The 9th International World Music Festival 2007 takes place from May
17th to 20th, with a wide range of competition sections for accordion
and harmonica orchestras, ensembles, solo and duet players.
The
World Music Festival involves up to 10,000 accordionists and is widely
reported as the largest gathering of accordionists, mouth organ and
the Steirische Harmonica players in the world, being held every three
years in Innsbruck. Event Manager is Arnold Kutzli, also Vice-President
of the DHV German Accordion Association.
The festival also includes many concerts with the following artistes
and events: The Musical Revue: ‘Around the world on the trace
of the accordeon’, by Frank Golischewski; Nürnberger Akkordeonorchester
– MD Willi Münch; Hohner Orchestra, MD Fritz Dobler; Orchester
Hohnerklang, MD - Hans-Günther Kölz; Landes Akkordeon Big
Band, MD - Wolfgang Russ; Cafe Schmalz; Anika & friends; Global
Kryner.
Frank
J. Busso, Jr. (right) has become a partner in the firm of Ernest Deffner,
Inc., which was founded in 1934, according to a statement issued by
Faithe
Deffner (left), who heads the well-known company since her husband’s
death in 1971. Busso has his degree in Business Administration from
Boston University and will assume the post of Vice-President in charge
of Education and Sales.
Frank Busso is the accordionist with the United States Air Force Band,
the group which often plays at official functions at the White House
in Washington DC, and he brings a wealth of musical expertise to the
firm. His accordion studies began with his father, noted accordionist
and educator, Frank Busso, Sr., Director of the Staten Island Music
School in New York, and he continues to play in The Busso Trio, a
family group consisting of his father, sister Christina and himself.
Faithe Deffner said, “Our firm plans to expand its educational
activity in the accordion field and Frank will be invaluable in this
endeavor. Our Ernest
Deffner Publications division offers more than 10,000 music titles
to accordionists. We are very active in accordion organizations, both
nationally and internationally, and have always worked to improve
the accordion’s status as a prestigious instrument suitable
for all areas of music.”
Accordionist Aldo Taborda, of Paraná in Argentina, has released a CD ‘Entre Rios’. The tracks include: ‘Maria Va’, ‘Fuga y Musterio’, ‘After You’ve Gone’, ‘La Trampera’, ‘Chiquilin de Bachin’, ‘Preludio Obsesivo’, ‘History of Love’, ‘El reloj’, ‘Libertango’, ‘Quiero ser tu Sombra’, and ‘M13 – En Vivo’.
The
13th Australian
International Accordion Championships and Festival will be held
on the 9th and 10th of June in Sydney by the AATA
(Australian Accordion Teachers Association). During the Festival,
the AATA invited prominent accordion teachers to conduct master classes:
Alma Flammersberger (Germany/Bosnia) graduate of Boris Lenko, Bratislava
Music Academy; Vladimir Anikin (Russia), Marjan Krajna (Croatia) graduate
of Semionov
and Tania
Lukic-Marx (picture left - Australia) graduate of V.
Besfamilnov.
The
event will incorporate competition, master classes and the traditionally
very popular, Gala Concert. Guest Artists include : Vladimir Anikin
( Russia) current CIA Coupe
Mondiale Piano Accordion World Champion, outstanding Australian
entertainer John
MacDonald, one of the best Australian Orchestras – ASA Orchestra,
Sydney Balalaika Orchestra, Australian International and South Pacific
Accordion Champion Ann–Elise Koerntjes, New Zealand accordion
entertainment champion Grayson Masefield, Lucy and Larrisa - who will
all treat you to some fine music making.
The
Australian International Accordion Championships, open to contestants
from all countries, has already attracted entries from: New Zealand,
Bosnia, Germany, Croatia and Australia. The event is run one week
after the South
Pacific Accordion Championships in Auckland, New Zealand so contestants
can participate in both events which have similar competition classes.
The entire AATA event will be at the excellent conference and concert
facilities of Club Marconi in Sydney.
For further information and competition entry forms, please visit the AATA website.
Lidia Kaminska wins Astral National Audition, Philadelphia – USA
Candidates from across the USA underwent a rigorous application process in January 2007 to earn a live audition for Astral, with four extraordinary artistes selected for placement on Astral’s current roster of young, emerging classical musicians.
Accordionist Lidia Kaminska, a native of Przasnysz, Poland, was one of the winners of the 2007 National Auditions Winners. Lidia Kaminska received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Accordion Performance from the University of Missouri Kansas City. Most recently Lidia was featured on the website WHYY, the radio station NPR Radio Times and in the Philadelphia magazine 2006 Best of Philly issue. She resides in Philadelphia.
The other winners were cellist Susan Babini, soprano Angela Meade, and Chinese pianist Di Wu.
