After
four days from the 12th -15th of March, the International Musikmesse
and the Prolight + Sound trade fair closed their doors and counted
112,000 visitors from 126 countries!These are the excellent figures
given by the organisers. The best-represented European visitor nations
after Germany were Belgium,
The Netherlands, Sweden, France, Italy, Great Britain, Switzerland,
Spain, Austria and Greece. From overseas, the most visitors travelled
from the USA, South Korea, Japan, Israel, China, Australia, Brazil
and Canada.
Orientation for the trade, internationality and over 250 events for
music lovers at Musikmesse 2008 were turning these days into an outstanding
event. Exhibitors,
Musicians, Visitors, Friends ... from the A-Z Accordion and Music
World gave themselves a rendezvous in Frankfurt to present-to see-to
hear everything "NEW" on the market and to meet accordion
enthusiasts and musicians from around the world!
Next year's event will take place in April from the 1st - 4th
Please see our detailed picture report - click
here
The
Trophée
Mondial 2008 will be organized in Bosnia Herzegovina (Republic
of Srpska) in Sarajevo (Eastern Sarajevo) from 1st to 5th October
by the "Academy of Music - University" and organizer Zoran
Rakic and the Confédération Mondiale de l'Accordéon.
Full information including the rules, regulations and music requirements
for the Trophée
Mondial are now online.
For
2008, the Trophée Mondial no longer requires any test pieces
following a similar change by the CIACoupe Mondiale
to enable the greatest participation by contestants wishing to enter
multiple international competitions.
Other international accordion competitions are expected to follow
this trend in the future as the workload required to learn multiple
test pieces is often excessive for contestants when the competition
dates are close to each other.
A feature of the Trophée Mondial 2008 in Sarajevo is the hotel
for delegates and officials is located only 2 kms from the airport
and only 300 metres from the competition venue. Transport will be
provided for competitors from their hotel to the competition venue.
Competitions categories are:
Senior and Junior Variete
Senior and Junior Classical
AWW
Proudly Announces Milestone of 250th CD
Review
The CD
Review writers have covered a diverse range of musical genres
from some of the most well known accordion artists in the world, as
well as a cross section of other artists performing classical, original,
pop, folk music, ensemble, orchestral and chamber music.
This milestone 250th CD Review by renowned accordionist, teacher,
arranger and conductor Joan
C. Sommers, retired professor of accordion at the University of
Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC) features a new CD 'Accordion Chamber'
by Norwegian accordionist Jon Faukstadt performing with an array of
other musicians.
This permanent archive of CD Reviews serves as a valuable resource
for accordionists searching for accordion recordings, and added to
on a regular basis as new recordings are submitted.
Thanks also to all the translators who have helped with so many CD
Reviews particularly Holda
Paoletti-Kampl and Fausto Farbi of Menghini srl.
On
Thursday March 27th at 8 pm of Central European Time (CET), Russian
accordionist Alexander
Shirunov will give a concert in Trossingen, Germany. It is possible
to watch this concert live on the Internet on the homepage: www.hohner-konservatorium.de
Alexander
Shirunov plays at the accordion festival 'Akkordeon grenzenlos
2008', which is organized once a year in Trossingen by the Hohner-Conservatory.
This festival includes lots of concerts and workshops and is supported
and sponsored by the Hohner
Company.
Marie
Jones, Secretary of the New
Zealand Accordion Association (NZAA) since 1971 and the first
recipient of the CIA Honored Friend of the Accordion Award in 2003
suffered a serious stroke just over 6 weeks ago that left her incapacitated
outside overnight until found some 18 hours later.
Marie
Jones was in hospital in critical condition for some days and
doctors held little hope for her survival. Miraculously after several
day in intensive care, she defied doctors concerns and began to improve
quickly. Now, she is out of hospital and has moved to Heather
Masefield's house with full speech recovered and able to walk,
and continues to improve.
