Editors Note

We have over 350 concerts, festivals, competitions and workshops/masterclasses/seminars currently listed in our accordion Yellow Pages. This is an ideal place to check for details of events near to you or, if you are travelling overseas and would like to see some accordion entertainment during your trip.

If you are an entertainer or the organiser of a future concert or event please send details via the online submit form or email Christine at: news@accordions.com

Wayne Knights Webmaster

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

The 14th Carrefour Mondial de l'accordéon will be held in Montmagny, Québec from August 29th to September 2nd and offers a unique opportunity to enjoy folk, classic, rock, jazz and popular repertoires. Included will be a variety of concerts with international guests, dance evenings, outdoor concerts, conferences and exhibits.

Performers include Norber Aboudarham (France), Léonide Albert (Canada), Gary Blair (Scotland), Adam Borek (France), Nini Flores (Argentina), Roger Gendron (Canada), Yves Hélie (Canada), Hiroko Ito (Japan), Roger Lanteigne (Canada), Patrick Lefebvre (Brittany), Jeremiah McLane (USA), Bruno Maurice (France), Gaston Nolet (Canada), Jean-Louis Noton (France), Didier Pauvert (France), Raynald Ouellet (Canada), Emanuele Rastelli (Italy), Jean-Luc Revault (Brittany), Corinne Rousselet (France) and Peter Soave (USA).

The opening and closing events will bring together all of the invited artists, who will help to make it a new and unique experience. For further details email: accordeon@montmagny.com

Contributed by Xia Fanghao

The 1st Qingdao National Accordion Competition Committee have invited Josef Bugala and Hanskare Jacobsen (Germany) to judge at the competition, which will be held from July 29th to August 2nd. During the event the visitors will also give lectures and concerts.

As Chamber Music is their forte, Bugala and Jacobsen will play some duo compositions by Peter Eken and Arne Nordheim. Representing the Hohner Konservatorium Trossingen and the German International Accordion Association, the duo have travelled worldwide. Bugala has won 1st place at the 1968 Klingenthal Accordion Competition and teaches at the Hohner Konservatorium Trossingen.

Contributed by Olga Kopylova

On July 7th, accordionist Sergei Voitenko and rock singer Yury Shevchuk entertained over 5,000 people on the final day of the 29th festival of songwriters in the Mostryukovskie lake area (near Samara). The duo performed new compositions by Shevchuk plus some of his popular songs such as "Last Autumn", "Mum", "She" and "Rain".

Yury has asked Sergei to participate in the recording of his next album. According to the rock singer, the album should turn out very interesting. For the further details email: servoit@hippo.ru

Contributed by Margery Stirling

The University of Stirling will hold an accordion workshop from August 5th to 10th tutored by Ian Lowthian, as part of their Summer Schools program. Workshop subjects include ornamentation, analysis of tunes, composition, harmony, left hand technique, special effects (such as bellows shake & vibrato) and technical aspects (such as articulation, fingering, phrasing and bellows control).

The main objective of the course is to make the most of a tune and to use the accordion to its full potential. The course will not suit complete beginners. For details email: m.f.stirling@stir.ac.uk

Rocky Mountain Accordion Celebration - USA

The Rocky Mountain Accordion Celebration will be held in Philipsburg, Montana from August 2nd to 4th. The event will include concerts, dancing, informal jams and a Polka Mass. RMAC Accordion Youth Scholarships will be awarded to players 15 years and under. This money is used by the youth and their families to offset the cost of their accordion music education.

Performers include Accordia Nova Diamonds, Tempo Trend Music (includes accordionist Serge Duchesne) and Krisko's Polka Party. For further details email: sapphire@sapphire-gallery.com

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

The 1st Variety Accordion Masterclass of Petralia Sottana (province of Palermo) will be held from August 7th to 9th at the local Grifeo theatre. The Masterclass is organised by Mario Li Puma's "Studio Meeting" and will be tutored by Emanuele Rastelli of San Marino. For further information phone/fax: +39 0921 640580

Contributed by Edmund Schwarz

During June and July the Popolzin Family (Siberia) toured the Rhine Main area giving a variety of concerts in Frankfurt am Main, Heidelberg, Kronberg and at the "Moselfestwochen" festival in Bernkastel-Kues. The trio consists of accordionists Vladimir and Irina Popolzin as well as their daughter Natascha (violin).

Their repertoire includes works by Bach, Saint-Saëns, Dvorák and Piazzolla as well as compositions by Vladimir Popolzin.

The Popolzin Family are planning a return trip to Germany in October/November 2002.

Accordionist Bernadette Conlon will give her annual "Melbourne Cup Eve" accordion concert for the Bentleigh Organ Club on November 4th. The event will once again be held in the Coatesville Bowling Club Hall in Bentleigh East.

Bernadette will release her newest CD at this concert, as well as performing requests for the audience. This annual performance has developed into one of the biggest accordion concerts in Melbourne. For further details email: accordionbernadette@bigpond.com

Over the last few months jazz accordionist Renzo Ruggieri has been involved in a series of concerts and important collaborative projects. In March he took part with the "Solo Accordion Project" in the Bellante "Itinerari Sonori" jazz festival. In May he played in a trio with Toni Fidanza (piano) and Enrico Melozzi (cello) in the hall of the Teramo Conservatory. This concert was included in the "New Music" festival directed by Piero Di Egidio. Later that month, Renzo performed in Roseto degli Abruzzi for the "Amici della Musica" association together with Paolo Di Sabatino (piano), Massimo Manzi (drums) and Massimo Moriconi (double bass). This was followed by a recording session at the "Master Studio" in Ancona for the latest album of singer-songwriter Giovanni Seneca.

