Accordion competitions and festival celebrations are currently underway in the USA. The American Accordionists Association 2000 annual competition and festival began on July 12th in Washington and will run until the 16th. The ATG 60th Anniversary Millennium Celebrations will be held in Chicago from July 20th to 23rd. Following this the Las Vegas Accordion Convention will be held from August 6th to 10th. Accordions Worldwide director Harley Jones is currently in the USA to attend the AAA festival along with USA representative Kevin Friedrich.

Wayne Knights Webmaster

• 7th International Astor Piazzolla Award - Italy
• International Master Seminar for Accordionists - Poland
• "Cultural Summer Klingenthal" Festival - Germany
• Church Concert - Colombia
• Las Vegas Accordion Convention - USA
• Accordion Crimes now Available in Japan
• Sergei Voitenko Festival Concerts - Europe
• Accordionist on Radio Show - Australia
• Summer Workshops in Saint-Etienne - France
• Akkordeonring Woeschbach Tour to Wales
• Ottawa Chamber Music Festival - Canada
• Concertina Meeting - Japan
• Park Concerts - USA
• Maidenhead Music Festival - England
• Viktor Romanko Tours Europe
• Deep Listening Opera - USA
• Whitstable Oyster Festival Performance - England
• New Edition of News Francais Now Online
• Cook Forest Festival - USA
• New Klucevsek CD Recorded in Italy
• Arizona Accordion Club Meeting - USA
• Fleadh 2000 Festival - Ireland
• Concert at Eagle Harbor - USA
• Solan Tours UK
• Musicians Workshop - USA
• New Sites
• Antique Accordion Information

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

The 7th International Astor Piazzolla Award, held from July 7th to 9th in Castelfidardo was won by the Novjaro Quintet (Finland). The jury announced the result after two days of intense competition, in which all candidates demonstrated a high level of performance. The victory of the young Scandinavian musicians reflects a trend in the history of the award. The first competition (1994) was also won by a quintet from Finland, the "In Time" quintet.

Jury members included Aldo Pagani (Italy - President), Aldemaro Romero (Venezuela), Ernesto Gordini (Italy) and Angela Fontana (Italy - jury assistant).

Guest artists included the Girotto & Di Bonaventura Duo, "Tango de la Yeca" (featuring bandoneonist Pichòn Lopez) who played popular South American Tango rhythms to an enthusiastic audience and 1999 winners "Alma Dancante Jazz Sextet" who performed at the final concert.

Castelfidardo will be at the centre of the accordion world again on October 11th to 15th when it will host the 25th International "Città di Castelfidardo" Competition for accordion soloists and groups. Enrolments must be sent by the end of August.

Results:

• 1st place - Novjaro Quintet (Johanna Juhola - accordion, Noa Nakai - violin, Arttu Kataja - piano, Erno Eklund - guitar and Julius Pyrhonen - bass.
• 2nd place - Tango Fatale (Sweden)
• 3rd place - Trio di Girolamo-di Toro-Sabatini (Italy)

Contributed by Lech Puchnowski

The International Master Seminar for Accordionists was held from July 3rd to 15th at the Chopin Academy of Music in Mietne, organized by the Polish Accordionists Association and directed by Danuta Kaniewska.

Tutors included Mika Väyrynen (Finland), Polish Professors Lech Puchnowski (leader of the seminar), Bogdan Dowlasz, Jerzy Jurek, Jerzy Kaszuba, Jerzy Lukasiewicz and Klaudiusz Baran.

Individual and chamber music classes were given to participants, who also performed 20 minute concert programs of original music and arrangements of different styles and composers.

Contributed by Dirk Meinel

The "Cultural Summer Klingenthal" Festival will take place from September 10th to 17th at the Wolfgang Natonek Academy in Kottenheide. Guests include Professors Friedrich Lips (Russia), Jürgen Ganzer (Germany), Tibor Rász (Bratislava) and event organizer Elsbeth Moser (Germany).

The event will celebrate music as a medium that brings together and unites people from across the borders of Europe and offers an opportunity to participants to exchange experiences, to get to know other European Regions and to contribute to the European development in the area of culture and music.

The festival program includes many music sessions, sightseeing trips, meetings and music workshops. For further information email: Silke.Huettenrauch@fnst.org

Colombian accordionist Lácides Romero gave a concert at the "Iglesia de la Resurrección" (Church of the Resurrection) in Bogota on June 25th. His program included works by Lully, Handel, Tchaikowsky, Delibes, Brahms and Dvorak. The concert was organized by the "Fundación Música en los Templos" (foundation for Music in the Temples) of the Archiepiscopal Diocese of Bogota.