Marie
Jones and family wish to thank all those accordionists from around
the world who have sent messages of goodwill and made prayers for
her recovery. We are very grateful to all and so happy to see Marie
Jones making such a great recovery.
About 10 teachers, from around the UK, attended
this terrific workshop by Lars Holm, held at the Royal Academy
of Music on March 9th.
There were students from 4 years old right up to university
age. There were also a handful of mature adult students at varying
stages of their musical development as well as other people
just taking a keen interest.
The aim of the workshop was to help teachers in the UK with
keeping their student's interest so that they don't get bored
and hopefully become the next generation of professional UK-reared
accordionists……...
On
the 15th March after a short illness of only a few hours at the hospital
in Aarau, Eduard Frey-Wernli passed peacefully away.
He is survived by his wife Rosmarie Frey-Wernli who took long term
care of him. Eduard Frey-Wernli is the father of Martin Frey, well
known accordionist and Pigini
and Excelsior importer for Switzerland. The funeral was held on Thursday
20th March.
Our condolensces to Martin Frey and the family at this sad time.
Rock
singer, composer and accordionist Jason Webley, from Seattle, Washington,
performs as follows:
March 21st, 8pm - Skinless Productions Gallery, 504 East 18th St,
Kansas City
22nd, 7.30pm - Pops Blue Moon, 5249 Pattison Ave, St Louis, Missouri
April 4th, 12.30pm - Teatro Carlos Lazo, University, Mexico City
4th, 10pm - Pasagüero, Motolinía 33 Col, Centro Histórico,
Mexico City
5th - San Diablo Av., Revolucion 1331, Tlacopac San Angel, Mexico
City
6th, 12.30pm - performance with ballet company, Teatro Miguel Coverrubias,
Centro Cultural Universitario, Mexico City
11th, 6pm - Downhill House, Central District, Seattle, Washington
18th, 7.30pm - Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Seattle
19th - details to be announced - Portland, Oregon
20th, 8.30pm - WOW Hall, 291 West 8th Ave, Portland, Oregon
Jason
Webley has achieved international fame, especially in Russia where
he has played to large audiences and great acclaim in both Moscow
and St Petersburg. He has also performed at the Glastonbury Festival
in the UK, alongside the cream of British rock stars in high profile
concerts. Webley has demonstrated that it is possible in this day
and age for a rock singer to use an accordion on stage to entertain
young audiences.
The
Polish quintet Dikanda was founded in 1997 in Szczecin, Poland. Passion
for the traditional music and hard work let them create their own
style and original sound. Their acoustic songs have been inspired
by Oriental culture, Balkan folklore - Macedonian and Romanian.
To date they have won prizes at festivals, performed in Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, Italy, India, Greece, and Russia and at the Montreux
Jazz Festival. They have also released three CDs. The Polish quintet
Dikanda, featuring accordionist Ania Witczak, perform as follows:
April 12th, 11am - live interview on RBB Radio Multkulti, Berlin
12th, 9pm - concert in Lindenpark, Potsdam
May 14th, 9pm - Gerhard Hauptmann Theater, Zittau, Germany
16th, 8pm - Kulturgasthaus Bierstindl, Innsbruck, Austria
18th, 12 noon - Erdbeerhof Funk, Eisenberg, Germany
30th, 8pm - 'Wilde Töne' Festival, Braunschweig
Romano
Viazzani is to play the accordion part in another stage production
revival of 'Pennies From Heaven', a musical that celebrates the life
and songs of Arthur Tracy. Steve Ross and Greg Moore repeat their
starring roles, with support from Romano
Viazzani - the team that performed together last year in London.
The performances takes place on April 18th - 7.30pm, and 19th - 2.30pm
and 7.30pm, at the St. Albans Organ Theatre, 320 Camp Road, St Albans
AL1 5PE.
Arthur Tracy (1899-1997), known as 'The Street Singer', was a hugely
popular singer and accordionist in the 1930s and 40s. His 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 Hollywood films, co-starring with Bing Crosby.
