Editors Note

This is our final news for 2002. I am sure you will all agree that it has been a wonderful year for the accordion, which is gaining in popularity throughout the world. There have been many successful accordion concerts, competitions, celebrations and festivals throughout the year and we look forward to bringing you more exciting news of these types of events during 2003. Our first news for 2003 will be online January 17th.

Wayne Knights Webmaster

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif Manager of Friedrich Lips Productions

The 13th International "Bayan and Bayanists" Festival was held in Moscow from December 11th to 15th. The opening gala concert was dedicated to Russian prizewinners of national and international competitions including P. Sjabko, I. Puriz, D. Kukushkin, K. Chtybin, M. Vlasova,
S. Osokin and bayan duet N. Sivchuk & A. Peresidly.

As per Friedrich Lips' idea (to present accordionists of different Russian regions), artists from the Caucasus showed their great musicianship such as A. Chugajev, S. Dsgojeva and S. Chuzistova. The typical Russian harmonica was played by G. Chalmikow and A. Chodin and the internationally well known "Quintet of Timber Harmonicas" (Moscow) celebrated their 20th anniversary.

In conjunction with the festival, a concert was dedicated to A. Tomishenko (60th anniversary) A. Repnikov (70th) and V. Solotarjov (60th) on December 15th. This concert was a festival highlight and included a program of symphonic works. People's artist Friedrich Lips performed Solotarjov's "Concert Symphony No 2" together with the Symphony Orchestra (conducted by T. Mynbajev) from the Russian Music Academy Gnessin. Bayanists A. Gainullin and A. Selivanov performed together with the Academy's orchestra of folk instruments. A workshop was held by N.A. Kravtsov (St. Petersburg) about his development of an accordion with a special keyboard.

A festival tradition is to invite international artists to Moscow, so this year Klaudiusz Baran from Warsaw's Chopin Music Academy and Alfred Melichar from the Bruckner-Conservatory in Linz (Austria) showed their great musicianship.

The final concert included performances by the Caucasian trio (mentioned above), S. Osokin, the jazz trio of N. Miroshnik and the Ukrainian ensemble "Melodija" (V. Vijasovsky). The "Silver Disk" for special achievements in music life was awarded to bayanist Yury Vostrjelov and composer Albin Repnikov.

Moscow's 13th International Festival "Bayan and Bayanists" will remain in the memory of the many attendees.

On December 7th Piazzolla music lovers in Vilnius attended a Piazzolla music and dance project entitled "Mestros del tango" at the Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum Concert Hall. The project was organized by the Lithuanian accordion quintet Cantus, who performed with Irmantas Bacelis, Kristiana Kemundryte (tango dancers) and Darius Litkus (double bass). The audience had the unique opportunity to listen to Piazzolla compositions, arranged by Cantus members, who played with the dancers.

This project was presented for the first time in March 2002, with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and was included in the Orchestra's chamber music concert series. Since the premiere of "Maestros del Tango", the project has gained huge success filling the biggest symphony hall in the capital city of Lithuania, so it was decided to repeat the project before Christmas and to "warm up" tango lovers during this cold period of the year.

The event was so well received, the Cantus quintet have been asked to repeat the show on December 21st in the Lithuanian Theatre Music and Cinema Museum.

Duo Accellorando will perform at St. Georgs Church in Hattingen/Ruhr on January 11th. The duo, which includes Tatjana Pereswetow (accordion) and Rebekka Wittig (cello) will perform works by Bach, Stravinsky and Valpola. For details email: tatjanape@web.de

An Evening of Christmas Carols was held recently at the Music School "S-Art" in Wroclaw. A variety of soloists, music groups and the orchestra Harmonica (conducted by Galyna Suslova) performed at the event. Parents joined the sing-a-long together with their children.

In a second concert at the Music School, accordionist and composer Olexiy Suslov presented a new composition - the cycle Preludium for the accordion, double bass (played by Marcin Ozug) and percussion (Grzegorz Szymanski).

FisAlMuseo Finishes in Alessandria - Italy

Contributed by Carlo Fortunato

The FisAlMuseo accordion event finished on December 19th with a performance by well-known accordionist Paolo Bagnasco. "FisAlMuseo: a year of accordions" was conceived by Carlo Fortunato and has been hosted by the "Once upon a time" Ethnographic Museum in Alessandria with the support of the Alessandria city and provincial councils, and with the extraordinary help of the Friends of the Museum association.

FisAlMuseo has presented a series of monthly concerts free of charge, covering a variety of genres but always revolving around the accordion. The series has featured artists of international stature such as Gianluca Campi, Emilio Cervetto, Giancarlo Salaris, Tiziano Chiappelli, Athos Bassissi, Mario Domenico Pietrodarchi, Marco Valenti, Romeo Aichino and
now Paolo Bagnasco.

