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Betty
Jo Simon lives in Overland Park, KS and is a former student
of Joan Sommers. She has been a member of the orchestra for
most of 50 years. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree
in Accordion Performance in 1969 and went on the first two USO tours
THE ACCORDIONAIRES made for the National Music Council/Department
of Defense to Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador and two years
later to Germany. After graduation she taught for a
while, then toured as a soloist with THE FRED WARING PENNSYLVANIANS.
She is married, has two married children, plays professionally around
Kansas City and has a German polka band, the “Alpen Spielers.”
She also toured with the UMKC Accordion Orchestra on the last three
concerts tours to New Zealand, Eastern Europe, and Italy.
In February 2000, she performed on a Chinese National TV musical
variety program and gave concerts in Beijing and Shanghai.
Betty Jo has been asked to perform the First Movement of the Anthony
Galla-Rini Concerto No. 1 in g minor for Accordion and Orchestra
on three concerts with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra. The
last performance will be part of the opening concert of the Coupe
Mondiale, World Accordion Championship Competition, held in Auckland,
NZ August 25 – 29, 2009.
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Ron
Barrow (Leawood, KS) began playing the accordion at age
11 when his mother called him in from the sandlot baseball game
to take a “free” musical aptitude test. Music
took control and ruined his life from that moment forward.
Forcing retirement from a certain career as a big league catcher,
a jammed finger nearly caused him to miss the Indiana Accordion
Championship and a trip to the World’s Fair in New York
City. Moving to KC in 1967 to study with Professor Joan
Sommers at UMKC, he was required to play in small towns like Flat
River, MO and take a USO trip to Germany to play in more small
towns – Fulda, Kaiserslautern, Stuttgart, Ulm... Even
his lovely wife, Judy, a Kansas farm girl and former “Snowball
Queen” is a “recovering” accordionist.
While his son, Justin, managed to skip the affliction, granddaughters
Lydia and Abigail may someday “squeeze.” Even
today, Ron is here playing for you instead of sailing on beautiful
Stockton Lake. Thanks to the Accordion, Ron was the first
member of his family to graduate from college earning a UMKC Bachelor
of Music Degree in 1971, adding an MA Education (UMKC) in 1975,
and an MBA (KU) in 1987.
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Joyce
Davis began the study of accordion at a young age
and earned her Baccalaureate of Music in Accordion Performance in
1979. After several years of teaching accordion, she began
work with the Internal Revenue Service where she continues today.
(Joan told her that if she didn’t write something about herself,
she would do it. So here goes: Joyce is one of those quiet
people who is a star bass accordionist! She just opens up
the music and reads it perfectly and is always dependable, whatever
part she is given. Indeed, Joyce has played all parts, including
the Elektronium and MIDI parts, at some time during her long membership
in the orchestra. She has also made numerous trips throughout
the USA and overseas with the UMKC accordionists. During her
school years she became quite well known for her expertise in writing
out music by hand for everyone needing a perfect manuscript.)
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Kevin
Friedrich lives in New York, NY. He joined the
UMKC Accordion Orchestra in 1980 when he first arrived in Kansas
City from Dargaville, New Zealand as a UMKC Freshman studying with
Joan Sommers. After graduating, he went on to study in Paris
with Max Bonnay, before immigrating to the USA in 1987. Kevin’s
accordion projects are quite diverse including his work with Accordions
Worldwide, the largest accordion internet site in the world, and
traveling to accordion festivals throughout the world providing
online coverage, to establishing an Accordion Museum in his home
town of Dargaville, NZ, and to working with various accordion organizations
on both a National and International level. He is currently
serving his second four year term as President of the Confédération
Internationale des Accordéonistes (CIA), IMC-UNESCO, the
International Accordion Organization comprising national accordion
associations from 35 countries. Kevin lives in New York City
and, when he is not doing something related to the accordion, you
might find him on a Delta Airlines flight anywhere from right here
at KCI to as far away as South Africa or anywhere in between, with
his work as a Flight Attendant, his “day job” since
1989.
