Sergei Michailovitch Kolobkov passed away on March 8th 2007. During his artistic life he was a soloist, musical director of bayan ensembles and conductor of the Russian folk orchestra ‘Ossipov’. He taught a bayan class, which included Juri Vostrjelov, Friedrich Lips and Alexander Skljarov among his students. From 1963 to 1966 he was head of the chair for folk instruments, later he became Professor and Rector (18 years) of the Gnessin Institute (nowadays the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music), People’s Artist of Russia (1991) and from 1981 to 1984 he was Vice Minister of Culture in Russia. In 1995 he was conferred the ‘Silver Disk’ of Moscow’s festival ‘Bayan and Bayanists’ for special achievements in music.
He recorded the First Concerto for Bayan and Orchestra by F. Rubzov, was the author of transcriptions for bayan and bayan ensembles and was editor of ‘Bayan and Bayanists’, with scientific articles dealing with the bayan. On the international scene he took part in the CIA international accordion confederation events several times and also became CIA Vice-President.
In 2002, Sergei Kolobkov was awarded the CIA Merit Award in Copenhagen, Denmark for his many years of service and achievement towards the development of the accordion.
The 44th Klingenthal International Accordion Competition, for accordion or bandoneon soloists or groups, takes place in Klingenthal, Saxony, on the German/Czech border from May 4th to 10th. The closing date for entries is March 15th.
The Klingenthal competition has a long tradition of seeking to promote solo and group accordion and bandoneon performance for all age groups, and introducing music across a wide range of genres, including new compositions.
Friedrich Lips’ latest CD ‘The Last Supper’ has a strong Christian theme, featuring music that concerns the treachery of Judas at the Feast of the Last Supper – ‘The Passion of Judas’, by Michael Bronner; the events of Christ’s Crucifixion – ‘Seven Words’, by Sofia Gubaidulina; and JS Bach’s ‘Hymn – Prelude’.
Diatonic button accordionist Joe Burke, from Galway, has re-issued two of his most celebrated vinyl LP recordings together as a double CD. These recordings are ‘Traditional Music of Ireland’ (1972) and ‘The Bucks of Oranmore’ (1986).
Joe Burke was All Ireland Champion on 2-row button accordion in 1959 and 1960, has for many years been regarded by his peers as one of the masters of Irish traditional music. After a long period living in New York, Joe Burke now lives back in his native Galway, where he and his wife Ann Conroy-Burke, also an accordionist, teach and run master classes and summer schools. Recently, Joe has been recording ‘A Tribute to Andy McGann’, with fiddle player Brian Conway and pianist Felix Dolan. The new recording pays homage to the great fiddler Andy McGann (1928-2004), and should be ready for release in July.
The
Confédération
Nationale Française de L'Accordéon (CNFA) held its
final accordion competition on March 3rd and 4th at La Selle sur le
Bied to select candidates for the CIA Coupe Mondiale to be held in
the USA from August 13 to 18, 2007. Over 40 candidates competed for
selection in the various categories.
The International Jury included Lydie Kotalie (President of the CNFA),
Kevin Friedrich
(CIA President), Frédéric
Deschamps (CMA President), Raymond
Bodell (CIA and CMA Vice President) and Phil Bouvier (2004 CIA
World Champion).
After serving for many years as the umbrella organization and CIA
member for France representing the Accordéon Club de France,
the Association des Professeurs Hohner
(APH) and the Union Nationale des Accordéonistes Français
(UNAF) the CNFA has decided by mutual agreement to disband.
On
Saturday evening, a concert, featured Phil Bouvier, Grayson
Masefield (New Zealand), the Paris-Moscow
DuoDomi
Emorine and Roman
Jbanov, 2006 CMA World Champion Vincent Lhermet in addition to
the English duo, the Classic Buskers. The packed venue were treated
to wonderful diversity of the accordion at the highest level.
On Sunday there was a Grand Bal Musette to the music of CIA multiple
world champion Jérôme
Richard and his orchestra. A wonderful weekend of accordion entertainment
for all!
Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards Ceremony, Cape Town Tango – South Africa
The Cape Town Tango Ensemble, lead by accordionist Stanislav Angelov, was invited to perform at the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards Ceremony, which took place on March 4th at Artscape Theatre, Cape Town. This is the most prestigious event in South Africa in the Theatre field, attended by Nominee Directors, Script writers, Actors, Lighting Designers, Costume Designers, Choreographers, Composers, Critics, representative of the Media and general public.
The ensemble performed the music for the Tango couple Mark Hoeben and Ina Wichterich during their performance of ‘Por una cabeza’, ‘Payadora’ and ‘Tango Club’ (‘Tango Club’ is a composition by Stanislav Angelov).
