di partecipare nelle categorie solista ed ensemble con un massimo di 4 elementi – dall’appassionato dilettante fino al professionista. Il concorso prevede selezioni nazionali con un finale internazionale.
Molti fisarmonicisti dell’ Europa ed altri paesi si sono già iscritti come dal Benelux, Repubblica Ceca, Francia, Germania, Italia, Norvegia, Portogallo, Spagna, Gran Bretagna, Australia, Brasile, Canada e Nuova Zelanda.
La prima selezione si svolgerà in Italia il 19 Agosto ad Aosta che coincide con la ‘Festa delle Fisarmoniche’. In seguito in Settembre saranno le selezioni in Brasile, Repubblica Ceca, Norvegia, Olanda, GB. Le finali della Francia ed Iberia si terranno in ottobre (per più dettagli visita www.v-accordionfestival.com).
Ogni vincitore nazionale parteciperà nel prestigioso finale in Pesaro/Italia il 9 e 10 novembre al Conservatorio “Gioacchino Rossini”. I vincitori internazionali saranno premiati con € 5000 dalla ditta Roland.
‘The Next Tango’ è un DVD che racconta la storia e la vita di Astor Piazzolla, creatore del 'Tango Nuevo.' In questo film Piazzolla – conosciuto nel suo paese, Argentina, come 'El Gran Ástor' – suona 3 brani insieme alla orchestra della radio di Cologna e parla con Andres Salcedo della sua vita, carriera e di questo irresistibile fenomeno “il tango”.
Con il suo 'nuevo tango,' Astor Piazzolla ha portato il Tango come compositore e virtuoso del bandoneón il ballo Argentino con la sua passione, grazia e potere erotico in tutte le più importanti sale del mondo. Il DVD ha una durata di 1 ora e 28 minuti.
Il Folefest Accordion Concorso e Festival si svolgerà in Castelo Branco dal 21 al 23 febbraio del 2008. Il concorso per fisarmonica è fissato per sabato 23. I brani d’obbligo per le varie categorie sono:
Categoria A – fino a 9 anni, compiuti entro il 31 Dicembre 2007; – ‘Romance’, di J. Draeger
Categoria B - da 10 a 12 anni compiuti entro il 31 Dicembre 2007; – ‘Marsch’ e la ‘Kindersuite no1’, di Albin Repnikov
Categoria C – da 13 a 15 anni compiuti entro il 31 Dicembre 2007; 3° e 4° movimenti della ‘Sonatine no1’, di Ernst Günter Rosenetzki
Categoria D – da 16 a 18 anni compiuti entro il 31 Dicembre 2007; – ‘Asia Flashes’ (3° movimento e la Suite B.B.), di Franck Angelis
Categoria E - 19 anni compiuti entro il 31 Dicembre 2007; test piece – ‘Ballata’ (1° movimento e la Sonata), di Bogdan Precz
Categoria (F) Musica da Camera: un programma con minimo 1 lavoro originale per ensemble della durata di 15’.
Una serie di concerti di fisarmonica saranno presentati sul palco della Millennium Stage nel famoso “Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” durante il 2007 CIA Coupe Mondiale. Il progetto 'Performing Arts for Everyone' sul palco della Millennium Stage è stato creato per dare spazio agli artisti ed al pubblico di poter fare ed ascoltare musica per 365 giorni all’anno senza costi alcuni. Gli artisti dei concerti del Coupe Mondiale Millennium Stage sono:
14 agosto - Jerosh Accordion Orchestra (Canada), M° Maureen Jerosh, Akkordeonorchester Hof (Germania), M° Guenther Zeilinger 15 agosto – University of Missouri-Kansas City Accordion Community Orchestra, M° Joan Cochran Sommers, California’s Martin Music Center Accordion Orchestra, M° Randall Martin
16 agosto - New Hampshire’s Rosita Lee Accordion Orchestra and Dancers, M°Rosita Lee Latulippe, North Shore Accordion Orchestra (Nuova Zelanda), M° Lionel Reekie
17 agosto - Accordeonova (Danimarca), M°Peter Anders, Beijing Children's Palace Accordion Orchestra (Cina)
August 18th - Six first place winners of the various categories within the Coupe Mondiale will play part of their \winning program in Coupe Mondiale, Junior Coupe Mondiale, Piano Accordion Entertainment, Virtuoso Entertainment, Junior Virtuoso Entertainment and Accordion Ensemble.
