7th November daily report, Roland 2008 V-Festival and 2nd V-Accordion International Contest, Rome, Italy

6th November, Evening Welcome


Alessandra Curzi, Roland Europe Team Secretary & Public Relations Officer, V-Accordion & Marketing Divisions gave us a warm welcome as we arrived. Her phone was going regularly assisting guests and competitors at the event.	Also in the lobby was USA contestant Joseph Natoli and Kevin Friedrich, President of the Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes (CIA) - IMC - UNESCO. Kevin Friedrich is one of the invited Jury.

There was a little time before dinner so after checking into our rooms, we joined friends for a pre-dinner drink and social time. Above photograph is Mirco Patarini (Italy adjudicator) who kindly had a welcome glass of wine ready for his thirsty travelling friends.	Left: Faithe and Ron Lankford - USA Roland Accordion Manager. Right is Joseph (USA contestant) and his wife Giovanna Natoli.

Front row: Mrs Puchnowski, Lech Puchnowski (Poland) and Kevin Friedrich (USA). Rear row: Mirco Patarini (Italy) and Kimmo Mattila (Finland) who is a Jury member and Secretary General of the Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes (CIA) - IMC - UNESCO.	Luigi Bruti, the originator of the V-Accordion who is also the Marketing Director of Roland Europe SpA gave a welcome speech to everyone and proposed a toast to the success of the 2nd International V-Accordion Contest and Festival.

Famous teacher Jacques Mornet (CNIMA teaching school), Luigi Bruti and representative of the French Roland distributor.	Sergio Scappini, tutor at the Conservatory "Gioachino Rossini" of Pesaro and Marco Cinaglia, Roland Marketing Division and V-Accordion Product Manager enjoying the moment together.

Luigi Bruti introduced famous TV Presenter Alessandra Bellini who went around all the jury and the contestants checking pronunciation and information details as preparation for the big Saturday night Final event which she is presenting.	Luigi Bruti, Alessandra Curzi and Sara Rosetti (Roland Marketing) working on the final details of the contestants and jury briefing.

Alessandra Curzi and Luigi Bruti briefing the contestants.	All is ready for the event tomorrow.

Left to right: Michal Èervienka (Slovakia), Toni Perttula (Finland), Marcin Wyrostek (Poland), Marie Zichová (Czech), Johnny Lee Leslie (UK), Prin-Jean Francois, Joseph Natoli (USA), Danylo Denisov (Ukraine), Bojan Mladenovic (Serbia), Emir Bosnjak (Denmark), Matthias Bender (Germany), Marcin Wyrostek (Poland), Grayson Masefield (New Zealand), Josep Costa Perarnau (Spain), Oleg Vereshcagin (Italy).

Most of the contestants were at the briefing. Left to right:
Michal Èervienka (Slovakia), Toni Perttula (Finland), Marcin Wyrostek (Poland), Marie Zichová (Czech), Johnny Lee Leslie (UK), Prin-Jean Francois,
Joseph Natoli (USA), Danylo Denisov (Ukraine), Bojan Mladenovic (Serbia), Emir Bosnjak (Denmark), Matthias Bender (Germany),
Marcin Wyrostek (Poland), Grayson Masefield (New Zealand), Josep Costa Perarnau (Spain), Oleg Vereshcagin (Italy).

Roland V-Accordion Jury members, left to right: Kimmo Mattila (Finland), Raymond Bodell (UK), Frederic Deschamps (France),
Lech Puchnowski (Poland), Wolfgang Russ (Germany), Kevin Friedrich (USA).

7th November Daily Report
Page Under Construction

7th November Timetable
9:00 am
Grand Hotel RITZ - meeting room: Meeting point for all participants
9:15 am
Drawing for the performance order of participants. This order will be used also for the Final Competition performance.
10am to 12 Midday
Finalists drawing 1 to 8 playing order perform, Grand Hotel RITZ - meeting room.
3pm to 5pm
Finalists drawing 9 to 17 playing order perform, Grand Hotel RITZ - meeting room.

Competition Rules
The performance of every finalist may last no longer than 10 minutes. Any types of music are permitted with no limitation of number of pieces. Finalists are allowed to use any V-Accordion model. They may not use any audio playback such as CD, iPod etc (as a backing track) and/or external sound modules, MIDI sequencers.

The Members of the Jury were introduced to the audience.

Jury List


Draw for playing order.	Marie Zichova of Czech was invited to draw for the order of playing.

The official box for the draw for playing order has a special history - it was found quickly for the 1st competition and now it has a special sign on it to make sure it is kept carefully for each year to continue the tradition.	Cheng Jian Tony, President of Roland (Shanghai) Logistics C. Ltd and contestant Zhu Jingbai from Tianjin Musical Conservatory.

Even the contestants order of playing was nicely presented and organised.


1. Matthias Bender (Germany) was the first to perform his 10 minute program. Every contestant peforms twice, the second time on Saturday night with a 5 minute program.	2. Johnny Lee Leslie from Great Britain was the next contestant. For the first performance, in a small hall, all the contestants were using the Roland FR-7 internal speakers, for the audience. In the large hall on Saturday, each contestant will be plugged into a sound system.

3. Ivan Preanacov representing Canada was the third contestant to play this morning.	4. Joseph Natoli (USA) was playing next.

5. Marie Zichova (Czech) was the only lady in the competition this year which was a surprise considering the event was won last year by Amelie Castel (France).	6. Grayson Masefield (New Zealand).

7. Jackson Jofre Rodrigues (Brazil) put on an amazing choreography show that would be a wow in any major pop group.	There is a sequence of photos showing how active Jackson on the stage.


8. Marcin Wyrostek (Poland). This photo shows the Roland media banners around the stage. A feature of the Roland Festival is the excellent graphics and art on display.	9. Josep Mª Costa Perarnau (Spain).

10. Michal Cervienca (Slovakia) was another contestant who stood for his performance. Quite a few contestants took advantage of the Roland weight to stand while performing.	11. Prin Jean-François (France) also stood for his performance.

12. Bojan Mladenovic of Serbia.	13. Toni Perttula (Finland).

14. Emir Bosnjak (Denmark).	15. Zhu Jingbai (China)

16. Oleg Vereshcagin (Italy)	17. Danylo Denisov (Ukraine).

After the first section of the competition was a Jury meeting and the signing of the certificates for all the contestants plus
a special presentation to each contestant. Click below to see evening activities.

7th November Evening