The Cape Town Tango Ensemble (usually a quartet) appeared for first time as a sextet: accordions – Stanislav Angelov and Ludmila Rukavishnikova, violins – Jacek Domagala and Elina Koytcheva, piano – Albert Combrink, and double bass – Charles Lazar.
The performance is expected to be broadcast on South African national TV during this and next week.
The
5th World
Diatonic Accordion Competition takes place in Sterzing in the
South Tyrol, Italy, from June 7th to 10th June 2007. The Chairman
of the organizing committee is Werner Weibert, Vice President of the
Austrian Accordion Association. The closing date for entries is March
30th.
The last international diatonic championship event in 2005 was held
in Saalfelden, Austria, and produced high standards and many great
individual performances. 86 candidates in the international (27) and
national (59) competition involved a wide range of pieces from all
the established diatonic-composers. In the senior-section (the highest
category) the first 3 in the ranking played very different styles
from original pieces till own compositions like variations of common
themes and melodies.
The winner of the International Senior title was Nicola Bettiol from
Treviso, Italy, and the 2nd prizewinner Christoph Blatzer came from
Austria. The Junior section was won by the young Tyrolean Markus Oberleitner,
with Mitja Novak, from Slovakia, coming 2nd.
The whole competition was a great success for the Austrian Harmonica Society (HVOe), who held this international championship for the fourth time.
The
Kleine Harmonikatage competition took place on February 24th and 25th
in Klingenthal.
The weekend included a concert with the Akkordeonorchester
Hof, directed by Guenther
Zeilinger. The results below include many successes by Czech accordionists.
Next year’s competition dates are February 23rd and 24th 2008.
Category 1A
1 Ernst Stötzner
2 Michaela Švecová
3 Therese Schindler Category 1B
1 Ranjeeta Röber
2 Jan Korelus
3 Veronika Lukavská Category 2
1 Daniel Kühn
2 Markus Fritzsching
3 Anna-Katharina Schau
Category 3
1Clemens Bernhard Winter
2 Felix Sowinski
3 Verena Roider Category D1
1 Lisa-Mareike Munke / Markus Fritzsching
2 Jan Korelus / Michal Ronovský
3 Lena Franke / Charlotte Schröder Category D2
1 Mathias Grünig / Conrad Zibolowski
2 Toni Leuschner / Christian Delitz
3 Marcela Matejkova´ / Barbora Blazkova´
Jean-Louis
Noton at the Musiche Dal Mondo Festival, Rome – Italy
French accordionist Jean-Louis
Noton gave a performance using the amazing facilities of his midi
Cavagnolo on
the morning of February 26th.
This concert was part of the Musiche Dal Mondo Festival in Rome, which included various international forms of music.
‘Accordion Showcase’ Concert, London – UK
Contributed by Romano Viazzani
A concert given by accordion students will take place at the Royal
Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London NW1 on Monday March12th,
7.30pm.
The concert takes place in the David Josefowitz Recital Hal, and includes
solo and chamber works by Bach, Piazzolla, Valpola, Trojan, Gubaidulina,
Schnittke and Zolotariev.
Professor of Accordion at the Royal Academy is Owen
Murray.
Klaus Paier Tour Dates – Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy
Contributed by Hermi Kaleta
Austrian accordionist Klaus Paier is on tour with clarinet and saxophone player Gerald Preinfalk, and then with his trio - Klaus Paier - accordion, bandoneon, Stefan Gfrerrer - bass, and Roman Werni - drums, percussion. The dates are as follows:
Paier/ Preinfalk -
March 9th, 11.30am - Jazzahead 2007, Congress Centrum, Bremen, Germany
March 10th, 8.30pm - Altes Kino, Landeck, Austria
Klaus Paier Trio -
March 21st, 8.30pm - Cafe Museum, Passau, Austria
22nd, 8pm - Musikwerkstatt Wels, Wels
23rd, 9pm – Jazzclub, Bamberg, Germany
24th, 8.30pm – Spielboden, Dornbirn
25th, 6pm - Arthotel Blaue Gans, Caverne, Salzburg, Austria
April 14th, 8pm - Bierstindl, Kulturgasthaus, Innsbruck
29th, 8.30pm – Jazzfrühling, Kempten, Germany
May 25th, 7.30pm - Golf Club Jazz Restaurant, Lana, South Tyrol, Italy
June 20th – Jazzhous, Copenhagen, Denmark
21st – Mailand, Italy
A concert of Argentine Tango music by the Trio Perez-Sabatier-Pedreira takes place on March 14th, 7.30pm, at the Sparkassensaal der Musikschule, Neunkirchen.
The
first ‘Amours d'Accordéon’ accordion festival takes
place from May 17th to 20th at St Quentin la Poterie in the South
of France, close to Nimes, Avignon and Orange. The festival includes
a public parade, concerts, master classes, ginguette and a bal musette.