Inoltre:
Una prima della World Accordion Orchestra sotto la direzione di Joan Cochran Sommers, una mass band di fisarmonicisti diretto da un Colonello militare davanti al US-Capitol.
Serata di Gala con banchetto per il 60° Anniversario Coupe Mondiale.
La US Army e la US Air Force Bands sempre con fisarmonicisti incorporati nella band.
The Coupe Mondiale, which takes place in a different country every year, is run under the auspices of the Confederation Interntionales des Accordeonistes. It is being sponsored in the US by through the joint efforts of the AAA (American Accordionists' Association) and the ATG (Accordionists and Teachers Guild). Faithe Deffner, a CIA vice president, is Coupe Mondiale coordinator (fdeffner@aol.com).
Ken Kunec’s workshop ‘Accordions Gone Wild! Getting Creative With Your Music’ was a great way to spend part of a sunny July afternoon. In Ken’s words: “Most of us became accordion players by strict adherence to a framework of music that we were taught.
We learned to play somebody else’s arrangement of music, usually with wondrous precision and we graduated through increasingly more difficult compositions. Some of us learned to improvise somewhat around the framework and that represents our ‘creativity.’
While that is commendable and often very entertaining, this workshop challenges you to get away from those frameworks and become your own arranger. Be a rebel!”
Ken has prepared a series of short videos, along with some written materials, and these will be posted to the WMAS Web. After the workshop music was distributed for a WMAS Massed Band. In a couple of months we will be practicing for the December 16th holiday concert, and later for other concerts.
WMAS will not be meeting in August. Instead, everyone is encouraged to attend the Coupe Mondiale, August 13th to 19th.
On September 16th WMAS will be have Mary Tokarski (picture left) as guest. Mary is a wonderful musician and teacher, so mark your calendars now and be sure not to miss this meeting!
The première of the new commercial for Heineken Extra Cold took place on Monday 23rd. Music for this advertisement is played and composed by concert accordionist Nihad Hrustanbegovic and is called: 'World Promenade'. The clip is now to be seen on all Dutch public and commercial television. Nihad wrote the ‘World Promenade’ in February 2007 and it is the first part (also the introduction) of the ‘Stork Suite’. This Suite is recorded on his first solo CD: ‘The best of Concert Accordion’.
Nihad performed on March 28th as a soloist in the Dutch TV program, 'De wereld draait door' of Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. This performance is the number 1 of the show's Top 11 since the end of May as the best artiste of last season.
Nihad Hrustanbegovic will be performing from upcoming September on several Dutch music concert stages.
First Cologne AO’s Dolomites Concert Tour - Germany
Contributed by Winfried Haushalter
Almost 11 years to the day after their last concert tour, the First Cologne Accordion Orchestra travelled in mid-July to the South Tyrol, Italy. The orchestra gave a series of concerts to enthused audiences in Spielorten, Pedraces, Wolkenstein, San Cassian, St. Vigil, and Corvara.
These concerts were performed before standing room only audiences, with approximately 2,500 visitors gave the largest applause in title as well as, ’Amadeus Goes Pop’, ’On the Sunny Side of the Street’, ’Up Where We Belong’, ’My Way’ and ’Abba’s Greatest Hits’, all arranged by Matthias Hennecke. The weather was beautiful, adding to the pleasure of the concert tour for the orchestra members. The next tour is likely to be in 2 years’ time.
The Alnwick International Music Festival 2007 takes place from August 4th to 11th, presenting musicians, singers and dance teams from many countries. Local accordionist Robert Whitehead (picture right), the only Englishman to become an All Scotland Champion, is one of the guest artistes.
Also appearing are BorderBox, a local youth ensemble that includes mainly accordion and fiddle players. There are dance teams – most of which feature accordion accompaniment - from Greece, Italy, Latvia, Mauritius, Slovenia, Poland and Turkey.
Il nuovo corso superiore di fisarmonica tenuto da Anne Landa nella Scuola Soto Mesa, nel centro di Madrid, comincia quest´estate per offrire la possibilitá di perfezionamento a fisarmonicisti spagnoli ed stranieri intorno a repertorio barroco, clasico e contemporaneo. Si lavora su repertorio solista e cameristico.
