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Wayne Knights Webmaster

• Goult Accordion Festival - France
• Accordionist with "Barcelona Sinfonietta" Orchestra - Spain
• "International Accordion Week" - Italy
• Art Centre Concert - Austria
• "Ilmajoki Music Festival" - Finland
• Reunion Island Orchestra Tours New Zealand
• Concert at "Dr. Vojislav Vuckovic" Auditorium - Yugoslavia
• Arran Folk Festival - Scotland
• 10th Anniversary Celebration - USA
• Duo 2000 at "Radio Today" Concert - South Africa
• September Accordion Courses - France
• New Fisorchestra Liberina in Alife - Italy
• 4th Annual World Music & Dance Festival - USA
• Adelaide Highbeam Festival - Australia
• "Viva Accordion" - Japan
• "Musical Spring" with Fabio Alderighi - Italy
• Celebrity Interviews
• Jazz in Frankfurt - Germany
• Accordion Conservatory Concert - China
• Peter Soave on "Backstage Pass" TV Show - USA
• Music Fair in Rimini - Italy
• New CD by Norvic Concordia
• 51st Festival of Music - New Zealand
• Folk Instrument? Not Anymore! - Germany
• "K" Trio Perform at Thornton Wilder Auditorium - USA
• New edition of News Francais Now Online
• New Sites
• Antique Accordion Information
• Accordions Required

The Goult Accordion Festival will be held at the "Place de la Libération de Goult", Vaucluse from June 10th to 12th. Events include a competition offering prizes totaling 3,000FF, a variety of "street music", a "Jazz Evening" and a "Le Dansant" concert. Performers include Marc Berthoumieux, Axel Reuter, Morand Cajun Band and Nathalie Boucheix accompanied by the Emile Pelligrino Orchestra. For further information phone/fax: + 33 4 90 72 38 58

Spanish accordionist Iñaki Alberdi will perform a concert with the Barcelona Sinfonietta Orchestra (conducted by Francés Llongueras) at the Auditori of Catalunya in Barcelona on June 10th. Their program will include "Seven Words" (Gubaidulina). For further details email: ialberdi@arrakis.es

Contributed by Paolo Picchio

An "International Accordion Week" will be held in Stradella from September 6th to 10th, organized by the Stradella City Council. Included will be a variety of concerts and a series of jazz seminars featuring Iller Pattaccini on September 7th, Renzo Ruggieri on the 8th and Richard Galliano on the 9th.

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif Manager of Friedrich Lips Productions

The "Trio Ars Harmonica" played a successful concert at the Art Cult Center in Vienna recently. Their program included works by Grekow-Chololowicz, J. S. Bach, J. Pacalet, V. Gridin, V. Solotarjov, A. Krzanowski and A. Bieloshitsky. The trio of Piotr Chololowicz, Piotr Biazik and Daniel Lis were all students of Professor Joachim Pichura at the University of Music in Katowice Poland and are all prize winners at national and international accordion competitions. P. Chololowicz is currently studying with Gertraud Winkelbauer/Zourek in Vienna.

"Tango for Four" (including Mika Väyrynen) will play at the "Ilmajoki Music Festival" in Ilmajoki, Finland on June 12th. Their program will include tangos by Piazzolla and Finnish composers. For further details email: mika.vayrynen@pp.inet.fi

Contributed by Christine Adams

The Reunion Island Concertina Orchestra (conducted by Pierre Varo) from Saint Andre will tour New Zealand from May 26th to June 3rd. The group, which consists of 28 players (aged from 12 to 16 years) will give concerts in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Their final performance will be at the New Zealand Accordion Association South Pacific Championships and Festival on June 3rd where they will compete against three orchestras from China and New Zealand.

Accordionist Ivan Radosavljevic will play at the "Dr. Vojislav Vuckovic" Auditorium in Belgrade on June 6th. His program will include Etude No.29 (Mjaskow), Sonata in F (Scarlatti), Sonata No.1 (Bogdan Precz) and a duo with bassist Nikola Boskovic "Tarantella Boogie" (Beltrami).

