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The 2005
AAMS Accordion Festival, PA - USA
Contributed
by Harley
Jones
 The
American Accordion Musicological Society announces the AAMS 2005 Accordion
Festival to be held from March 4th - 6th, 2005 at the Wyndham Valley
Forge Suites Hotel in Wayne, PA. Accordion
enthusiasts from the United States and Canada will gather together
for a great weekend of concerts, workshops, and competitions. This
year's featured performer is Betty
Jo Simon (pictured) from Kansas...
The 2005 Honoree into the AAMS Accordion Hall of Fame is Tony Ettore
(right pictured), accordionist, teacher, conductor, past-president
of AAA and
an outstanding person. A dinner will be held in his honor on Saturday
evening, March 5th. Suites have been reserved for attendees at the
Wyndham Valley Forge Suites. Please make your reservations by February
12th, 2005 to guarantee the rate and availability. Package registrations
and all guidelines and information concerning the weekend are available
from organiser Joanna Arnold
Darrow: accordion1@comcast.net
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New Tutor Book for Diatonic Accordions, England - UK
Contributed by Rob
Howard
 Southport-based
accordion teacher and performer George Garside is in the process of writing a
comprehensive tutor book covering 2 row BC button accordions (sometimes referred
to as melodeons), and will also be including comprehensive information on the
BCC# 3 row button accordion (British Chromatic system) as made famous by the late
Sir Jimmy Shand (pictured) and also played by English folk musician John Kirkpatrick.
George
believes that the 3 row diatonic accordion would become more popular with the
availability of a good quality tutor book as it is a natural progression for BC
players wanting an instrument with a 'full accordion sound'.
It is also
a more natural progression for melodeon players than a piano accordion would be.
George Garside is well known for teaching workshops at folk festivals such as
Sidmouth and Whitby, and is one of the few players around who are skilled performers
on diatonic, Continental chromatic and piano accordions.
Any thoughts
or ideas as to what should or should not be included would be gratefully received,
as would general expressions of interest that will help George Garside to test
the depth of the potential market.
For further information email georgegarside@onetel.com
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Grammy
Award for Accordionist - USA
Contributed
by Holda Paoletti-Kampl
 Three
time Grammy winner and Canada's Polka King, accordionists Walter Ostanek and Michigan's
Polka Hall of Famer, Gaylord Klancnik's, new recording, POLKAS UNITED, has been
nominated for Best Polka Album!
Guest
musicians on this album include:
-
Joey Schmidt who played accordion for many years with Vince Gill, Lawrence Welk,
Myron Floren and currently with Joe Nichols.
- Peter
Soave, four-time world accordion champion who currently plays with symphony
orchestras worldwide.
- 'Cowboy' Jack Clement, a country music and rock n'
roll legend from Nashville, plays ukulele and acoustic guitar. He is known for
producing such legends as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Charlie Pride, Jerry Lee
Lewis and many others.
For more information contact: kklancnik@peoplepc.com
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Wiener Tschuschenkapelle
celebrates its 15th anniversary - Austria
Contributed
by Dr.
Herbert Scheibenreif of Friedrich
Lips
Productions
 The
Wiener Tschuschenkapelle is a renowned band with extensive experience in playing
live on stage, on the radio and on television, at street parties and 'mega events',
both in Austria and abroad. In 2004 they celebrate their 15th birthday with a
number of anniversary concerts, some of them featuring 'Old Tschuschn', former
members of the Wiener Tschuschenkapelle, as guests.
The Wiener Tschuschenkapelle
makes sure that in the age of omnipresent 'World Music' the concept of multicultural
music is not degraded to a bland and superficial level. Politically they stand
up for a peaceful togetherness of all people, and this message is exported beyond
the Austrian borders in numerous tours, including Brazil, Canada, Zimbabwe and
Morocco.
The program features traditional folk and songs of the Balkan
region, Mediterranean serenades, Turkish-oriental tunes, Greek Rembetiko, Bosnian
Sevdalinka, travelling as far as Russia, taking aboard one or the other Old Viennese
song along the way (after all, the name is Wiener Tschuschenkapelle), experimenting
with gypsy jazz, and even venturing into the classical realm.
They have
even had the honour of playing with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the Vienna
State Opera. Their fifth CD, 'Live... und davon', was the winner of the Annual
Award of the German Music Critics in the 'Ethno, world' section. Their sixth CD
entitled 'Exil', exile, has just been released. All of their six albums are a
must for the expert and a delight for all lovers of Balkan music.
