El Festival músicas del mundo 2007 tendrá lugar del 17 al 20 de mayo, con una amplia sección de concurso para acordeón y orquestas de acordeón, conjuntos, solistas y duos.
El Festival atrae a cerca de 10000 acordeonistas y es ampliamente publicitado como el mayor encuentro de acordeonistas e intérpretes de armónica de todo el mundo, celebrándose cada tres años en Innsbruck. El director es Arnold Kutzli, Vicepresidente de la Asociación de acordeón alemana DHV.
El festival incluye también varios conciertos con artistas como “El musical sobre el acordeón en el mundo” de Frank Golischewski, la orquesta de acordeón de Nurnberger dirigida por Willi Munich, La orquesta Hohner dirigida por Fritz Dobler, la orquesta hohnerklang dirigida por Hans Gunther Kolz, la Landes Acordeón Big Band dirigida por Wolfgang Russ, el Café Schmalz de Anika y amigos, Global Kryner....
Frank J. Busso, Jr. (right) has become a partner in the firm of Ernest Deffner, Inc., which was founded in 1934, according to a statement issued by Faithe Deffner (left), who heads the well-known company since her husband’s death in 1971. Busso has his degree in Business Administration from Boston University and will assume the post of Vice-President in charge of Education and Sales.
Frank Busso is the accordionist with the United States Air Force Band, the group which often plays at official functions at the White House in Washington DC, and he brings a wealth of musical expertise to the firm. His accordion studies began with his father, noted accordionist and educator, Frank Busso, Sr., Director of the Staten Island Music School in New York, and he continues to play in The Busso Trio, a family group consisting of his father, sister Christina and himself.
Faithe Deffner said, “Our firm plans to expand its educational activity in the accordion field and Frank will be invaluable in this endeavor. Our Ernest Deffner Publications division offers more than 10,000 music titles to accordionists. We are very active in accordion organizations, both nationally and internationally, and have always worked to improve the accordion’s status as a prestigious instrument suitable for all areas of music.”
El acordeonista Aldo Taborda, de Paraná en Argentina ha presentado su CD “Entre rios”. Los temas que se incluyen son: Maria Va, Fuga y misterio, After you´ve gone, La trampera, Chiquilin de Bachín, Preludio obsesivo, Historia de amor, el reloj, Libertango, quiero ser tu sombra y M13 en vivo.
El 13 Campeonato Internaiconal de Acordeón Australiano y Festival tendrá lugar el 9 y 10 de Junio en Sydney, organizado pro la AATA (Asociación de profesores de acordeón australiana). Durante el Festival, la AATA invita a importantes profesores de acordeón para ofrecer clases magistrales, entre ellos: Alma Flammersberger (Alemania /Bosnia) alumna de Boris Lenko en la Academia de Música de Bratislava, Vladimir Anikin (Rusia), Marjan Krajna (Croacia) alumna de Semionov y Tania Lukic-Marx (Australia) alumna de V. Besfamilnov.
El evento también ofrece varios concursos, clases magistrales y el ya muy popular Concierto de Gala. Los artistas incluidos son: Vladimir Anikin como participante en el Concurso Coupe Mondiale para acordeón piano de la CIA, el australiano John MacDonald y algunas de las mejores orquestas australianas: Orquesta ASA, Orquesta de Balalaika de Sydney, La campeona de Acordeón del Pacífico Sur Ann-Elise Koerntijes, el campeón de acordeón varieté de Nueva Zelanda Grayson Masefield y Lucy y Larissa.
Los campeonatos Internacionales de acordeón australianos están abiertos a todos los participantes de todos los países y atraen generalmente a jóvenes de Nueva Zelanda, Bosnia, Alemania, Croacia y Australia. El evento tiene lugar una semana después de los Campeonatos de acordeón del Pacífico Sur que se celebran en Auckland, Nueva Zelanda, por lo que los participantes pueden competir en ambos concursos. El evento tendrá lugar en el Club Marconi de Sydney.
Para más información visite la página web de la AATA.