The 12th Isle of Arran Folk Festival, held from June 5th to 11th will include workshops and evening concerts by local accordionists and other musicians. Popular accordionist Kepa Junkera will perform on June 9th. For further information email: arranfolkfest@framei.freeserve.co.uk

Accordionist Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones will join with R. C. Banks (songwriter, accordionist and guitarist) and Spencer Jarmon (guitar) at the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Cibolo Creek Country Club in San Antonio, Austin, Texas on May 27th. All three will perform a set with their own bands, then join for a jam session at the close of the night. For further details email: pb@pontybone.com

Duo 2000 were invited to perform (for the second time) at a concert at the Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg organized by popular radio station "Radio Today" on May 18th. Their program at this sell out concert included "Waltz of the Flowers" (Tchaikovsky), "Barcarolle" (Offenbach) and "Coriandoli Napoletani" (Giancarlo Caporilli).

Accordion courses at the National and International Music and Accordion Centre (CNIMA) will begin in September, organized by Director Jacques Mornet. The courses will run until June 2001 and include professional training (6 to 8 hours per day) in musical theory and notation, sight reading, harmony, preparation for teaching and preparation for important international competitions.

Tutors include Nathalie Boucheix, Franck Angelis, Domi Emorine, Roman Jbanov, Aurélien Noël, Stéphanie Methot, Pascal Meurge and Jacques Mornet. For further details email: CNIMA@wanadoo.fr

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

The New Fisorchestra Liberina, directed by Pasquale De Marco, will play at the "Manfredi Bosco" State School for Industry and Craftsmanship in Alife (near Caserta) on May 29th. The concert is part of an end of school year event featuring music, theatre, fashion and culture. The evening will be attended by the school principal and organizer of the event Dr. Dante Bellofiore, the Bishop of Alife and Caiazzo, the President of the provincial council, the Mayor of Alife as well as numerous other personalities. The event will be televised by Telematese.

Contributed by Mickie Zekley

The Lark In The Morning 4th Annual World Music & Dance Festival was held on May 20th and 21st at "The Cannery", Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. Events included a variety of concerts, bands, workshops, dances and a French Ball. Sylvestre Lee held a "Master of Fun and The Button Accordion" workshop on Saturday afternoon.

Contributed by Christine Adams

Australian and South Pacific Champion, Bernadette Conlon (Melbourne, Australia) was the feature artist at the 2000 Biennial Highbeam Festival, held in Adelaide recently. The festival is a showcase of the world's top disabled artists (Bernadette has 2% sight), and featured musicians and comedians from America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Bernadette performed a variety of cabaret and "fun" music. Prior to the festival, Bernadette was selected to perform on an ABC television program promoting the event and also gave interviews and solo performances on radio.

Contributed by Toru Katou

The annual "Viva Accordion" festival will be held at the Matsubara Culture Hall, Matsubara, Osaka on May 28th organized by the All Kansai Area Accordion Society. Many accordionists and clubs will provide entertainment with a variety of accordions on display. Admission is free. For further information phone: + 81 6-6966-3050

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Accordionist Fabio Alderighi will perform with Paolo Castelluccia (vibraphone) on June 5th at the Villa Griffone in Pontecchio di Sasso Marconi (near Bologna). The concert is part of the 10th annual "Musical Spring" festival organized by the Giuseppe Torelli Musical Association and the local school of music with the help of the Department of Asian Studies at Bologna University.

Their program will include Hora staccato (Dinicu), Libertango (Astor Piazzolla), Preludio op.31 (A. Volpi), Tango pour Claude (Richard Galliano), Malaguena (E. Leucona), Danza delle spade (A. Kaciaturjan), One minute solo in A minor (D. Friedman) and Song for Momi (P. Castelluccia). By choosing such a varied program Fabio aims to show that the accordion is a complete instrument capable of adapting to all musical genres.

Prior to the concert the audience will be invited to a visit to the Marconi museum. For booking details phone: +39 051 846222

The "Celebrity Interview" with Heinz Gengler, German conductor and teacher is now on line in English.