The festival is promoted by L'Office Culturel de Saint-Quentin la
Poterie, who are aiming to promote the accordion to the public.
The
guest artistes include Clémence and Jérémie Buirette
(picture left) – piano and accordion, Nany Swing, Luc Adam,
Pat’Cryspol, Kristel de Rio and Christophe Rohr.
Bert Santilly, from Cambridge, is the guest artiste at Stockport Accordion on March 14th, at 8pm. Bert Santilly is a most accomplished accordionist and teacher, and known to many as a workshop leader at the Caister and Pakefield accordion festivals. Stockport Accordion Club is based at Woodley Methodist Church, Chapel Street/A560 Hyde Road, Woodley, Stockport, Cheshire SK6 1BL.
French accordionist Pascal Contet performs as follows:
March 15th, 2pm and 6pm - Lille
17th, 3pm and 5pm - Festival de l’Equinoxe, Poiters
18th, 6pm – Church, Soyons
19th - Soyons
20th, 8.30pm – Auditorium du Palais des Congrès, St Raphael
26th and 27th, Vesoul Region
31st, 8pm – Festival Archipel, Geneva, Switzerland
The All Ireland Accordion Festival takes place in the Tuar Ard Arts Centre, Moate, County Westmeath on March 31st and April 1st. The organisers are John and Yvonne Chilton, and the adjudicator is Ian Watson. The festival includes solo, duet, ensemble and orchestral sections.
Franco Cambareri - accordionist, composer, producer, releases 5 new works for accordion available for purchase online. 'Angelina', 'Blue Lake (Lago Blu)', 'Don Miguel', 'Marching Parade', 'Russia by Night'. Samples of this music are available on the site. The music is in eSheet format, able to be emailed to your computer. Purchase with credit card.
A new site selling a CD titled "The Last Supper" with sound samples. Music performed by Friedrich Lips. This cd has a strong Christian theme, featuring music that concerns the treachery of Judas at the Feast of the Last Supper. Purchase online.
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Russian 
Sergei Michailovitch Kolobkov passed away on March 8th 2007. During his artistic life he was a soloist, musical director of bayan ensembles and conductor of the Russian folk orchestra ‘Ossipov’. He taught a bayan class, which included Juri Vostrjelov, 
The 44th Klingenthal International Accordion Competition, for accordion or bandoneon soloists or groups, takes place in Klingenthal, Saxony, on the German/Czech border from May 4th to 10th. The closing date for entries is March 15th.
Friedrich
Lips
Diatonic button accordionist 
The
The Cape Town Tango Ensemble, lead by accordionist Stanislav Angelov, was invited to perform at the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards Ceremony, which took place on March 4th at Artscape Theatre, Cape Town. This is the most prestigious event in South Africa in the Theatre field, attended by Nominee Directors, Script writers, Actors, Lighting Designers, Costume Designers, Choreographers, Composers, Critics, representative of the Media and general public.
The
5th 
The VAMÖ accordion competition took place on February 25th in the Waldmüllersentrum, Vienna. The competition winners were:
The
Kleine Harmonikatage competition took place on February 24th and 25th
in 
Jean-Louis
Noton
‘Accordion Showcase’ Concert, London – UK
Austrian accordionist Klaus Paier is on tour with clarinet and saxophone player Gerald Preinfalk, and then with his trio - Klaus Paier - accordion, bandoneon, Stefan Gfrerrer - bass, and Roman Werni - drums, percussion. The dates are as follows:
A concert of Argentine Tango music by the Trio Perez-Sabatier-Pedreira takes place on March 14th, 7.30pm, at the Sparkassensaal der Musikschule, Neunkirchen.
Festival
‘Amours d'Accordéon’, St Quentin la Poterie -
France
The
first ‘Amours d'Accordéon’ accordion festival takes
place from May 17th to 20th at St Quentin la Poterie in the South
of France, close to Nimes, Avignon and Orange. The festival includes
a public parade, concerts, master classes, ginguette and a bal musette.
The festival is promoted by L'Office Culturel de Saint-Quentin la
Poterie, who are aiming to promote the accordion to the public.
The
guest artistes include Clémence and Jérémie Buirette
(picture left) – piano and accordion, Nany Swing, Luc Adam,
Pat’Cryspol, Kristel de Rio and Christophe Rohr.
Bert Santilly, from Cambridge, is the guest artiste at Stockport Accordion on March 14th, at 8pm. Bert Santilly is a most accomplished accordionist and teacher, and known to many as a workshop leader at the Caister and Pakefield accordion festivals. Stockport Accordion Club is based at Woodley Methodist Church, Chapel Street/A560 Hyde Road, Woodley, Stockport, Cheshire SK6 1BL.
French accordionist 