Lidia Kaminska wins Astral National Audition, Philadelphia – USA
Candidates from across the USA underwent a rigorous application process in January 2007 to earn a live audition for Astral, with four extraordinary artistes selected for placement on Astral’s current roster of young, emerging classical musicians.
Accordionist Lidia Kaminska, a native of Przasnysz, Poland, was one of the winners of the 2007 National Auditions Winners. Lidia Kaminska received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Accordion Performance from the University of Missouri Kansas City. Most recently Lidia was featured on the website WHYY, the radio station NPR Radio Times and in the Philadelphia magazine 2006 Best of Philly issue. She resides in Philadelphia.
The other winners were cellist Susan Babini, soprano Angela Meade, and Chinese pianist Di Wu.
Astral Artistic Services, founded in 1992, has played a unique and vital role in the development of the USA’s most gifted young musicians. A Philadelphia-based non-profit organization, Astral serves as a ‘career bridge’ for promising young artistes, who often graduate from conservatories superbly trained as musicians but without the business and professional skills needed to face the challenges of establishing a classical music career. Astral provides invaluable mentoring and practical assistance - all at no cost to the artiste.
CIA AWARD RECIPIENTS:
The CIA is pleased to announce the recipients of the following awards to be presented at the Washington Coupe Mondiale, August 2007:
• CIA Merit Award: Harley Jones, (left, Fiji)
in honor of his work uniting the world through the Internet with the network of his Accordions Worldwide Internet Sites.
• CIA Merit Award: Vjera Odak-Jembrih (right, Croatia)
in honor of her work raising the profile of the accordion in Croatia and her teaching methods now being published around the world in several languages.
• CIA Honored Friend of the Accordion Award: Jeroen Nijhof (picture lower left, Netherlands - UK) in honor of his work as director of AccordionLinks.com website, indexing and coordinating all available internet sites that are currently on the world wide web.
• CIA Honored Friend of the Accordion Award: Jan Tabachnik (Ukraine) in honor of his work promoting the accordion in the Ukraine as an artist, teacher and event organizer.
• CIA Honored Friend of the Accordion Award: Elaine Beecham (United Kingdom) in honor of her work as a 40 year officer of the NAO and as a teacher and Musical Director in the United Kingdom
• CIA Golden Diploma: John Leslie (United Kingdom) in appreciation of his more than 30 years supporting and working for the CIA in the roles of Delegate, Music Committee Member and International Jury member.
UPDATED RULES ONLINE
Reminder of the Updated Rules for Coupe Mondiale International Competition for Piano Accordion are now online. This category has excellent prize money of 1st $5,000 2nd $1,500, 3rd $500 plus the special prize of an all expenses paid invitation to perform at the Australian and New Zealand International Championships and Festival held in June 2008.
NEW MEMBERS
The CIA is honored and pleased to welcome new members:
VOTING MEMBER: Accordion Association of Chinese Musicians Association (CAA)
(Chinese Accordion Association) President: Mr. Zhang Ziqiang
CORRESPONDING MEMBER: UNAC - Unión de Acordeonistas de España
(Union of Spanish Accordionists) President: Angel Luis Castaño
SUPPORTING MEMBER: Mirco Patarini, Castelfidardo, Italy
HONORARY MEMBER: Maddalena Belfiore, Kearny, NJ, USA
Jessica Chen, from New Zealand, performed in Taiwan on January 18th. The setting was Sanjhi County School, Taipei County. There were around 500 people in the audience, including teachers, students, the principal and other important people such as the Chairwoman of the Women's League. Most of them had never seen an accordion before so Jessica took a little time at the beginning of each session to introduce the accordion and demonstrate the different switches, bellow movement, etc.
Jessica performed a program of 13 pieces in total. In the first session there wasn't enough time to perform all the pieces because the audience was very enthusiastic asking questions about her instrument. The faster paced pieces were especially popular among the audience members.