On April 12th and 13th Renzo Ruggieri played with two groups specializing in fusion and jazz at the "Gallery", a venue within the Frankfurt Music Fair. The first concert featured Luca Serenelli on keyboards and Renzo on MIDI accordion. The second included a classic acoustic band playing original pieces and jazz standards with Renzo on acoustic accordion, guitarist Titus Waldelfels (Germany), double bass player Martin Marinciac (Slovak) and Luca Serenelli (piano). The concerts were organized in collaboration with the Piermaria and Orla Companies.

The first anniversary of the Li Cong Accordion Conservatory was celebrated with a concert at the Jingan Teenagers Centre in Shanghai on May 7th. The conservatory, which opened on May 8th (1999) now has over 300 accordion students and 20 teachers.

Performers included conservatory teachers who played over 30 different styles of accordion music. An orchestra made up of 50 students and teachers played a special arrangement of "Westside Story" to an audience of over 1,000 people.

Peter Soave appeared on the WTVS (Detroit) Channel 56 show "Backstage Pass" with the Emerald Sinfonietta (conducted by Felix Resnick) on May 21st and 25th. Their program included works by Astor Piazzolla and Aldemaro Romero. A final show will screen on May 26th at midnight. For further information email: SoavePeter@webtv.net

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Accordionists Sylvia Pagni and Daniele Ravaglia took part in the Music Fair in Rimini again this year. The two musicians appeared as guests of the "Excelsior" stand, where Sylvia presented her new accordion composition "Classic musette", receiving favourable reviews.

During the fair Sylvia was invited to attend a concert held at the "Musical laboratory" stand, where she met famous guitarist Dodi Battaglia (of the group "Pooh"), himself a former accordionist.

Contributed by Dave Clague

The "Norvic Concordia" accordion quintet have just released their new CD "Purely Accordion" of quintet, trio, duo & solo light classical and popular tunes and TV themes. Tracks include Blue Tango, All Right With Me, I Will Wait For You, Bach's Air from Suite 3, 'Allo 'Allo, Spanish Eyes, My Florence and My Fair Lady Medley. Most of the pieces were specially arranged by Peter Ayers for this album.

The quintet of Peter Ayers, Mary Dent, Warren King, Margaret Ledger, Kevin Mitchelson perform regularly in churches and halls in the UK. For further information email: peter.ayers@tesco.net

The Northland Performing Arts Society will hold their 51st Festival of Music, Dance and Speech from September 1st to 10th in Whangarei. The piano accordion section will include solo, duet, trio and quartet classes for a variety of age groups on September 9th. Entries close on June 30th. For further details see Future Events.

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Sylvia Pagni played at the Frankfurt Fair recently, presenting a new and unusual musical genre with pieces such as "Four brothers", "Donna Lee" and others. Music connoisseurs know we are talking about a new trend in jazz which earned Sylvia much acclaim from both young and old members of the audience, as well as by numerous jazz professionals. This project opens up new avenues for the accordion. Sylvia also performed pieces with Jon Hammond (organ) and Joe Berger (guitar).

Contributed by Mary Tokarski

The "K" Trio will perform at the Thornton Wilder Auditorium, Miller Library Complex, Hamden, Connecticut on June 10th. Their program will include a medley of music by Andrew Lloyd Webber (accompanied by Sandie Apuzzo and Cameron Stowe of the TMC Players), along with some of Tokarski Music Center's students. For further details email: mary.tokarski@snet.net

A new edition of News Francais is now online and can be seen at: http://www.accordeon.com/francais/

http://www.accordions.com/kondoky Information on French accordionist Charles Kondoky

http://www.accordions.com/guerrini Information on Guerrini Accordion Manufacturer

Steve Jordan would like to determine the maker, date of manufacture, and possible value of an old Italina accordion, made primarily of wood, heavy enamel or bakelite exterior. Please email: Pookie4690@aol.com

Massimiliano is looking for Elkavox 83 piano or chromatic accordions. If you own one and would like to sell it please email: info@mastersound.it