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Don
Lipovac, a graduate of the Kansas City Conservatory
of Music with degrees in theory and education, performed in Carnegie
Hall and represented America as US-AAA Champion at the 1958 World’s
Fair in Brussels, Belgium. He received the “Polka Hall
of Fame” Award at Iron World in Chisholm, MN in 1992 and a
“National Cleveland-Style Hall of Fame” Lifetime Achievement
Award in Cleveland, OH in 2006 in recognition of his work in preserving
and promoting Slovenian Cultural Heritage. Don started his musical
career at the age of four, playing Slovenian melodies on a button-box
accordion bought by his grandfather and later began piano accordion
lessons with Alfred Vacca, who trained him thoroughly in the classics.
He has appeared on the Lawrence Welk Television Show during its
period of great popularity and as a soloist with the Kansas City
Philharmonic Orchestra. He served as director of the St. John
Tamburitzans for more than 35 years and was inducted into the Tamburitza
Association of America Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions
toward the preservation of Tamburitza music.
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Samantha
Jarquio will be a second year Landscape Architecture
student this fall at Kansas State University. She began the
study of accordion at age 5 with Terry Bell in Independence, MO
and later with Joan Sommers at age 10 during which time she switched
from piano accordion to the chromatic accordion. Now, of course,
she plays both instruments as needed. She has entered many
competitions, including those of MAMA, ATG, AAA and the Confédération
Internationale des Accordéonistes in which she placed seventh
in the Junior Coupe Mondiale representing the ATG/USA. Although
she does not take regular lessons while in college, Samantha occasionally
returns to KC to rekindle her musical relationship with the accordion
orchestra. Last year she was a featured clarinet soloist with
the orchestra on concerts here at UMKC and in Nashville, TN.
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Christine
Jarquio is from Independence, Missouri, and graduated
on May 16 from the University of Missouri in Columbia with a Bachelor
of Science degree in Music Education. While there, she studied
voice privately with Ann Harrell and sang in University Singers
and the Show-Me Opera Program. Christine began studying accordion
at the age of six with Terry Bell and later began her studies with
Joan Sommers, under whose guidance she earned the right to represent
the USA and ATG in the 2003 Coupe Mondiale held in the twin cities
of Štúrovo, Slovakia and Esztergom, Hungary.
Though she no longer seriously competes, she enjoys playing in the
accordion orchestra whenever she comes home. Starting in the
fall, Christine will be pursuing a Master of Music degree in Vocal
Performance at Florida State University. Last year she was
a featured vocal soloist with the orchestra on concerts here at
UMKC and in Nashville, TN.
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Karen
(Scovel) Boocock lives in Wichita, KS, having been
born there and growing up in the nearby suburb of Derby.
Her mother taught her to play piano. Karen’s first accordion
was a blue plastic one, and she danced around pretending to play
music from Mary Poppins. She played the viola for a year,
but dropped it in favor of the accordion, eventually to major in
accordion at UMKC.
Since graduating in 1982, she has studied and taught voice, and
she married her voice teacher’s brother! Karen returned
to the accordion for the Conservatory’s 100th Anniversary
concerts. The motivation to regain her skills has helped her
get through breast cancer and reconstructive surgeries. |
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Amy
(Hatfield) Hayes has been a member of the orchestra
since 1979. She earned her Baccalaureate at the UMKC Conservatory
of Music and has traveled extensively with the orchestra during
both her student days and afterwards. For the past 11 years
she has lived in College Station, Texas but is now in the process
of moving to Thayer, Kansas, which will be many miles closer to
her accordion friends. Although she is the busy mother of
two young children, Amy still finds time to enjoy her musical activities,
including driving many hours in order to attend orchestra rehearsals
here in Kansas City. |
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Bob
Eichkorn played accordion as a young student while
growing up in Topeka, KS where he continues to live. Bob,
in fact, was enrolled in the very first class of accordion degree
students in the Conservatory of Music but was called into US Military
service during his first semester of study. He has retired
after 41 years in Document Management Sales and Service, using Microfilm
and Imaging Systems for Storage and Retrieval of Vital and Business
Records in Northeast Kansas. |
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Mickey
Eichkorn also played accordion as a young student
while growing up in Topeka, KS. Mickey is a retired Registered
Nurse who graduated from Stormont-Vail School of Nursing in 1964.
