This week we have a report, photos and results of the successful International Klingenthal Accordion Competition held in Germany in early May. It is also great to see that this month International accordion festivals will be held in Austria, Switzerland and Australia plus many other national festivals and events are taking place in a variety of countries. Please remember to send festival reviews and results to: news@accordions.com

Wayne Knights Webmaster

• 38th Klingenthal Competition - Germany
• NAO Festival in Scarborough - England
• 7th International Accordion Festival 2001 - Austria
• American Accordionists' Festival in Cleveland - USA
• Hardanger Musikkfest - Norway
• 15th Anniversary Celebrations - Russia
• Boozoo Chavis Passes Away
• "Dancas Ocultas" at Cantigas do Maio Festival - Portugal
• 3rd International Accordion Symposium - Switzerland
• Bulgarian Cultural Festival - USA
• Accordion and Flute at Pesaro Spring Festival - Italy
• Balkan Accordion Ensemble Tours Turkey
• "Croft Number Five" CD Launch Party - Scotland
• Contemporary Accordion Recital - Netherlands
• Tango-Festa 2001 - Japan
• International San Antonio Accordion Festival - USA
• Lasse Pihlajamaa Competition - Finland
• 10th Annual German Concertina Weekend - Germany
• French Accordionist Tours Jordan
• Laguna Honda Hospital Entertainment - USA
• Students of Ivano Battiston in Concert - Italy
• Children's Musical Discovery - France
  
• Dutch Accordionist Passes Away in Belgium
• Trio Klezmer Performance - Italy
• Young Accordionists Entertain Visually Impaired - New Zealand
• 20th Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival - USA
• New CD Released by Accordionists' Association of Brazil
  
• Irish Music Concert - USA
• New CD "May Monday"
• New Sites/Updated Sites
• Accordion Information Required
  

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif Manager of Friedrich Lips Productions

The 38th International Klingenthal Accordion Competition held from May 4th to 10th, once again proved its reputation as a major international event of accordion music. The Jury consisted of famous teachers and performers Jeanette Dyremose (Denmark), Pawel Fenjuk (Ukraine), Friedrich Lips (Russia), Jacques Mornet (France), Elsbeth Moser (Germany), Owen Murray, (Great Britain), Wang Yu Ping (China), Lech Puchnowski (Poland), Ricardas Sviackevicius (Lithuania), Tibor Racz (Slovakia), Jürgen Ganzer, Stefan Fraas, Georg Reidys, Tobias Morgenstern, Ulf Seifert, Gudrun Wall (Germany) and Radomir Tomic (Yugoslavia).

The highlight of the evening concerts was presented by Richard Galliano (founder of the "New Musette") together with his trio Jean-Marie Ecay (guitar) and Jean Philippe Viret (bass) who delighted the public in a brilliant way.

Competition results:

Category II (Soloists up to 15 years old)
1st - Irina Serotiuk (Ukraine)
2nd - Wladislaw Pligowka (Belarus)

Category III (Soloists up to 18 years old)
1st - Aude Giuliano (France)
2nd - Ivan Simic (Yugoslavia)

Category IV (Soloists without age limit)
1st - Ian Meisl (Czech Republic)
2nd - Konstantinos Raptis (Greece)

Category VA
2nd - Duo Nedosekin & Petrow (Russia),

Category VB
1st - Ensemble "Non-Stop" (Russia)
2nd - Soloists from Woronesh (Russia)

Category VI (Virtuosic light music for soloists)
1st - Laurent Derache (France)
2nd - Gregory Frenard (France)

The next (39th) International Accordion Competition in Klingenthal will be held from May 10th to 16th, 2002.