Astral Artistic Services, founded in 1992, has played a unique and vital role in the development of the USA’s most gifted young musicians. A Philadelphia-based non-profit organization, Astral serves as a ‘career bridge’ for promising young artistes, who often graduate from conservatories superbly trained as musicians but without the business and professional skills needed to face the challenges of establishing a classical music career. Astral provides invaluable mentoring and practical assistance - all at no cost to the artiste.
CIA AWARD RECIPIENTS:
The CIA is pleased to announce the recipients of the following awards to be presented at the Washington Coupe Mondiale, August 2007: •
CIA Merit Award: Harley
Jones, (left, Fiji)
in honor of his work uniting the world through the Internet with the network of his Accordions Worldwide Internet Sites. •
CIA Merit Award: Vjera Odak-Jembrih (right, Croatia)
in honor of her work raising the profile of the accordion in Croatia and her teaching methods now being published around the world in several languages.
• CIA Honored Friend of the Accordion Award: Jeroen
Nijhof (picture lower left, Netherlands - UK) in honor of his
work as director of AccordionLinks.com
website, indexing and coordinating all available internet
sites that are currently on the world wide web.
• CIA Honored Friend of the Accordion Award: Jan Tabachnik (Ukraine) in honor of his work promoting the accordion in the Ukraine as an artist, teacher and event organizer.
• CIA Honored Friend of the Accordion Award: Elaine Beecham (United Kingdom) in honor of her work as a 40 year officer of the NAO and as a teacher and Musical Director in the United Kingdom
• CIA Golden Diploma: John Leslie (United Kingdom) in appreciation of his more than 30 years supporting and working for the CIA in the roles of Delegate, Music Committee Member and International Jury member.
UPDATED RULES ONLINE
Reminder of the Updated Rules for Coupe Mondiale International Competition for Piano Accordion are now online. This category has excellent prize money of 1st $5,000 2nd $1,500, 3rd $500 plus the special prize of an all expenses paid invitation to perform at the Australian and New Zealand International Championships and Festival held in June 2008.
NEW MEMBERS
The CIA is honored and pleased to welcome new members:
• VOTING MEMBER: Accordion Association of Chinese Musicians Association
(CAA)
(Chinese Accordion Association) President: Mr. Zhang Ziqiang
• CORRESPONDING MEMBER: UNAC - Unión de Acordeonistas
de España
(Union of Spanish Accordionists) President: Angel Luis Castaño
• SUPPORTING MEMBER: Mirco Patarini, Castelfidardo, Italy
• HONORARY MEMBER: Maddalena Belfiore, Kearny, NJ, USA
Jessica Chen, from New Zealand, performed in Taiwan on January 18th. The setting was Sanjhi County School, Taipei County. There were around 500 people in the audience, including teachers, students, the principal and other important people such as the Chairwoman of the Women's League. Most of them had never seen an accordion before so Jessica took a little time at the beginning of each session to introduce the accordion and demonstrate the different switches, bellow movement, etc.
Jessica performed a program of 13 pieces in total. In the first session there wasn't enough time to perform all the pieces because the audience was very enthusiastic asking questions about her instrument. The faster paced pieces were especially popular among the audience members.
Jessica commented: “I received about 20 bunches of flowers and big flower baskets from various people and groups, including Local City Councillors, the principal and the Chairwoman of the Women's League and also the owner of a petrol station. At the conclusion to the concert the Principal presented me with a Certificate of Appreciation and a small gift.
I was thrilled with the audience response. They really enjoyed listening to the accordion and kept asking when I was going to perform for them again”.
French Accordionists Exhibit Skills, Auckland – New Zealand
On January 30th and 31st the New Zealand Accordion Association hosted a two-day Workshop with Frederic Deschamps. This was held at Sunnybrae School in Auckland. Both teachers and students attended, with some private lessons being given to students who are contemplating competing internationally. The second day was devoted to technique and exercises. At the end of each day an informal concert was held with Deschamps giving a critique after each performance.
A concert was held on January 31st in Auckland at the Rose Centre featuring students of Frederic Deschamps, Grayson Masefield, from New Zealand, and four French CIA Virtuoso Entertainment contestants including Benoit Chabod and Cyril Blanchard, and two CIA Virtuoso Entertainment Champions Phil Bouvier (2004) and Julien Gonzales (2006). All seats were taken and people had to sit in the aisles for this very popular concert. At the end of the concert the French players played duets and joined together as a quartet.
Art of Accordion Concert, Trossingen - Germany
Contributed by Horst Fausel, Hohner Accordion Product Manager
An accordion ensemble from the Hohner Conservatory will perform a concert in Trossingen on February 12th, at 8pm. The venue is the Kulturspeicher des Klavierhaus Herrmann statt.
Accordionist Pascal Contet is involved in the following concerts:-
February 13th, 7.30pm – Auditorium St –Germain Ensemble Ars Nova, Paris
February 27th – Theatre du Casino, Deauville
April 2nd - Espace Molière Luxeuil
3rd - Théâtre de Gray
‘Accordions at Witney’ is a course involving traditional music for the piano accordion, held on February 17th and 18th at the Henry Box School, Witney, near Oxford. The tutors are Murray Grainger, David Oliver, Sam Pirt and Dave Townsend.