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 Tracy left show business in the late 1940s,
he was largely forgotten, until the 1981 film 'Pennies From Heaven'
was released. Arthur Tracy's 1937 recording of the title song was
used on the soundtrack, bringing him back to the public spotlight,
and inspiring a brief stage comeback.
Gorka
Hermosa, from the Basque region of northern Spain, is Professor of
Accordion at the Jesús de Monasterio Conservatory in Santander.
His upcoming engagements include:
April 24th and 25th - Madrid, 'Tangosophy': with clarinet player Josep
Sancho May
14th - classical accordion concert, Sabadell Conservatory, Barcelona
15th - Master Class, Sabadell Conservatory, Barcelona
18th - classical accordion concert, Figueres, Girona
Jean-Louis
Noton, Mady and Peter
Soave will present their annual International Music Accordion
Camp in Sauris, Italy, from July 27th to August 3rd, and from August
3rd to 10th.
IMAC welcomes accordionists and music lovers of all levels and all
ages, and encourages all styles of music. IMAC offers 7 days of master-classes,
seminars, lectures, group playing and private instruction in a professional
setting that harmonizes nature and learning. Participants can anticipate
a healthy musical environment full of friendship and learning in a
3 star hotel and will enjoy the breathtaking panorama of Italian Dolomites!
On
Thursday March 27th, 8pm, accordionist Pearl
Fawcett-Adriano is the guest at Stockport Organ & Keyboard
Club, based at The Guildhall (Stockport Masonic Hall), Wellington
Rd South (A6), near the centre of Stockport, Cheshire.
by Jon Faukstadt (accordion) with assisting artists
The Celebrity
Interview page of Accordions Worldwide has been updated to include
an extremely interesting interview with the President of the Accordion
Association of Chinese Musicians Association (CAA). The interview
covers a lot of accordion history in China and the developments
of the accordion in China over recent decades.
CD
Reviews and DVD Reviews index page updated. See over 250
reviews of recordings since 1997 to 2008 by Renato Belardinelli, Tania
Lukic-Marx, Alessandro Mugnoz, Paolo Picchio and Joan C. Sommers -
a huge resource of information for those interested in accordion recordings.
English
Deutsch
Français
Italiano 
Español
Chinese 
Russian 
After
four days from the 12th -15th of March, the International Musikmesse
and the Prolight + Sound trade fair closed their doors and counted
112,000 visitors from 126 countries!These are the excellent figures
given by the organisers. The best-represented European visitor nations
after Germany were Belgium, 
Exhibitors,
Musicians, Visitors, Friends ... from the A-Z Accordion and Music
World gave themselves a rendezvous in Frankfurt to present-to see-to
hear everything "NEW" on the market and to meet accordion
enthusiasts and musicians from around the world!
The
For
2008, the Trophée Mondial no longer requires any test pieces
following a similar change by the 
On
Thursday March 27th at 8 pm of Central European Time (CET), Russian
accordionist 
Marie
Jones
On
the 15th March after a short illness of only a few hours at the hospital
in Aarau, Eduard Frey-Wernli passed peacefully away.
Rock
singer, composer and accordionist Jason Webley, from Seattle, Washington,
performs as follows:
The
Polish quintet Dikanda was founded in 1997 in Szczecin, Poland. Passion
for the traditional music and hard work let them create their own
style and original sound. Their acoustic songs have been inspired
by Oriental culture, Balkan folklore - Macedonian and Romanian.
Romano
Viazzani
Gorka
Hermosa, from the Basque region of northern Spain, is Professor of
Accordion at the Jesús de Monasterio Conservatory in Santander.
His upcoming engagements include:
May
14th - classical accordion concert, Sabadell Conservatory, Barcelona
Jean-Louis
Noton
On
Thursday March 27th, 8pm, accordionist 