Editors Note

Accordions Worldwide staff would like to thank everyone for their friendly greetings and best wishes they have sent for our New Zealand International Competitions and Festival this weekend in Auckland. We have received emails from all over the world, which shows how wonderful the internet is at bringing accordionists much closer together. We are all looking forward to a very exciting event!

Wayne Knights Webmaster

The 2003 Australian International Accordion Championships & Festival were held at the Nineveh Sports and Community Club in Edensor Park, New South Wales from May 23rd to 25th organized by Tania Lukic-Marx.

The successful event included special guest Alexander Poeluev (Russia), winner of both the Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championship and the International Piano Accordion Competition held in Copenhagen (Denmark) in October 2002. Alexander received a standing ovation for his performance. His next concert will be at the New Zealand Accordion Association Championships & Festival held this weekend in Auckland.

Competition results:

Australian International Piano Accordion Solo Championship: 1st - Mylie Thwaites (New Zealand)
Australian International Accordion Solo Competition, 15 years and under: 1st - Andrew Liashenko (Australia)
Australian International Accordion Solo Competition, 12 years and under: 1st - Joanna Irving (New Zealand)

The fourth annual Las Vegas International Accordion Convention will take place from June 22nd to 25th at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada. The event will feature Pete Barbutti, Pino Di Modugno, Kenny Kotwitz, Peter Soave, Gina Brannelli and Don Lipovac, with special appearances by Myron Floren, Art Van Damme and Dick Contino. This years event will also feature Italian manufactures and several special guest artists including Renzo Ruggieri and Mirco Patarini to name a few.

The convention will include seven concerts and over 35 workshops. The event has grown in size each year and attracts people from all over the World. Early registrations are advised. For more information phone: +1 800-472-1695 (outside the USA +1 801-486-1695)

Contributed by Jonatan Karlsson

The International Reykjavik Accordion Festival, held from July 18th to 20th in Reykjavik will feature a number of international guests this year. These include Accordéon Mélancolique (Netherlands), Killingberg Orkester (Norway) and Edwin Erickson (Canada). In addition many leading accordion groups and soloists from Iceland will take part.

This festival will also present a CD with tracks by all the guests. This CD will be distributed to local radio stations and other media worldwide. For further event details email: jonatank@isl.is

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

Students enrolled in the accordion course at the "Luigi Cherubini" State Music Conservatory in Florence will hold a concert at the institute's Sala del Buonumore on June 5th. The concert will be presented by accordion teacher Ivano Battiston together with Luca Casagni Lippi and Giovanni Cicconi, respectively the chairman of the board of directors and the director of the Conservatory. The program will include pieces by Wladislaw Solotarjow, Damiano Visentin, Ivano Battiston, Alessandro Magini, Ettore Pozzoli, Mario Pagotto, Krzysztof Olczak and Isaac Albéniz. For further information email: ivanobattiston@tin.it

Riom Accordion Club Concert - France

The Paris-Moscou Duo were guest performers at the Riom Accordion Club Concert held in Riom (a French town near Clermont-Ferrand) on May 24th. Each year the club (managed by accordion teacher Jean-Claude Venuat) organizes a concert. Previous guests include Marcel Azzola with his jazz trio and Richard Galliano.

This year's successful event celebrated the 20th birthday of the club. The concert began with performances by club members, followed by the "Paris-Moscou" duo, who played a mix of French and Russian music. Domi Emorine then played a variety of different musical styles with Laurent Fline (drums), Gilles Bioteau (bass) and Thierry Moncheny (guitar).

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif Manager of Friedrich Lips Productions

Janne Rättyä (Finland) was recently nominated Professor for Accordion at the University of Music in Graz, Austria. Back in 1989 pioneer Mogens Ellegaard had established an accordion course there as a guest professor, followed by Geir Draugsvoll and James Crabb.

Now, a long term solution has been found. Together with Professor Georg Schulz, Uwe Schmidt, Heidi Savic and Krassimir Sterev, Janne Rättyä forms an excellent team which will ensure the continuity of accordion education in Austria.

Last week the accordion class of Professor Schulz had a brilliant chamber music concert. Accordion students performed (together with other instrumentalists), works by Dvorak, Wünsch, Wessmann, de Kinkelder, Piazzolla, Gluvakovic, Kayser, Albeniz, Holmboe and ter Veldhuis. This wonderful evening showed the versatility of the accordion!

Accordionist Dmitry Mironenko performed a number of concerts this month in Belarus including Novosiolki, Vaniutichi, and Sredniaya Rudnia (all in the Petrikov district on May 21st), Derbin & Liaskovichi (in the Oktiabrsky district on May 22nd) and in Zabolotie, Oktiabrsky's district, on May 23rd.

This year Gordana Jovanovic (now living in the USA) will celebrate her 35th anniversary as a Music Educator in the accordion field, solfege, music theory, founder and conductor of an accordion orchestra, accordionist, composer and arranger.

Her achievements include:
1983: Award from the Union of Music Education (Bosnia and Hercegovina) for 25 new accordion compositions and accordion teaching
1992: Award from the High Music School "Jovan Bandur" (SCG /Serbia ontenegro) for extraordinary results in teaching.

2003 also marks the 10th anniversary that Gordana has performed in duo with her husband (cello).

To mark the celebrations Gordana has written a book entitled "Do you like Accordion" which will be published in the near future.

Festival Musicale Delle Nazioni - Italy

The Festival Musicale Delle Nazioni will be held from June 16th to September 28th in Rome and all musicians are invited to play. The event, organized by the Il Tempietto Cultural Association, will be held during the summer season in the garden of "Casina Delle Civette" - Villa Torlonia and Archeological Park of Marcellus' Theatre, where each evening two classical music concerts will be staged.

For further details email: amministrazione@tempietto.it

Contributed by Mike O'Regan

The Soar Valley Accordion Club presented a concert with The Burton-on-Trent Accordion Band (leader - Stan Schofield) and supporting artists Alan Davies (concertina) and Colin Shulman (guitar) on June 28th. The successful event was held at the Rothley Centre in Rothley, Leicester and also included a large display of accordions by Geoff Holter (Darlington).

Viva La Fisarmonica Show - Australia

The "Viva La Fisarmonica" Show entertained an enthusiastic audience at Club Marconi, Bossley Park in Sydney on May 18th. The event featured Enzo Toppano (one of Australia's well known international accordionists), who has performed in the USA, England and Europe and has passed on his love of the accordion tradition to his students Ross Maio, Robyn Owen (vocals) and Michael Kluger.

Enzo has performed on stage with Petula Clark, Julie Andrews and Max Bygraves and during the TV show "This Is Your Life"(given in Enzo's honor) Sir Harry Secombe paid special tribute to their long professional association and friendship.

Other performers included Michael Kluger, Ross Maio and his sons Lukas and Marcello Maio.

Recently, Accordions Worldwide included an item in our Weekly News, where on June 22nd a "World Record Attempt" will be made in Graz, Austria for the largest number of accordion players. Over 2,000 accordionists from Austria and Europe are expected to participate.

We received an email from Kimmo Mattila (Finland) who told us of a similar record made in Finland in July 1994 during the Sata-Häme Soi Accordion festival. They managed to get 1,004 accordion players together, who performed a famous Finnish waltz "Metsäkukkia" (Forest Flowers). This is a most well known accordion piece, which almost everyone can play.

The players were on a sports field with ten players on a stage, whose playing was amplified as well as the bass and bass drum. The players had a great time as is was a mid-night event in the Finnish summer - when the sun shines during the night.

This event is mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records and every player received a diploma. They also published a list of names of participating players in the Finnish accordion magazine "Hanuri".

Duo Accellorando will perform two concerts in Brandenburg on June 8th. The first will be an open air afternoon concert at the Pfingstberg in Potsdam. This will be followed by a performance at the Marienkirche in Strausberg. The duo, which includes Tatjana Pereswetow (accordion) and Rebekka Wittig (cello), will perform works by de Falla, Stravinsky and Bach. For concert details email: tatjanape@web.de

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

The Fisarmonica Orchestra conducted by Paolo Picchio performed on two occasions recently. Firstly in the renovated Theather Fenice ad Osimo and then in Castelfidardo in the City Hall with a variety of music arranged by their conductor.

The orchestra is divided into 2 parts - 1 group with 18 adults, which includes Christian Riganelli (accordion) and Antonio Felicieli (saxophone and flute) as soloists; and a group of children composed of 12 students of the music schools in Osimo and Castelfidardo. New appointments are due in June.

Accordionist Rita Davidson will feature as a guest soloist at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Performing Arts Education accordion school run by Eugene and Lorraine DeBellis (Clifton, New Jersey). The event will take place at the Caldwell College's Alumni Theater in the Round, Caldwell, New Jersey on June 22nd.

Recognizing the need for a profound music "development" school in Newark, NJ, Eugene DeBellis organized his own private school, the DeBellis School of Performing Arts in 1952, offering courses in Instrumental Music, Dance, Voice, and Drama. Many graduates of this school are professional musicians, arrangers, composers, and are also actively involved in the music industry. His school has provided 51 years of continuous service to the community.

Rita Davidson, Board Member of the AAA and the ATA of NJ gives a variety of workshops and concerts at many accordion festivals around the country. Last summer she gave a workshop and concert on the Music of Eugene Ettore in the AAA Festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition to workshops and concerts, Rita has her own Klezmer group which has entertained in the NJ & NY areas.

Eugene and Lorraine DeBellis would like to invite all former and present students and their families to the celebration. For further information please phone: +1 973-472-5168 (am) or
+1 973-482-9051 (pm)

Contributed by Holda Paoletti-Kampl

French accordionist Jean Louis Noton has released his recording "Passions" which is now available on DVD, CD and VHS to enable all accordion enthusiasts an excellent occasion to get acquainted with this wonderful music.

The recording, which includes outstanding images from the Dent Blanche mountain (4.357 m), is a musical journey of different types of music from Beaujolais (France) to Casamance (Sénégal) as well as new compositions, where Jean Louis is accompanied by African musicians. For more information please visit DVD Noton.

Contributed by Stanislav Anguelov

The Cape Town Tango Ensemble launched their new CD at the "Valve" in Cape Town on May 24th. The CD entitled "El Tango en Africa" includes pieces by Gardel, Piazzolla, Fiorio and Galliano.

The CD has a different approach to tango by mixing tango with African sounds and rhythms. Musicians include Stanislav Anguelov (accordion), Jacek Domagla (violin), Albert Combrink (piano), Basil Heald (bass) and guest artists.

The CD Launch was combined with a "Grand Tango Salon", which celebrated four years of Tango in Cape Town. For CD information email: sangelov@netactive.co.za

Gary Dahl has now released a new book of Italian songs for accordionists. This newly released 80 page Mel Bay published book which is graded at "Intermediate" level, contains many arias as well as traditional favorites that have never been arranged for accordion, utilizing all of its superb orchestral capabilities.

Some of the world's greatest composers and singers have expressed themselves in this sublime musical language. The contents include arias such as Nessun Dorma, Quando men vo, and O Mio Babbino Caro.

Gary Dahl is widely known as a virtuoso accordionist as well as a composer, arranger, recording artist and music educator, with an extensive background in music theory, composition and harmony. Gary has now developed an impressive body of work including hundreds of individual arrangements and more than a dozen books currently in publication by Mel Bay Publications. For details email: garydahl@webtv.net

www.accordions.com/noton Updated information on French accordionist Jean-Louis Noton including details on his new DVD "Passions"

Evan Allary would like information on a Olewo button box accordion made in Germany, registration No.258610. The accordion is a deep cherry red color with what looks like a small cross for designs. Email: eallary@accesscomm.ca

Ulrich Leveke would like information on the type of piano accordion (pictured), which has a bowed treble keyboard. He would like details about manufacturers, who produced this kind of instruments and who are still producing it? He has seen these instruments in the Netherlands in the early 1960's. Email: u.leveke@web.de

We have just been advised that composer Luciano Berio died on May 28th. Born on 24th October, 1925 in Oneglia, Italy, Berio wrote many works including orchestral pieces, chamber works, sequenzas for solo instruments and voice, and pieces for his wife, the famous singer Catherin Berberian.

In 1988 Berio became an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London, England and has also been awarded the prestigious Siemens Prize. Berio's compositions are performed regularly throughout the world.