Contributed by Kevin Friedrich

Colchester Accordion Orchestra, conducted by Elaine Beecham

The National Accordion Organization of the United Kingdom (NAO) recently celebrated their annual competition and festival in the charming seaside resort of Scarborough. Drawing contestants and guests from all around the United Kingdom, as well as abroad, the festival included competitions for all ages and levels and styles of music in solo, duo, ensemble and orchestra. The competition concluded with a prize giving and social dance, where the capacity crowd of several hundred enjoyed dancing the night away to music provided by well known entertainer Gary Blair.

There were also numerous vendors offering instruments and music in the trade show held during the festival. This year, a special honor was bestowed on Jack Emblow, who was made the Honorary President of the NAO. This is a position that was originally held by NAO founder, Toralf Tollefsen, followed by the late Eddie Harris until he passed away. The post has been vacant until now, and it was unanimously decided that Jack would be awarded this prestigious position. Raymond Bodell was re-elected to what will be his 8th term as Chairman of the NAO. New Executive officers include Gina Brannelli, Joy Potter & Ronnie Brown.

Robert Cherry won an extremely closely contested battle for the NAO National Championship, and along with the year 2000 winner, Lyndsey Ann Allan will represent the United Kingdom at the 2001 Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships in London.

Other results:

Senior Recital: Sarah Diggens
Junior Recital: Vanessa Williams
17 & Under Solo: Stefan Bodell
15 & Under Solo: Tom Orr
13 & Under Solo: Elizabeth Stirrat
Advanced Orchestra Test: East Antrim Accordion Orchestra
Advanced Orchestra Own Choice: Millars Hill Accordion Orchestra
Intermediate Orchestra Test: Graham Laurie Accordion Orchestra
Intermediate Orchestra Own Choice: St Johns Accordion Band Drumcree
Open Premier Duet: Alison Sutherland & Julie Patrick
Art Level Group: Burton Accordion Group

Contributed by Arnold Kutzl

The 7th International Accordion Festival 2001 will take place in Innsbruck from May 24th to 27th organized by the German Accordion Association (Deutsche Harmonika Verband e.V. - DHV). The event will include competitions with contestants from a variety of countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, France, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, Lithuania and Poland.

Jury members include Prof. Walter Maurer, Dr. Wolfgang Eschenbacher, Bernd Maltry, Renso Propstra, Prof. Dr. Berg, Hedy Stark-Fussnegger, Johannes Baumann, Lutz Stark, Klaus Kronibus, Eugen Hohnecker, Ruedy Marty, Gaby Brändle, Günther Stoll, Hubert Nöller, Wolfgang Newy, Marianne Baldauf, Elisabeth Glauber, Georg Penz, Maximilian Schnurrer, Uwe Schmitt, Prof. Georg Reidys, Werner Glutsch, Irene Urbach, Heinz Gengler and Heinz Arnold.

Orchestras and ensembles will take part in a Gala-Concert including Orchester des Hohner-Konservatoriums Trossingen, Akkordeon-Orchester Baltmannsweiler, Jugendsinfonie-Orchester der Musikschule Bornholm, Klarinetten-Orchester Innsbruck and Orchester Hohnerklang. For further details email: DHV-trossingen@t-online.de

Contributed by Faithe Deffner

Cleveland has been selected as the site for the American Accordionists' Association's 2001 Festival to be held from July 11th to 15th at the Sheraton Hotel (Cleveland International Airport). The event will feature a Polka Band competition with a first prize of US$1500 plus $750 in additional prizes. To compete, Polka Bands of professional or amateur status must send an audio tape of a 15-minute program of polka music, by June 1st, 2001, to the American Accordionists' Association, Polka Fest Committee, 1066 Papermill Court, Washington, DC 20007. Entries will be judged on basis of originality, variety, musicianship and professionalism, by a panel of prominent musicians and dignitaries. Finalists will be notified by June 8th and will be required to perform live at the Polka Fest Competition on July 12th.