Proffessoressa di fisarmonica e Tecnica Alexander: Anne Landa (proffessoressa spacializzata in musicisti di Tecnica Alexander nell centro superiore dei Paesi Baschi, da 2002; www.musikene.net).
Proffessori invitati: musicisti, direttori e compositori.
The Sidmouth Folk Week takes place from August 3rd to 10th, involving over a hundred bands, dance teams, duos and solo performers.
As always, there are many accordion-based artistes, including All Blacked Up, Altan, Apples In Winter, Bodega, Fluxus, Gas Mark 5, GloryStrokes, Hoover the Dog, John Kirkpatrick, Last Orders, Tim Laycock, Jon Loomes, Lua, Moor Music, New Scorpion Band, The Outside Track, Chris Parkinson, Brian Peters, Random, Ed Rennie, Salsa Celtica, Emily Smith, Stomp, Trinculo, Twm Twp, Tim Van Eyken, Whapweasal, Wistman’s Wood, The Yetties, and Yves Lambert & Le Bébert.
International Accordion Festival, Rezekne – Latvia
The 5th Fisa…armonie International Competition takes place in Trieste from September 28th to 30th. This event has several age categories, open to solo players, concert performers, chamber groups and accordion orchestras. The final festival concert will be broadcast live on radio or television.
Gary Dahl - accordionist as well as a composer, arranger, recording artist and music educator, releases 3 new works for accordion available for purchase online, ‘Beer Barrel Polka’, ‘Fascination’, 'The Music Of The Night'. Samples of this music are available on the site. The music is in eSheet format, able to be emailed to your computer. Purchase with credit card.
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Mancano poche settimane all’inizio della prima edizione del 
Molti fisarmonicisti dell’ Europa ed altri paesi si sono già iscritti come dal Benelux, Repubblica Ceca, Francia, Germania, Italia, Norvegia, Portogallo, Spagna, Gran Bretagna, Australia, Brasile, Canada e Nuova Zelanda.
‘The Next Tango’ è un DVD che racconta la storia e la vita di Astor Piazzolla, creatore del 'Tango Nuevo.' In questo film Piazzolla – conosciuto nel suo paese, Argentina, come 'El Gran Ástor' – suona 3 brani insieme alla orchestra della radio di Cologna e parla con Andres Salcedo della sua vita, carriera e di questo irresistibile fenomeno “il tango”.
Il Folefest Accordion Concorso e Festival si svolgerà in Castelo Branco dal 21 al 23 febbraio del 2008. Il concorso per fisarmonica è fissato per sabato 23. I brani d’obbligo per le varie categorie sono:
14 agosto - Jerosh Accordion Orchestra (Canada), M° Maureen Jerosh, Akkordeonorchester Hof (Germania), M° 
15 agosto – University of Missouri-Kansas City Accordion Community Orchestra, M° 
Inoltre: 
Ken Kunec’s workshop ‘Accordions Gone Wild! Getting Creative With Your Music’ was a great way to spend part of a sunny July afternoon. In Ken’s words: “Most of us became accordion players by strict adherence to a framework of music that we were taught.
Ken has prepared a series of short videos, along with some written materials, and these will be posted to the 
The première of the new commercial for Heineken Extra Cold took place on Monday 23rd. Music for this advertisement is played and composed by concert accordionist Nihad Hrustanbegovic and is called: 'World Promenade'. The clip is now to be seen on all Dutch public and commercial television. Nihad wrote the ‘World Promenade’ in February 2007 and it is the first part (also the introduction) of the ‘Stork Suite’. This Suite is recorded on his first solo CD: ‘The best of Concert Accordion’.
Almost 11 years to the day after their last concert tour, the First Cologne Accordion Orchestra travelled in mid-July to the South Tyrol, Italy. The orchestra gave a series of concerts to enthused audiences in Spielorten, Pedraces, Wolkenstein, San Cassian, St. Vigil, and Corvara.
Northumberland – UK
The Alnwick International Music Festival 2007 takes place from August 4th to 11th, presenting musicians, singers and dance teams from many countries. Local accordionist Robert Whitehead (picture right), the only Englishman to become an All Scotland Champion, is one of the guest artistes.
Corso Superiore di Fisarmonica, Madrid - Spain
Sidmouth Folk Week, Devon – UK