Both Mickey and her husband Bob Eichkorn
played in the original Mid-America Accordion Symphony Orchestra
in the years 1958-1960 that was based in Kansas City.
They came back to the accordion to play in the accordion orchestra
for the celebration of Joan’s 40th year at the Conservatory.
Soon after last year’s concert, and with considerable encouragement,
they decided to make the long drive from Topeka every Thursday evening
to attend rehearsals of the orchestra and once again enjoy the music
of an accordion orchestra. They have three sons and five grandchildren. |
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Cathy
Sue Weiss, originally from New York, started playing
the accordion when she was 7 years old. She won several competitions,
including that of the 1973 NY State Championship. In
1977 she moved to KC to complete her Baccalaureate of Music degree
in Accordion Performance at UMKC. Since that time she has continued
to play with the UMKC groups and has traveled worldwide.
Cathy currently works for Pitney Bowes and was awarded 2008 Top
Sales Awards which included recent trips to Cancun, Mexico and Puerto
Rico. She resides in the Brookside area with her 4 dogs and
2 cats, all adopted through rescue work. Weekends during the
summer are spent on her boat at Stockton Lake. She enjoys
cooking and entertaining for her friends and treasures the time
that she can spend with them. |
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Mary
Ann Covone currently lives in Western Springs, Illinois
(a suburb of Chicago) with her thirteen year old daughter, Anne
Marie, and their golden retriever, Sammie. Mary Ann graduated
from UMKC in 1981 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Accordion Performance.
After teaching and performing in the Chicago area for ten years,
Mary Ann attended The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and graduated
in 1991. She currently practices law full time in the Chicago
area focusing on litigation (wrongful death, personal injury and
business litigation), probate, guardianship and estate planning.
Mary Ann has also assisted clients in the states of Kansas and Missouri
and will soon be licensed to practice law in both those states as
well as in Illinois. |
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Laura
Lee Crandall is a freelance percussionist and private
music teacher in Kansas City. She graduated from UMKC with
a bachelors in Percussion Performance in 2006 and has enjoyed being
part of the Kansas City music scene ever since. |
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Nick
Baker is a recent graduate of UMKC’s Conservatory
of Music and Dance with a Bachelor of Arts in Music with concentrations
in percussion and Spanish. He plays regularly around the Kansas
City area as a solo marimbist and with myriad eclectic ensembles
including The Melek Ta’us Ensemble, The Prometheus Unbound
Art Ensemble, The Nova Project and others. Nick teaches
drumset and percussion at Big Dude’s Music City. Little
know fact: Nick is a closet accordion player! |
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Brian
Steever is a jazz drummer from Jefferson City, MO.
He just completed his freshman year in the jazz performance program
at UMKC studying with Bobby Watson, Brandon Draper, and Gerald Spaits.
Kansas City has been treating him well as he has been able to play
around town with several local legends including Bobby Watson, Mark
Lowery, Clint Ashlock, Gerald Spaits, Pat Conway, Matt Hopper, and
Hermon Mehari to name a few. He has also had the opportunity
to study classical percussion with Dr. James Snell. Keep your
ears open and catch him playing around town. |
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We thank you for visiting the UMKC Community Accordion Orchestra website and this review of the 48th Annual Spring Concert held in Kansas City on May 31st, 2009 at the James C. Olson Performing Arts Center. 