The event was also included (with its own stand) in the San Giorgio Fair in Alessandria, where it presented a successful accordion concert. The event's program also included an evening dedicated to the history of the accordion in Piedmont, and particularly in the province of Alessandria, an
interesting exhibition of antique instruments, and a course on accordion technique held by Gianluca Campi.

This final concert, devoted to commercial music, emphasizes that the province of Alessandria is a land of accordionists and enthusiasts, as is testimonied by the work of local artist Paolo Bagnasco, one of the most prominent Italian accordionists in the area of dance music.

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif Manager of Friedrich Lips Productions

Sergei Michailovitch Kolobkov celebrated his 75th birthday on October 4th 2002. During his artistic life he was a soloist, concert master of bayan ensembles and conductor of the Russian folk orchestra "Ossipov". He taught a famous bayan class with J. Vostrjelov, F. Lips and A. Skljarov among his students. From 1963 to 1966 he was head of the chair for folk instruments, later he became Professor and Rector of the Gnessin Institute, and from 1981 to 1984 he was Vice Minister of Culture in Russia

On the international scene he took part in the CIA international accordion confederation events several times. He recorded the First Concerto for Bayan and Orchestra by F. Rubzov, is the author of transcriptions for bayan and bayan ensembles and was editor of "Bayan and Bayanists" with scientific articles dealing with the bayan.

Professor Vladimir Besfamilnov has taken part in many concert tours which have earned him wide critical acclaim, and sincere praise from prominent artists. He has studied with Tkachyov at the Saratov music school and with Zhuromsky at the Kiev school of music. His education includes completing graduate and post-graduate studies at the Kiev Conservatorium of Music "Tchaikovsky" under the guidance of the esteemed professor Nikolay Rizol.

Besfamilnov's first musical success was winning an inter-school competition in 1940 in the Saratov region, followed by successes at national and international competitions from 1956 to 1959 in Moscow, Brussels and Vienna. Besfamilnov won 3rd Prize at the Coupe Mondiale in Brussels in 1958 as one of the team of the first Soviet competitors competing at the Coupe Mondiale.

As an accordion soloist he was the first to be awarded the titles "Honored Artist of Ukraine" and "Peoples Artist of Ukraine" by the State.

The CIA congress in Copenhagen (Denmark) agreed unanimously to give the CIA Merit Award to both of these great personalities. On behalf of CIA President Kevin Friedrich, Herbert Scheibenreif had the honor of presenting both distinctions during the final concert at this year's Bayan Festival in Moscow, Russia.

Contributed by Jane Edwards

The Yorkshire Concertina Club held their popular annual "Share a Seasonal Tune" meeting at the Red Lion in Kirkate, Otley on December 15th. Concertina players joined together to play a seasonal tune or two to share with other members.

Accordionist Ponty Bone and The Squeezetones will entertain at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar at the Austin Music Hall in Texas on December 23rd. The group will play a variety of pieces from their new CD such as "Fantasize" and "Louisiana Lisa" to an expected audience of over 200 people. For further details phone: +1 512-443-7952

Accordion Duo Performs in St. Petersburg - Russia

Since the accordion duo Svetlana Stavitskaya and Vladimir Ushakov returned recently from an extended concert tour with the Baltic International Accordion Quintet around Europe, they have appeared several times on St. Petersburg concert stages. The duo is well-known not only as an accordion duo but also as an accordion and piano duo, where they have appeared at many important events such as playing for the President of Russia and German chancellor during the Russian/German Summit (St. Petersburg in April, 2001), the Ringe Accordion Festival (Denmark, 2001), judging and performing at the 13th Competition "Fröhliche Harmonika" (Germany, 2002), at the Pakefield (2001) and Blackpool (2002) accordion festivals (United Kingdom), and at the Palanga, Vilnius and Klaipeda Accordion Festivals (Lithuania, 2002).

During the 2002 International Competition in Castelfidardo (Italy), the duo took part in a concert dedicated to Astor Piazzolla entitled "In Memoriam Astor Piazzolla", where they performed "Meditango" to an enthusiastic audience.

More recently, the duo performed at the Gala concert of the traditional Autumn Accordion festival in St. Petersburg (organized by Prof. A. Dmitriev). On December 2nd they played musette pieces at the "Reine de Musette" concert organized by the St. Petersburg Musette Ensemble at the St. Petersburg Variety Theater.

The following day they played at the House of German Economics in St. Petersburg. As compositions by Astor Piazzolla were specially requested they performed "Meditango", "Ausencias", "Oblivion" and "Libertango". They then took part in the "Beaujolais" party in the French/Russian Club with guest accordionists Domi Emorine and Roman Jbanov (Paris-Moscou Duo) from France.

