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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=07-Aug-2015&lang=ru&s=10684
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=07-Aug-2015&lang=ru&s=10684
07-Aug-2015
by Kevin Friedrich
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 The Accordionists & Teachers Guild, International (ATG) celebrated its 75th Anniversary in Lisle (Chicago) from 22-25 July, 2015, attracting attendees from as far away as China, the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, Canada and throughout the United States. The festival featured a variety of concerts, competitions, workshops, exhibits, a Gala Banquet and a variety of social functions. Picture left: ATG President Betty Jo Simon and past ATG President Kevin Friedrich, the John Simkus Trio performing at dinner. The featured international guest artist was Yuri Shishkin from Russia. One of the world's most respected concert artists, Yuri received multiple standing ovations for his outstanding performance. Videos after this article. The gala concerts profiled some of the most exciting accordionists on the concert circuit today performing a variety of genres. Artists included American Cory Pesaturo and Canadian Michael Bridge who performed as soloists and also in improvised duo, pooling their vast resources of musicianship, Russian guests 'Una Sinistra', the duo of Yulia Amerikova and Alexander Selivanov (videos after this article) and former ATG Executive officer and current American Accordionists' Association President Mary Tokarski. Jazz artist Frank Petrilli from Los Angeles was joined by guitarist John Chiodini while popular Scottish entertainer Gary Blair took participants through their paces on the dance floor as the event opened with a traditional Scottish Celidh Dance. Milwaukee based concert accordionist, teacher and composer Stas Venglevski presented a variety of his original works including as a soloist and in duo with Joan Cochran Sommers, while Joe Natoli showcased the possibilities of digital technology as it pertains to the accordion. The UMKC Chamber Accordion Ensemble performed with Kansas City based Macedonian violin soloist Filip Lazovski and the Jarosh Accordion Ensemble from Calgary performed a variety of works during their matinee concert. The original music concert featured new works for accordion performed by the UMKC Chamber Accordion Ensemble, Jeff Lisenby, Amy Jo Sawyer and Joe Natoli. Many of the festival attendees joined forces under the direction of Joan Cochran Sommers for the ATG 75th Anniversary Festival Orchestra (picture below) which featured the music of John Williams, the World Premiere of a concerto for accordion and orchestra by Stas Venglevski who was also featured as the soloist, and the magnificent arrangement by ATG Founder Anthony Galla-Rini of Smetana's The Moldau. Festival participants enjoyed a diverse selection of workshops on topics including History of the Accordion by Helmi Harrington, Ph. D; Rhythms and Harmonies of Bulgarian and Macedonian Folk Music by Joan Grauman; Inexpensive Studio Quality Recording at Home by Joe Natoli; Shortcuts for Sounding Great on the Roland V Accordion and Special Effects on Acoustic Accordion by Michael Bridge; Authenticity of Styles by Cory Pesaturo; Improvising Tools for Teachers and Student Enthusiasts by Gordon Kohl and Capabilities of the modern Accordion: Present and Future by Yuri Shishkin. Competitions were held in a number of categories, many offering cash awards and were contested by accordionists including young students to adults from China, Canada and the USA. The well attended festival was a heralded a terrific success, and plans are already well underway for the 76th Competition and Festival to be held in Chicago from July 20-23, 2016. A review of the 75th Anniversary including full competition restults, as well as details on the 2016 festival will be published on the ATG website soon at www.accordions.com/atg Picture below orchestra: Beverly Fess, Joan Grauman and Gary Blair jamming. A Photo Report, Results and More Videos will be published in next weeks news. |
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