A concert will be held on the 13th featuring Carmen Carrozza, Tony Dannon, Eddie Monteiro, Peter Soave, Anthony Rolando and others. In addition National Competitions for students, hobbyists and club members will be held. The Festival will also include a public band performance, a Massed Band, mini-concerts, workshops, the Club Pub, Endless Performance Ballroom and other spectacular events such as sightseeing tours of Cleveland and an Accordion Summit Meeting.

For additional information see the AAA website.

Accordionist Frode Haltli will perform at the Hardanger Musikkfest which runs from May 31st to June 4th. His program will include a new piece for accordion and string quartet (performed with the Vertavo String Quartet) by Maja S.K. Ratkje. For further details email: haltli@hotmail.com

The 15th Anniversary celebrations of the Ural State Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments, was held on April 28th at the Ekaterinburg Concert Hall. Conducted by Leonid Shkarupa the orchestra performed popular pieces such as "Carnival of Venice" and "Dance of Gnomes". Accordionist Vladimir Zubitsky (Italy) was invited to perform at the celebrations. He joined with the orchestra to play "Omaggio ad Astor Piazzolla", "Rossiniana" and "Divertimento". The concert finished with the Finale of Violin Concerto (Tchaikovsky) and "Rassipukha" (Gridin) arranged for accordion and orchestra. After the celebrations Vladimir Zubitsky and the Ural orchestra recorded a new CD. For further CD details email: zubytskyy.v@provincia.ps.it

In late April Boozoo Chavis suffered a mild heart attack after performing at the Austin Swamp Romp & Crawfish Festival in Texas. He was transported to the Brackenridge Hospital in Austin, where he then suffered a stroke. On May 5th zydeco accordionist Boozoo passed away. National Radio paid tribute to the accordionist including information on his song "Paper In My Shoe" that was very popular in the 1950's and created massed interest in Zydeco music. Further information can be seen at Memorials.

Accordion quartet "Dancas Ocultas" will perform at the Cantigas do Maio Festival in Seixal on May 25th. The group, which consists of Filipe Ricardo, Filipe Cal, Francisco Miguel and Artur Fernandes will play pieces from their two CD's including "Escalada" and "Danca d'Alba". For further details email: afernandes@viseu.ipiaget.pt

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

The third International Accordion Symposium will take place from May 23rd to 26th in St. Gallen. Courses will be held by Hugo Noth, Michel Besson, Sergio Scappini, Peter Nutt and Jürg Schmid in the following subjects:

Breathing within Instrumental Performance
Improvisation on the Accordion
Italy and the Accordion
Accordion Manufacture and Repair
Improvisation for beginners

The event will also include a concert each evening. For further information email: akkordeonsymposium@gmx.ch

Contributed by Joyce Clyde

A Bulgarian Cultural Festival will be held at the Slavonic Cultural Center, Daly, San Francisco, California on May 25th. The festival is named after the brothers Kiril and Metody who created the Slav alphabet 10 centuries ago. Entertainment will include four bands, a choir, soloists, children's show as well as Bulgarian wine, goodies and beverages.

Groups include "Anoush" (accordionist Dan Ziagos), "Edessa" (accordionist Lise Liepman) and "Nestinari" (accordionist Mitko Tonchev) who will perform a variety of Bulgarian, Macedonian and Balkan music and songs. For further details email: joycexopo@hotmail.com

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

The Zubitsky Duo held a concert on May 11th at the Teatro Sperimentale in Pesaro (Pesaro Spring Festival) presenting a program of Slavic music. Pieces for accordion and flute performed by the Duo included Vladimir Zubitsky's "Quaderno Bulgaro", Concert partita à-la Jazz #2, as well as Russian, Roumanian and Hungarian tunes.

Contributed by Peter Stanchev

The Balkan Accordion Ensemble's first tour to Turkey ended on May 11th. Concerts were given in Eskishehir, Afion and Bursa with audiences of over 500 people who were so impressed they called for several encores. The Ensemble was founded by Diana Stancheva, (the arranger of most of their pieces) who also plays the solo part in Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major (J. S. Bach). This piece was performed in memory of the victims of the earthquake in Turkey.

The ensemble consists of eight accordionists from Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey and Yugoslavia. Their concert program included pieces by Zeiber, Albeniz, Hachaturian, Albinioni and Balkan folklore. The ensemble was given an "Award for Balkan Peace Contribution" by the Mayor of Eskishehir, Mr Atac.

"Croft Number Five" will release their new CD entitled "Attention All Personnel" at official launch parties at the Glasgow Art School on June 5th and at the Belle Angele Edinburgh on the 6th. The group, which includes John Somerville (accordion), Barry Reid (guitar), Misha Somerville (whistles), Somhairle MacDonald (bass), Paul Jennings (drums) and Adam Sutherland (violin) will be on tour throughout June beginning with a performance at the Highland Festival on May 31st. For further information email: sales@tartantapes.com

Raimondas Sviackevicius (Lithuania) will perform a solo recital of contemporary accordion music at The Hague Royal Conservatory (Netherlands) on May 25th. His program will include works by S. Gubaidulina, B. Tarenskeen, K. Wolkov, N. Valanciute (a Lithuanian premiere work written for Raimondas) and J. Ganzer. Cellist Kate Harris (Groningen) will join Raimondas for several works. For further information email: sviaraim@takas.lt

Contributed by Toru Katou

On May 22, "Tango-Festa 2001" will be held at Bunkamura-Orchard Hall, Shibuya, Tokyo, organized by the "Rou'on" music association. Performers include bandoneonists Hiroshi Kyotani, Akira Okamoto and Keiji Okazaki. For further information phone: +81 3-3204-9933

On May 26, the "Tsuru" (Oaks) Choir will hold a concert with accordionist Chikaie Yoshida at the Izumi Hall, Osaka Prefecture. For concert details email: cato@hiroshima-u.ac.jp On the same day the Noboru Emori Accordion Class will hold a concert at the Kagaku Gijutsu Kan Hall (Hall of Science Technology). For further details phone: +81 3 3930 5568

Contributed by Evelynn Bailey

The first International San Antonio Accordion Festival will take place on September 29th and 30th in historic La Villita, one of San Antonio's original settlements, in the heart of Downtown San Antonio. The event is organized by the City of San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs, in collaboration with Texas Folklife Resources and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.

Many groups representing numerous diverse international accordion musical traditions will perform German, Colombian/Vallenato, Irish, Argentine Tango, Cajun/Zydeco, Dominican Merengue and Conjunto/Tejano music at the festival.

In addition, on September 27th and 28th (just prior to the festival) a symposium focusing on international accordion traditions will be held. For further details email: ebailey@ci.sat.tx.us

Contributed by Kimmo Mattila

The Lasse Pihlajamaa Accordion Competition will be held from September 18th to 22nd in Ikaalinen and Tampere Finland. The event, which is open to accordionists aged 30 years and under will be held in three rounds. The first round (held in Ikaalinen on September 18th and 19th) will include works by Bach, Grisey, Hosokawa, Jokinen, Katzer, Krzanowski, Mossenmark, Nordheim, Olczak and Takahashi. Round two (held in Ikaalinen on the 20th) will include sonatas by Scarlatti, Soler, Cimarosa or Seixas, plus a Russian work "Theme and variations". Round three will be held at the Tampere Hall on the 22nd and include contestants performing concertos by Veikko Huuskonen, Matti Murto, Astor Piazzolla's "Concerto for Bandoneon and Orchestra" and "Summer Days for Accordion and Strings" (Heikki Valpola). For further details email: competition@harmonikkainstituutti.net

Contributed by Mario Kliemann

The 10th annual German Concertina Weekend was held on May 12th and 13th in Bielefeld. The event included workshops, concerts and a Ceilidh. Workshop tutors included Brid Meney (Ireland - Irish concertina), Robbi Pich (Germany - English concertina) and Jürgen Leo (Germany - German concertina). Special guest tutor Piejetro Valente also gave an English concertina workshop.