The Las Vegas Accordion Convention will be held from August 6th to 10th at the Plaza Hotel, sponsored by Accordions International. Over 200 people have already registered for the event which includes performances by Jane Christison, Tony Lovello, Art Van Damme, Peter Soave, Gina & Romany Rye (England), Julien Labro (France) and many others.

Accordion manufacturers will present displays, workshops and master classes will be offered during the day as well as luncheon concerts. Each evening will conclude with a grand Las Vegas style dinner and concert. Other exciting events include the forum, where accordion clubs will come together daily to share ideas. For further details phone the Convention Hotline: + 1 801-486-1695

Contributed by Toru Katou

The book "Accordion Crimes" (by E. Annie Proulx) has been translated into Japanese by Professor Nobuo Kamioka (Meiji University). Published by Shueisha Company the book will be available from July 26th. Popular Japanese accordionist Yasuhiro Kobayashi (Coba) has written a personal recommendation of the book.

Contributed by Olga Kopilova

Accordionist Sergei Voitenko is currently performing at festivals in Europe until July 16th. Firstly he performed at the International Festival of Accordion Artists in Kragujevac (Yugoslavia), organized by Milan Tomic and the Yugoslavian Accordion Association. Competition winners during the last year also played.

Sergei will also play at the International Accordion Festival in Reykjavik, Iceland (organized by Jonatan Karlsson), from July 14th to 16th.

His program includes works by Scarlatti, Rakhmaninov, Berinsky, Slonimsky, Macconnen, Piazzolla, Semionov, Novikov and his own compositions. For further information email: servoit@hippo.ru

Australian Champion accordionist Bernadette Conlon will perform a one hour solo concert for ABC National Classic Radio (105.9 FM) on July 23rd at 3pm. Her program will include Holberg Suite (Grieg) and Rassypucha (Gridin). Interested musicians can also attend the studio at ABC Awaiki Auditorium in Melbourne to hear the concert live. For further details email: accordionbernadette@bigpond.com.au

Contributed by Gregory Frenard

Frédéric Deschamps, who received the Best Teacher's Prize in Castelfidardo (Italy) in 1999, will give four summer workshops in Saint-Etienne, with the help of Eric Pisani. Workshop dates: July 17th to 21st; July 24th to 28th; July 31st to August 4th and August 7th to 11th. For further information phone: + 33 1.53.79.04.34

Contributed by Iris Kessler

The Akkordeonring Woeschbach (Germany) conducted by Kurt Steimer will tour Wales from July 28th to August 5th. Over the last 15 years there have been multiple visits by the orchestra to Wales. The upcoming trip will enable members to renew friendships and perform an exciting new program, which includes "Finlandia" (Sibelius), "Waltz No. 2" (Shostakovitch), "Morning Mood" (Grieg), "Choral and Rock-Out" (Huggens), Beatles Medley (arr. Kurt Steimer) and many others.

The orchestra will perform at open air concerts in Tredegar and Newport, a concert with the Abertillery Brass band and a final concert in Cwmbran on August 3rd before departing for London. For further information email: gwkessler@plannet.de

Canadian accordionist Joseph Petric will perform at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, held from July 26th to 28th in St. John's Church, Ottawa. Joseph will perform works by Krebs, Couperin, Bach, Trudel and Pelinski as well as 5 Tango Sensations with the Festival Quartet. For further details email: jpetric@interlog.com

Contributed by Toru Katou

A "Concertina Meeting" and mini contest will be held at the Shibun-Kaikan (Confucious Hall), Yushima-Seido, Ochanomizu, Tokyo on July 29th. The event features Natsuo Oshima who will give a lecture on the history of concertinas. For further information email: cato@ipc.hiroshima-u.ac.jp

Accordionist John Jeski will perform at a free outdoor concert in Goodwin Park, Hartford, Connecticut on July 20th. One week later (July 27th) he will play at another free outdoor concert in Rocky Ridge Park. These concerts were made possible by a grant from the Evelyn W. Preston Memorial Trust Fund. For further details email: johnjeski@home.com

The Maidenhead Music Festival will be held at the Norden Farm Centre for the Arts in Maidenhead, Berkshire on November 5th. The event includes an accordion competition for a variety of solo, duet and orchestra age groups as well as polka and Scottish Traditional solo sections. The closing date for entries is July 31st 2000. For further details email: emmaspear@aol.com