Jessica commented: “I received about 20 bunches of flowers and big flower baskets from various people and groups, including Local City Councillors, the principal and the Chairwoman of the Women's League and also the owner of a petrol station. At the conclusion to the concert the Principal presented me with a Certificate of Appreciation and a small gift.
I was thrilled with the audience response. They really enjoyed listening to the accordion and kept asking when I was going to perform for them again”.
French Accordionists Exhibit Skills, Auckland – New Zealand
On January 30th and 31st the New Zealand Accordion Association hosted a two-day Workshop with Frederic Deschamps. This was held at Sunnybrae School in Auckland. Both teachers and students attended, with some private lessons being given to students who are contemplating competing internationally. The second day was devoted to technique and exercises. At the end of each day an informal concert was held with Deschamps giving a critique after each performance.
A concert was held on January 31st in Auckland at the Rose Centre featuring students of Frederic Deschamps, Grayson Masefield, from New Zealand, and four French CIA Virtuoso Entertainment contestants including Benoit Chabod and Cyril Blanchard, and two CIA Virtuoso Entertainment Champions Phil Bouvier (2004) and Julien Gonzales (2006). All seats were taken and people had to sit in the aisles for this very popular concert. At the end of the concert the French players played duets and joined together as a quartet.
Art of Accordion Concert, Trossingen - Germany
Contributed by Horst Fausel, Hohner Accordion Product Manager
An accordion ensemble from the Hohner Conservatory will perform a concert in Trossingen on February 12th, at 8pm. The venue is the Kulturspeicher des Klavierhaus Herrmann statt.
Accordionist Pascal Contet is involved in the following concerts:-
February 13th, 7.30pm – Auditorium St –Germain Ensemble Ars Nova, Paris
February 27th – Theatre du Casino, Deauville
April 2nd - Espace Molière Luxeuil
3rd - Théâtre de Gray
‘Accordions at Witney’ is a course involving traditional music for the piano accordion, held on February 17th and 18th at the Henry Box School, Witney, near Oxford. The tutors are Murray Grainger, David Oliver, Sam Pirt and Dave Townsend.
The topics covered include ‘Accordion Tunes You’d Never Expect’, ‘Tunes from the North-East’, ‘Arranging by Ear’, ‘Right Hand Technique’, ‘Using the Left Hand’, ‘Accordions and the Dance Band’, ‘Tunes from Around the World’ and ‘Funny Old Tunes’.
Romano Viazzani is to play the accordion part in a new stage production of ‘Pennies From Heaven’, a musical that celebrates the life and songs of Arthur Tracy. The performance takes place on February 18th, 7.30pm, at the Jermyn Street Theatre, Jermyn St, London SW1Y 6ST.
Arthur Tracy (1899-1997), known as ‘The Street Singer’, was a hugely popular singer and accordionist in the 1930s and 40s. His rich, romantic tenor voice and clear diction was perfect for radio and recordings, and ‘Here Lies Love’, ‘When I Grow Too Old to Dream’, ‘I'll See You Again’, ‘Red Sails in the Sunset’, and his theme song, ‘Marta’, were all big hits. Tracy also appeared in several films. Although Tracy used the accordion in his stage performances, it is believed that Charles Magnante played most of the accordion backings on his recordings. After he left show business in the late 1940s, he was largely forgotten, until the 1981 film ‘Pennies From Heaven’ brought him back to the public spotlight, when Tracy’s 1937 recording of the title song was used on the soundtrack.
The annual Leavenworth International Accordion Celebration takes place in the State of Washington from June 21st to 23rd. This event offers a wide variety of accordion music: jazz, popular, classical, ethnic and everything in between, involving players of all ages.
The Leavenworth festival includes competitions for awards and cash, workshops, jam sessions, a film/video series, parade down Front Street and three nights of concerts and dances with world-class musicians.
As part of an event called ‘An Introduction to the English Folk Tradition’, accordionist Karen Tweed gives a practical introduction to the English folk tradition, using live demonstration and recorded examples. The workshop takes place on February24th, from 11.15am to 12.30pm, at the Crush Room, Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD.