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International Accordion
Festival - China
Contributed
by Lian Jones of Accordion
House
  The
10th China International Accordion Festival Competitions were held recently in
Beijing. Apart from the competitors, attendees included well known older Chinese
accordion teachers: Mr Li Yuqiu, Mr Zhang Ziqiang, Mr Yang Wentao, Mr Ren Shirong,
Mr Shan Yuanchang; with four leading Russian bayan masters: Prof.
Friedrich Lips (left), Prof.
Viacheslav Semionov (right), Prof. Alexandre Skliarov and Yuri Shishkin. The
Russian masters each gave individual concerts during the event.
The competition
winners are:
CATEGORY Children A -- Wang Shen, Zhou Chenglu, Zhang Xiaoyi
CATEGORY
Children B - Zhang Yuan, Wang Hongmiao
CATEGORY Juvenile A - Liu Haiyu
CATEGORY
Juvenile B - Xu Xiaonan, Gao Xian, Ruan MingyuanCATEGORY
Duet/Trio/Quartet Children/ -- Li Ruozhu, Fan Chaoqun
CATEGORY Duet/Trio/Quartet
Juvenile - Jia Xinfei, Wang Jing, Jia Siting
CATEGORY Duet/Trio/Quartet /Adult
- Belyaev Anarey Petrova Elena
CATEGORY Chamber Music - Men Xi, Shi Juan, Liu
Shengwen, Chang Jiangtao, Wu Yongshuo
CATEGORY Adult -- Li Yan
CATEGORY
Artist --Belyaev Anarey
CATEGORY Orchestras -- Qi Liang and fellow orchestra
members (19 pieces), Jia Zifen and fellow orchestra members (15 pieces)
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"Music is about
sharing", James Crabb - Australia
Contributed
by Harley Jones
 Scottish-born,
but Danish-based, virtuoso accordionist James Crabb is currently part of the way
through a tour of Australia, performing classical repertoire concerts with the
Australian Chamber Orchestra (MD Richard Tognetti). James Crabb and Richard Tognetti
have worked together many times, and one particularly notable occasion was the
opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup in November 2003 when they played a duet
of Celtic music (composed specially by Crabb), and broadcast live before an audience
of millions worldwide.
In a recent interview with, James Crabb commented
that he is constantly trying to break down musical barriers, and that in his view,
'Music is about sharing". James still has some more performances with the
ACO in September, and these are:- 11th, Llewellyn Hall, Canberra; 19th, Sydney
Opera House; 21st, City Recital Hall, Sydney
For further information email
acoaust@ibm.net
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Updated Finland site
and Celebrity Interview with Lasse Pihlajamaa
Contibuted
by Kevin Friedrich
 The
recent Sata-Häme Soi - Accordion
Festival held in Ikaalinen, Finland
was covered by Accordions Worldwide, who were guests of the Finnish Ministry of
Culture. While in Finland, Celebrity Interviews were conducted with two great
names in the Finnish accordion world - Lasse
Pihlajamaa and Mika Väyrynen.
Lasse's
interview was conducted at his home in Espoo, Finland (outside Helsinki) on June
28, 2004 and takes a look into his impressive life and career in music. Born in
1916, Lasse Pihlajamaa is a Finnish accordionist, composer-arranger, teacher,
entertainer and world-class accordion comedian, and father of a range of accordion
models. He has had an exceptionally far-ranging career and for over 60 years has
been the pioneer of Finnish accordion music. A veritable 'Grand Old Man', in addition
to greatly enhancing the popularity of accordion music in Finland, he can with
all justification be described as one of the leading figures in modern Finnish
(and Nordic) accordion art.
His
interview can now be read online as part of the 2004 Sata-Häme Soi Festival
review, found at www.accordions.com/finland.
The second interview, which was conducted with Dr.
Mika Väyrynen, will be published soon.
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Accordion Orchestra
Concert Dates - Spain
The
town council of Lalin in Pontevedra, Spain, has invited the Zero Sette Akordeoi
Orkestra to perform in a concert in the church square as part of the town festivities
on 18th of September, at 11pm.
Also, on the 24th of September, at 10.30pm,
the Zero Sette Akordeoi Orkestra is to perform at "Bastero" Culture
House in Andoain, Gipuzkoa.
The
Zero Sette Akordeoi Orkestra was founded in 1987, and is based in the Basque city
of Lasarte-Oria. Presently conducted by Elias Goikouria Erauzkin, the orchestra
has performed concerts throughout Spain, and has also competed at festivals in
Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland.
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Accordion Music Performance
Competition - China
Contributed
by Lian Jones, Accordion House
The
first national Accordion Music Performance Competition was held during August
in Anqing City, Anhui Province, China. There were 550 competitors, from different
parts of China, and there were sections covering solo, duet, trio/quartet, ensemble
and performance sections. A particular highlight of the festival was a solo concert
by Xia Gang, on bayan accordion.
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Young Accordionists
Take to the Stage - New Zealand
Contributed
by Heather Masefield
(pictured)
 North
Shore accordionists of all ages will be performing this Sunday, 12th September,
at the Bruce Mason Centre. The Accordion
Examination Board of New Zealand is running an accordion variety concert from
4pm, which will include
the presentation of the Allan
William Jones (pictured) Memorial Scholarships, awarded annually to outstanding
examination candidates.