The Saturday evening Ceilidh (held at the Seminar House "Stille Kammer", Senner Hellweg) included performances by workshop participants, special guests and local musicians.

French accordionist Christian Maes will tour parts of Jordan (near Israël and Saudi Arabia) from June 13th to 27th. During the tour Christian will perform at the Music Fest in Amman with Thierry Bruneau (hurdy gurdy) and some of Jordan's traditional and jazz musicians. For further details email: cie.heritage@wanadoo.fr

Accordionist Jon Hammond entertained over 100 patients and staff recently at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco with Barry Finnerty (guitar). Their program included a mix of everything from standards like, "Willow Weep For Me", "Blues In The Night", and "When Sunny Gets Blue"', to pop songs like Leon Russell's "Masquerade" as well as their own original compositions. The event was sponsored by the AFM Musicians Union Local 6 in San Francisco.

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Students of the accordion course held by Ivano Battiston (at the "Luigi Cherubini" State Music Conservatory in Florence) performed a concert on May 16th at the Conservatory's "Sala del Buonumore". The evening, which was part of the "Springtime Musical Events" organised by the Florentine Institute, also featured viola player Elena Favilla.

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

On May 30th the 2nd Bercy Musique, Jardins D'eveil meeting will be held in Parc de Bercy, Paris organised by the association of the Arts, Nuances and Culture. This event is open to children and aims to give them the opportunity to discover and experience musical instruments, musicians and surrounding crafts through a non technical approach. Accordionists "Accordéon 2000" and "Le Génie du Bouge" will attend the event.

In a journey especially designed for them, the children will see how musical instruments are made, to physically try and get the feel of them, and also to listen to the sound they make when played by musicians. A final concert with children's games will be held at the end of the day. For further information email Béatrice Fontaine at: accordeon2000@wanadoo.fr

Contributed by Joeri De Jongh, Editor www.accordo.be

Dutch accordionist John Woodhouse passed away on May 7th at the age of 78. Born with the name Johnny Holshuysen, he became famous in the Netherlands and Belgium thanks to his "Magic Accordeon", Cavagnolo's first accordionorgan. During the 60's and 70's he could often be seen on the Dutch television show "Willem Duys and the Mounties". He also composed a number of songs for the European Song Contest, wrote many songs for important Dutch singers and sold dozens of records during his career. "Melodia" is undoubtedly the most well-known of all his hits. In the mid 80's Woodhouse retired and moved to Turnhout in Belgium. For details on others who have passed away recently see Memorials.

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Trio Klezmer, which includes Giorgio Dellarole (accordion), Antonio Sacco (violin) and Massimiliano Limonetti (clarinet) will perform in Frassineto Po (AL) on May 25th. Their program will include traditional Jewish music. For further details email: giorgio.dellarole@libero.it

Contributed by Christine Adams

On May 15th, young Auckland sisters Olivia (6 years old) and Kristina Panzic (12 years old) entertained the Visually Impaired Club at Whangaparaoa, Hibiscus Coast. Their varied program included "Country Gardens", "Trieste Overture", "The Entertainer" and Kristina's own composition "Chango".

The Associação dos Acordeonistas do Brasil (Accordionists' Association of Brazil) recently released a new CD of the 17th Encontro Internacional dos Acordeonistas (17th International Accordionists' Meeting) which took place in May 1999 at the theatre of the Universidade São Judas Tadeu, São Paulo.

Oswaldinho do Acordeon, Regina Weissmann, Edinho Lima and Aderson Chain participated in this meeting, together with international guests Paolo Gandolfi and Danielle Doadelli (Italy). For further details email: acordeon@valerio.com.br

Frederick Cunningham would like information on a 120 bass "Sunerfonic" piano accordion with 41 treble keys, red mother of pearl finish, made in Italy. Email: frc@moscow.com