The topics covered include ‘Accordion Tunes You’d Never Expect’, ‘Tunes from the North-East’, ‘Arranging by Ear’, ‘Right Hand Technique’, ‘Using the Left Hand’, ‘Accordions and the Dance Band’, ‘Tunes from Around the World’ and ‘Funny Old Tunes’.
Romano Viazzani is to play the accordion part in a new stage production of ‘Pennies From Heaven’, a musical that celebrates the life and songs of Arthur Tracy. The performance takes place on February 18th, 7.30pm, at the Jermyn Street Theatre, Jermyn St, London SW1Y 6ST.
Arthur Tracy (1899-1997), known as ‘The Street Singer’, was a hugely popular singer and accordionist in the 1930s and 40s. His rich, romantic tenor voice and clear diction was perfect for radio and recordings, and ‘Here Lies Love’, ‘When I Grow Too Old to Dream’, ‘I'll See You Again’, ‘Red Sails in the Sunset’, and his theme song, ‘Marta’, were all big hits. Tracy also appeared in several films. Although Tracy used the accordion in his stage performances, it is believed that Charles Magnante played most of the accordion backings on his recordings. After he left show business in the late 1940s, he was largely forgotten, until the 1981 film ‘Pennies From Heaven’ brought him back to the public spotlight, when Tracy’s 1937 recording of the title song was used on the soundtrack.
The annual Leavenworth International Accordion Celebration takes place in the State of Washington from June 21st to 23rd. This event offers a wide variety of accordion music: jazz, popular, classical, ethnic and everything in between, involving players of all ages.
The Leavenworth festival includes competitions for awards and cash, workshops, jam sessions, a film/video series, parade down Front Street and three nights of concerts and dances with world-class musicians.
As part of an event called ‘An Introduction to the English Folk Tradition’, accordionist Karen Tweed gives a practical introduction to the English folk tradition, using live demonstration and recorded examples. The workshop takes place on February24th, from 11.15am to 12.30pm, at the Crush Room, Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD.
English
Deutsch
Français
Italiano 
Español
Chinese 
Russian 
The
World Music Festival involves up to 10,000 accordionists and is widely
reported as the largest gathering of accordionists, mouth organ and
the Steirische Harmonica players in the world, being held every three
years in Innsbruck. Event Manager is Arnold Kutzli, also Vice-President
of the DHV German Accordion Association.
Frank
J. Busso, Jr. (right) has become a partner in the firm of Ernest Deffner,
Inc., which was founded in 1934, according to a statement issued by
The
13th 
The
event will incorporate competition, master classes and the traditionally
very popular, Gala Concert. Guest Artists include : Vladimir Anikin
( Russia) current CIA 
Candidates from across the USA underwent a rigorous application process in January 2007 to earn a live audition for Astral, with four extraordinary artistes selected for placement on Astral’s current roster of young, emerging classical musicians.
CIA
•
CIA Merit Award: 
•
CIA Merit Award: Vjera Odak-Jembrih (right, Croatia)
internet
sites that are currently on the world wide web.
For
complete rules and regulations for each category, as well as the 
Jessica Chen, from New Zealand, performed in Taiwan on January 18th. The setting was Sanjhi County School, Taipei County. There were around 500 people in the audience, including teachers, students, the principal and other important people such as the Chairwoman of the Women's League. Most of them had never seen an accordion before so Jessica took a little time at the beginning of each session to introduce the accordion and demonstrate the different switches, bellow movement, etc.
Jessica commented: “I received about 20 bunches of flowers and big flower baskets from various people and groups, including Local City Councillors, the principal and the Chairwoman of the Women's League and also the owner of a petrol station. At the conclusion to the concert the Principal presented me with a Certificate of Appreciation and a small gift.
On January 30th and 31st the 
A concert was held on January 31st in Auckland at the Rose Centre featuring students of 
Art of Accordion Concert, Trossingen - Germany
Accordionist 
Romano Viazzani is to play the accordion part in a new stage production of ‘Pennies From Heaven’, a musical that celebrates the life and songs of Arthur Tracy. The performance takes place on February 18th, 7.30pm, at the Jermyn Street Theatre, Jermyn St, London SW1Y 6ST.
Accordionist 
The annual Leavenworth International Accordion Celebration takes place in the State of Washington from June 21st to 23rd. This event offers a wide variety of accordion music: jazz, popular, classical, ethnic and everything in between, involving players of all ages.
As part of an event called ‘An Introduction to the English Folk Tradition’, accordionist Karen Tweed gives a practical introduction to the English folk tradition, using live demonstration and recorded examples. The workshop takes place on February24th, from 11.15am to 12.30pm, at the Crush Room, Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD.