Contributed by Jutta Menn

Professor Viktor Romanko will tour Europe from October 6th to December 2nd giving concerts in Bad Krozingen, Höchstadt, Bretten, Stolberg, Attendorn, Stuttgart, Meinerzhagen and Bergneustadt (Germany) and Oberwinterthur, Dietlikon, Elsau, Winterthur and Effretikon (Switzerland). For further details email: JBMenn@gmx.de

Pauline Oliveros will present her Lunar Opera: Deep Listening For Tunes on August 17th at the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival in New York during Deep Listening Day 2000. The opera (written by Pauline with story and direction by Ione) is dedicated to tolerance and freedom. For further information email: pof@deeplistening.org

Contributed by Fred Dunn

The Canterbury Accordion Band will perform at the Whitstable Oyster Festival in Kent on July 22nd and 23rd outside the Life Boat House. The group play light classical works, sing along tunes, and well known pieces such as Blue Moon, The Entertainer, Moon River and the theme from Eastenders. For further details email: freddunn@madasafish.com

A new edition on News Francais is now online at: http://www.accordeon.com/francais

The Cook Forest Festival will be held from September 8th to 10th at the Cook Forest and Clarion University in Pennsylvania. Musicians of all instruments are encouraged to attend the event which includes workshops, jam sessions and concerts.

"Simple Gifts", which includes Rachel Hall, Karen Hirshon and Linda Littleton playing concertina, violin, mandolin, hammered dulcimer, guitar and piano, will hold workshops on Klezmer Tunes, Using Syncopation and Contradance Tunes. The group will also lead a performance band (a festival tradition) where a large group of festival participants will perform together at the Saturday night concert. For further details see Future Events.

Accordionist Guy Klucevsek recently traveled to Milan, Italy to record his new CD "Accordance" (for the Winter & Winter label) with Alan Bern (accordion, piano and melodica). The CD, which is due for release in October 2000, includes compositions by Klucevsek and Bern such as Dueling Dovidls (Bern) and Astor Place (Klucevsek).

On July 15th Guy will perform works by John Cage, Mary Ellen Childs, Dave Douglas, Jerome Kitzke, Klucevsek, Yuji Takahashi and John Zorn at "Tonic" in New York, USA. For further details email: Guysqueeze@aol.com

Contributed by Leigh Dechaine

The Arizona Accordion Club will hold their July meeting on the 17th at the Luke Greenway American Legion Hall, Phoenix, Arizona. The evening will begin with a short business Meeting, followed by performances from club members. The theme this month is "Patriotic" and the club band will perform America the Beautiful, Stars and Stripes and Bing Bang Polka. For further details email: LaneInd@aol.com

The Fleadh 2000 Festival was held recently in Ennis, Co. Clare, with a Millennium Concert dedicated to concertina players Sonny Murray and Gerdy Commane in recognition of their life long commitment to Irish Traditional Music. Over 1,000 people were in attendance for the duo's performance. Other performers included concertina group "Ceol Consairtín na mBan", Dympna O'Sullivan, Gearóid Ó'Hallmhuráin, Gerdy Commane, Lorraine O'Brien, Mary Liddy, Mary McNamara, Noel Hill & Tony Linnane, Peadar O'Loughlin, Sonny Murray and Yvonne Griffin.

Bayan players Susanne Köhler (Germany) and Veli Kujala (Finland) will perform at St. Peter's By the Sea Church in Eagle Harbor, Michigan on July 21st. The concert is part of the Sibelius Festival organized by the Suomi College (Hancock). Their program will include works by J. Tiensuu, J.S. Bach, N. Paganini, V. Zubitsky, D. Scarlatti, E. Gismonti, V. Holmboe and J. ter Veldhuis. For further information email: vkujala@siba.fi

Solan (featuring concertina player Frances Wilkins) are currently touring the UK giving concerts in Cheltenham, Sussex, Somerset, Ashby de la Z., (England) with a final concert in Aberdeen, Scotland on July 15th. Their program includes Dead Horse, The New Rigged Ship and Handsome Molly as well as some original tunes.

Contributed by Sylvia Miskoe

Nic Broadbridge (Scottish teacher and accordionist) led a workshop on playing for dancing on July 9th in Concord, New Hampshire. Following the workshop, a dance was held where all participants were encouraged to play.

http://www.accordions.com/newfisorchestra Updated information on the New Fisorchestra Liberina (conducted by Pasquale De Marco) with sound files now available.

Sharon would like some information on a Ludwig "Rajah" Piccolo accordion with metal keys. Please email: Sharibaby0@aol.com

Linda Hayes has a 120 bass Bonetti piano accordion, which is over fifty years old and would like information on when it was made, how many were made, possible value etc. Please email: lhayes@pacifier.com