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Accordions At Whitney,
England - UK
 A
weekend of workshops focusing on traditional music from Scotland, England, Spain,
Sweden and Ireland forms the basis of 'Accordions at Whitney', set for the 19th
and 20th February 2005. For further information email info@handsonmusic.org.uk
The tutors will all be using piano accordions for this event, and
are Sandy Brechin (Scottish recording artiste), Murray Grainger
(graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London), Sam Pirt (folk
musician), Dave Townsend (best known as a concertina player, but
also a fine accordionist), and Karen Tweed (pictured), a specialist
at both Irish and Scandinavian traditional music.
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Successful Accordion
Concert, Castellon - Spain
Contributed
by Holda Paoletti-Kampl
 Accordionist
Angel Luis Castaño
and cellist David Apellaniz were the featured soloists with the Symphony Orchestra
of Valencia, for a performance of 'Seven Words', composed by Sophia Gubaidulina.
The concert, which took place on November 30th in Castellon, attracted
an audience of more than 300 people.
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Leo Aquino Cassettes
on CD, Vancouver - Canada
 Canadian
concert accordionist Leo Aquino has performed in many countries during his distinguished
concert career. Several years ago he recorded three cassettes, all solo performances
that reflect his extensive concert repertoire.
These cassettes have now
been digitally remastered and made available on CD. On the first cassette, 10
of the 17 tracks feature compositions by Pietro Frosini e.g. 'The Carnival of
Venice', 'Dizzy Accordion', 'Swedish-Italian Mazurka', and 'Olive Blossoms', plus
other pieces such as 'Dance of the Comedians', 'Malaguena', and 'La Cumparsita'.
The
second tape's 14 tracks feature mainly classical works such as 'Flight of the
Bumblebee', 'Claire de Lune', 'Hora Staccato', 'Wine, Women and Song', and Liszt's
'Hungarian Rhapsody No 2'.
The third recording's 15 tracks includes pieces
such as 'Anitra's Dance', 'Nola', 'Migliavacca', 'Torna A Surriento', 'Barber
of Seville', 'Black and White Rag', and 'Holiday for Strings'. Six of the arrangements
are by Charles Magnante. These critically acclaimed recordings, made between the
1950s to the 1970s, are now available directly from Leo Aquino.
For further
information email leoaquino@shaw.ca
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Texan Accordionist's
December Appearances - USA
 Ponty
Bone, the well-travelled piano accordion player from Texas, and his band the Squeezetones,
have a number of appearances scheduled for this month.
These dates,
all in Texas, include:-
December 11th - Executive Surf Club, Corpus Christie
17th
- Evangeline Café, 8106 Brodie Lane
23rd - Armadillo Chrstmas Bazaar,
The Austin Hall
31st - Cheatham Street Warehouse, San Marco
Over the
last two decades Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones have appeared across the USA
and Europe, and have shared concert billing with artistes such as rock stars Linda
Rondstadt, The Clash, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and fellow accordionist
Flaco Jiminez. In fact, Flaco Jiminez has described Ponty Bone as "The real
McCoy of soulful accordion playing".
For further information email
pb@pontybone.com
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High Profile
Success for the Accordion, London - UK
Contributed
by Holda Paoletti-Kampl
 The
following letter from Professor
Owen Murray, tutor at The Royal Academy of Music, London has been
published here as we feel it embodies a spirit of optimism that is
good to receive as 2004 will soon give way to 2005.
"I
am now in Denmark. Hope you have received the photograph. I think
it really shows just how far the accordion development has reached
in England. A few years ago it would have been impossible to believe
that The Royal Academy of Music would choose an accordionist (Mios
Miliojevic) to play in such a high profile event at Kings College,
London University, attended by HRH The Princess Royal (formerly known
as Princess Anne), the Chancellor of the university and 500 distinguished
guests.
 Now
the accordion is involved in all the Academy's high profile concerts,
composers are writing new works (over 60 to date) and everyone is
very positive about the instrument, both inside and outside of the
Academy. There are many concert opportunities for solo, chamber music
and concerto performances. It all bodes well for 2005 and beyond".
Congratulations to Prof.
Owen Murray and all other accordion educators around the world
who have worked so effectively during 2004 helping promote accordion
in the worlds educational circles.
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Accordion Teacher
Sought - France
Pascal
Phoedt, who lives at Sausset Les Pins, Bouches du Rhone in France, is looking
for either an accordion teacher. If able to help, please email phoedt@wanadoo.fr
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Master
classes for accordion (tutor Ivano Battiston) and David Bellugi (flute), organised
by the Centro Accademico Musicale, will take place, December 17th - 19th at the
Villa Castelli, Brindisi. For further information email the CAM 
New
York-based accordionist and organist Jon Hammond played his yearly gig at the
women's prison in San Francisco, and has sent us the following report:- 
The
accordionists featured in the video include the 