On June 25th Renzo appeared with double bass player Maurizio Rolli and vocalist Diana Torto in a concert in Terni. At the end of June he played in a jazz group including Di Sabatino, Manzi, and Garlaschelli as part of the prestigious "Val Tidone" festival (artistic director Livio Bollani). This last concert took place in Agazzano and earned enthusiastic reviews, especially by journalist Vittorio Berini, who devoted three quarters of a page in the "La Voce Nuova" newspaper of Piacenza to the performance.

Simon Thoumire (concertina) and David Milligan (piano) will perform at The Queen's Hall in Edinburgh on August 14th. This concert is one of a series held between August 10th and 20th as part of the Festival Fringe giving an international platform to the Bright Young Stars of traditional music. For details phone: +44 131 668 2019

California Accordion Recitals - USA

American accordionist Henry Doktorski will perform four solo recitals in California from July 26th to 29th. The concerts, which are sponsored by Major Accordion Productions (MAP) will be held at the Herman Songs Hall, Petaluma (July 26th), Colma Moose Club, south of San Francisco (27th), Seventh Day Adventist Church, San Jose (28th) and the Community Center, Escalon, near Modesto (29th).

His program will consist of ten compositions by the great Italian-American accordion pioneer of the early twentieth-century, Guido Deiro, plus works by Krebs, Handel, Schumann, Brahms, Bartok, Monti, Hovhaness, Piazzolla, Darrow, Palmer, Doktorski, and Frosini.

A compact disc entitled "California Accordion Recitals" will be released to coincide with the tour. For details email: henry@henrydoktorski.com

Contributed by Hillebrand van der Veen

On August 24th and 25th "Uitmarkt", the start of the cultural season will be held at the Museumplein in Amsterdam. The event will include many stands giving information about activities, concerts, drama, etc., plus a variety of free concerts to give people a "taste" of the upcoming concert season. NOVAM (Dutch Accordion Association) will have a stand with information about several Amsterdam accordion clubs and future concerts.

Members of the Amsterdam Accordion Club Forzando and the Insulinde accordion club will entertain the public during the event. The idea is to help to make the accordion attractive and interesting.

Thousands of people are expected to attend the event. For details email: H.J.Veen@net.HCC.nl

Contributed by Sonia Pedriza

"Anaki", which includes Indonesian pianist Ananda Sukarlan and Spanish accordionist Iñaki Alberdi will perform at the prestigious international festival "Quincena Musical de San Sebastian" on August 8th. The duo will perform with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Juan Jose Mena).

Their program will include an exciting variety of world premieres by Spanish composers. For details email: anaki_spain@yahoo.es

The "Tangolina" Show includes two hours of tango entertainment by vocalist/composer Lina Avellaneda, accompanied by musicians Horacio Romo (bandoneon), Enrique "Quique" Guerra (double bass) and Nicolás Ledesma (piano and musical director). The show is currently on stage in Cabrera, Buenos Aires.

This Argentine show includes the best of old and new tango songs with arrangements by Daniel Binelli, Virgilio Expósito, Antonio Agri, Walter Ríos, Pablo Mainetti and others. For further information email: casalina@fibertel.com.ar

The Button Box Music Festival was held at IronWorld, Chisholm, MN on July 20th and 21st. The event featured an open stage providing a jamming venue for masters and novices alike, plus workshops, demonstrations, swap meet and free-reed workshop, historical instrument displays and a Button Box Masters Tribute & Performance.

Performers included: Lynda Griffith, Ronny Setniker, Copper Box, Paddy O'Brien & Friends, Skalmusik (Scandinavian Button Box with Paul Wilson & Mary Abendroth), Minnesota Button Box Band, Sue Spencer & Willowgreen and Slovenian Home Button Box Club. Other events included the Dr. Helmi Harrington Accordion & Concertina Music Performances and Workshops & Museum of Historical Displays.

Colombian Concertina Player Performs in Portugal

On July 19th, Colombian concertina player Antonio Rivas performed in Águeda with Hugo Hernandez (clarinet & flute), Juan Forero (percussion), Boris Caicedo, El Chino and Daniel Farias). The concert, which was organised by d'Orfeu Associação Cultural, included many Latin American rhythms.

A new Article on the Italian accordion industry is now online in English and German courtesy of Ancona Promuove, Studio Bignami.

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

An accordion concert will be held on August 6th 2002 at the church of San Donato in Piampaludo (province of Savona). The concert, aimed at collecting funds for the restoration of the church's bell tower, will star accordionists Gianluca Campi, winner of the variety section of the "World Accordion Trophy" in 2000, and Marco Valenti, winner of the recent "Casarza Ligure" competition.

Gina and Romany Rye (UK) have just returned from the USA, after appearing for the 3rd consecutive year at the Las Vegas convention.

Whilst on this trip they were awarded The Key and freedom of the City of Rogue River in Oregon, and bestowed Honorary citizenship for their song 'Rogue River' which has been licensed to the Rogue River area of South Oregon for promotion and tourism of the cities along the Rogue River. Whilst on the way to Oregon Gina wrote another song for the area, and at the presentation sung and played the new song to a tearful emotional audience. Mayor of the City of Rogue River, Mayor Peeters said he found it unbelievable that anyone could write such a beautiful song when they had no connection to the area or country, but the song was accurate and emotionally appealing. Gina and Norman have agreed and signed license agreements for both songs to be used for promotional purposes.

Gina and Romany have appeared all over the world and now work regularly in the USA. They have also appeared many times on board the ship, Queen Elizabeth 11 and are the winners of Television and Variety awards. Gina also was presented with the Golden Master coveted world acclaimed award, the only lady to hold this title awarded in Italy.

www.accordions.com/caprice Information on the Caprice accordion ensemble from New Zealand