Introducing...
Julie Kasprzyk Cardona
From
the age of 5, Julie dreamed of being a world champion accordionist! She
immediately showed her aptitude for music, and began performing at every
event that popped up. She worked hard (an hour a day at first, and by
her teenage years, up to 4 hours a day during the week, and anywhere from
6-10 hours on the weekends!), would perform for anyone who would listen,
and participated in local functions, festivals and competitions throughout
the U.S.
Not
only did she win MANY solo competitions, but performing with her sister
Mary, captured the A.A.A. duet championship title in the U.S. for over
12 years, and played 1st chair in The Fernino Quintet and Fernino Accordion
Orchestra! By the time she was
a teenager, Julie had already compiled over 150 trophies in local, state
and national events!
In addition to her music,
Julie received accolades for her typing skills - she earned a national
honors award for the fastest high school typist in the U.S. with 167 words
per minute in a 10-minute timed writing. (Wouldn't have anything to do
with her music, now, would it?) Her other hobbies included ice skating
and going to concerts!
Radio
and television (pictured left filming for the Steve Lawrence and Edie
Gorme TV Show) were no stranger to the young musician - interviewing and
performing on both locally and nationally operated stations.
In 1964, Julie (and Mary, too) were honored by the American Accordionists'
Association with a special award as "Outstanding Student of the Year".
(Pictured below left to right - Millie Martignioni, Joseph Biviano, Julie,
Pietro Deiro, Jr. and Mary at the Student of the Year awards.)
As a member of the Accordion Symphony Society of New York, she performed
symphonic works under the direction of Maestro Joseph Biviano.
In 1967, all her hard work payed off - she won her first U.S. Championship!
This entitled her to compete in the Coupe Mondiale, held in Holland that
year, where she placed 3rd! (Julie is pictured below, departing for Holland
with her teacher Michael Fernino, his wife Ruth and the AAA President
of that year, Joseph Biviano.)
In 1968, she won the U.S. Championship again, this time traveling to England,
and a 2nd place!
In 1969, a record-breaking 3rd time U.S. Championship took her to the
Coupe Mondiale again . . . this time in New York City, where she placed
4th! She was a little disappointed, but as Julie puts it, "I messed
up in the sight reading competition!"
Julie went on to teach and perform whatever concert work she could get.
However, her wish to become a career concert accordionist just wasn't
coming to life. At this point in life, the music she loved took a back
seat to her typing ability. Shortly thereafter, she relocated to California,
where she began a career as a typesetter/word processor, working in a
variety of fields -- food brokerage, relocation, engineering, and law.
While working for a worldwide engineering firm, she studied computer programming,
and created a data base for a search and retrieval system used throughout
the company.
After moving back to Connecticut in the mid-80s, Julie continued her career
in computer programming and typesetting. She is currently the lead operator
at a New Haven firm, where she does pre-press graphics (preparing digital
image files for quality printing).
Mary finally convinced her to start playing again in 1995 after 25 years
hiatus! Now, she's once again enjoying performing and doing workshops
for you as a member of The "K" Trio!
Julie enjoys reading, arts and crafts, puzzles and bowling . . . and collects
owls and butterflies!
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