The duo are currently preparing their 2003 concert schedule. For further information email:
v-ushakov@infopro.spb.su

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

On December 8th accordionist Francesco Palazzo held a concert in Asti for the "Diavolo Rosso" Association at the former church of San Michele. On this occasion Francesco played both as a soloist and with the prestigious "Xenia Ensemble" string quartet, featuring Eilis Cranitch and Cristine Anderson (violin), Michèle Minne (viola) and Elizabeth Wilson (cello). The concert, entitled "Women on the Crossroads of Culture", was part of the "East-West Journey into Contemporary Music" series, and featured the following pieces: "Silence" by Sofia Gubaidulina (five pieces for accordion, violin and cello - Italian premiere), "Misterioso" by Elena Firsova (for string quartet), "Trio" by Sofia Gubaidulina (for strings), "Spiegel in Spiegel" by Arvo Part (for cello and accordion - Italian premiere), "De Profundis" by Sofia Gubaidulina (for accordion) and "Five tango sensations" by Astor Piazzolla (for accordion and string quartet).

The concert was very well received by an audience that appreciated both the musical landscapes and expressive solutions offered by the musicians, and the chamber repertoire with the accordion.

Children Entertain Visually Impaired - New Zealand

Contributed by Christine Adams

Kristina, Stephanie and Olivia Panzic entertained members of the VIP (Visually Impaired) club along with fellow accordionist Shane Adams in Orewa, Auckland on December 17th. The children played a variety of solos, trios and quartets to the enjoyment of the audience who willingly sang along. Their program included "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Jingle Bells", "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World".

Accordionist, composer, arranger, recording artist and educator, Gary Dahl has released the "First Lessons Accordion Method" book, which he believes is the next breakthrough accordion beginner method for the 21st century since Palmer-Hughes in 1959.

This method contains hundreds of tips and critical beginner skills never before taught in any previous method. Also included with the book is an instructional CD. For further information email: garydahl@webtv.net

The "Harmonika" Accordion Orchestra from the Wroclaw "S-Art" Music School (conducted by Galyna Suslova and Olexiy Suslov) were awarded the "Young Brother" prize recently. The orchestra was created from young members of other orchestras and includes members aged from 5 to 9 years old. They often perform with the main "Harmonika" orchestra, which includes members aged from 10 to 14 years.

This year the young orchestra has been awarded several prizes, including 2nd prize at the National Festival in Mlawa and a diploma with distinction at the International Festival in Sanok. For future concert details email: suslov@wp.pl

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Accordionist Ivano Battiston will take part in the opening concert of the new Santa Cecilia Hall (2700 seats) of the Parco della Musica Auditorium in Rome. The concert will be held on December 21st and will be broadcast live on the third national radio channel and later in the evening by the third national TV channel. The performance will also be recorded on DVD.

The accordion appears in this major event because it is part of the orchestral make-up for "Due Lumi", a piece for mixed choir and orchestra based on the poetry of Leonardo da Vinci and composed by Fabio Nieder. The concert will feature artists of international fame such as conductor Myung-Whun Chung and pianist Maurizio Pollini. For further information please email: ivanobattiston@tin.it

Registrations for the Lark In The Morning World Music & Dance Celebration will be available in January 2003. The camp will take place from August 1st to 9th and include music & dance workshops for professionals and beginners, dances (English Country, Irish Céilí, French, Middle Eastern Line Dance, Contras, Squares, Greek, Bulgarian, Balkan and Swing), parties and jam sessions 24 hours a day. For further details fax: +1 707 964-8659

Contributed by Thierry Roques

Kiwi Productions recently released a new DVD by accordionist André Roques entitled "O ma douce Auvergne". The DVD, which includes 17 popular tracks, was presented on a large screen at "Chez Dubien" in Pont-du-Chateau on December 20th. The recording is also available in VHS video. For further information email: roques@netcourrier.com

Contributed by Jutta Menn

Professor Viktor Romanko (Russia) has released a 60 page music book of Vivaldi's Four Season's arranged for accordion. Romanko has also released a CD entitled "Die Vier Jahreszeiten" (Four Seasons) by Vivaldi, which includes the complete work for bayan/accordion: Concerto in E-Dur "Spring", Concerto in g-moll "Summer", Concerto in F-Dur "Autumn" and Concerto in f-moll "Winter". Works by Rubinstein, Gershwin, Nowikow and Semionov are also on the CD.

For CD and music book information email: Jutta.Menn@t-online.de

www.accordions.com/garydahl Updated information on accordionist, composer, arranger, recording artist and educator, Gary Dahl, including new accordion book details

Drew Hanson would like information and a value (for insurance purposes) on an I. Busilacchio diatonic accordion approximately over 50 years old. Email: drew@vision.net.au

Carlo Motta Masini would like information a "Ricordia" accordion which has Busilacchio's name on the inside. Email: carlomottamasini@libero.it