In addition to the scholarship presentations,
accordion orchestras and soloists will showcase the versatility of the accordion.
Music ranging from Bach to pop to Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera"
will make up the programme, with performers ranging from young beginner level
students through to adults.
For further information email Lionel
Reekie at pianoaccordion@hotmail.com
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Accordions Aloud!,
Massachusetts - USA
The
first event in the annual Springsteps 2004/05 Performance Series is a concert
titled 'Accordions Aloud', set for September 18th at 8pm, at Springstep, 98 George
P. Hassett, Medford Square Drive, Medford. The concert program features New England
accordionists Brent Buswell, Roberto Cassan, Evan Harlan, Jeremiah McLane and
Tom Pixton. Their repertoire includes French, Balkan, Scottish, Scandinavian,
Latin and French Canadian styles.
Another event in the Springsteps calendar,
at the same venue (which, incidentally, is wheelchair friendly) is called 'I'd
Rather Be Squeezing'. This is a workshop, on October 16th from 11am to 1pm, led
by Arthur and Sue Welch, well known as the proprietors of 'Accordion Connection'
in New Hampshire. This will take the form of a demonstration of the piano accordion's
capabilities and repertoire, plus information about the instrument's history and
possibilities.
For
further information about either of these events, email
info@springstep.org
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Exhibition of Historic
Accordions - UK
An
exhibition of approximately fifty accordions of various types, dating back to
1840, will take place at the Pakefield Accordion Festival, September 24th to 28th.
This fascinating parade of accordion family members instruments includes examples
of flutinas, and such rare models as a Handharmonika, a Piston, a Tanzbar, a Hohner
Echophone, a Venezia, an Iorio Combo, a Chemnitzer, a Polish-made foot pedal accordion,
and a century-old bandoneon. The exhibition is organised by Caroline Hunt, and
this is the first time the Pakefield event has featured such a presentation. The
festival guest artists will inlcude special appearances by Alexander
Dmitriev and his son Vitaly.
For further information email heather@accordions.karoo.co.uk
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Concert of Scandinavian
Accordion Music, California - USA
More than twenty
members of the Norwegian Accordion Club are to present a concert of music from
the Scandinavian countries, on September 25th at 7.30pm. The venue is the Turlock
Community Auditorium, 1574 E. Canal Drive, California.
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 Seattle
Accordionist's Mission - USA
Seattle-based
Murl Allen Sanders is a professional accordionist who claims that his mission
in life is to make the accordion a regular part of the mainstream music scene.
Murl is a versatile musician who plays in a wide variety of styles, including
jazz, blues, zydeco, country, rock, celtic and other ethnic genres.From
28th September to October 2nd, Murl is playing at the 13 Coins, SeaTac, in the
State of Washington, and is also resident every Wednesday from noon at the Plymouth
Congregational Church.
Murl is currently promoting his latest CD, titled
'Can You Dance To It?'
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Victor Prieto Concerts,
New York City - USA
 Accordionist
Victor Prieto has two high profile engagements in New York during September. On
September 12th, at 2pm, he teams up with pianist Carlo de Rosa as the Victor Prieto
Duo for a concert (shared with guitarist Horacio Laguna) titled 'Masters of the
Tango' at the Central Public Library, 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica, NY. On
September 17th at 9pm, Prieto joins with Carlos de Rosa and Henry Cole (drums)
to form the Victor Prieto Trio to perform at the Williamsburg Jazz Festival in
New York.
For further information email victorprieto2001@yahoo.com
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Organists switching
to Accordions! - UK
Contributed
by Alan Venn
Since
the late 1980s, British electronic organist Alan Venn (picture right) has organised
regular and frequent small-scale organ/keyboard festivals at hotels in seaside
resorts in North Wales and the North-West of England. In the last ten years, he
has added accordion players (most notably Harry Hussey - picture left) as guest
artistes and the accordion has now become a popular feature - both with the public
and with the organ guests. An interesting and welcome development of this is that
many of the organ enthusiasts and even some of the organist guest artistes are
converting to playing accordion.
 Alan
Venn informs AWW that: "The accordion has added a new dimension to these
musical events since it was added a few years ago, and quite a number of our guests
who played organ or keyboard have now added the accordion to their list of musical
instruments, which is good news for these events as well as the accordion clubs
and festivals.
An example of this happened during the June weekend at
Blackpool when professional organist Andrew Seddon, who had been booked as co-guest
with Harry Hussey, tried out an accordion for the first time, under the watchful
eye of Harry! Andrew is a very accomplished organist, and is well known on the
organ circuit, but had not seen Harry before. During the weekend, Andrew and Harry
combined very well together to give some excellent duets of big-band and other
standards on organ and keyboard".
Since then, Andrew has been to a
demonstration of the new Roland V accordion, and is likely to include the accordion
in his future performances. Another professional organist guest at Alan Venn's
festivals who has also taken up the accordion, and who now includes her new instrument
in her stage performances, is Marion Jones. Marion has taken the accordion seriously,
and is having lessons from Blackpool accordionist, teacher and NAO
(National Accordion Organisation)
chairperson executive Gina Brannelli.
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