Contributed by Lina Klimkaite, Intermusik Newspaper

The 7th International Accordion Festival took place in Vilnius from October 28th to 31st. Accordion music is very popular in Lithuania and is received with great public interest. There were two concerts daily, most of which were sold out, with visitors attending from throughout the country.

The opening concert was held at the Academy of Music featuring the "Koncertino" quintet (Lithuania), Jukka-Pekka Kuusela (Finland), "Lodz" trio (Poland) and the "Pirog" duo (Ukraine). Further concerts were performed throughout the festival by local and international accordionists including Server Abukerimow (Russia), Chemnitz Accordion Orchestra (Germany), Duo Stonkus, Duo Viktoria Semeniuk and Robertas Uzgalis (Lithuania), Sergei Fedorenko (Latvia), Eduardas Gabnys and Genadi Savkov (duo), "Laaber" quintet (Germany), "Milonga" Trio (Latvia), Wilma Milute (Lithuania), Juri Peschkow (Latvia), "Retro" ensemble (Lithuania), Danielus Rozovas (Lithuania), Liudmila Slekonite (Lithuania), and the Vilnius Academy Accordion Quintet.

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif

The Kainuu Accordion Festival was held from November 5th to 8th in Kainuu, Kuhmo, Sotkamo and Ristijarvi. Concerts included performances by Jukka-Pekka Kuusela, the Lithuanian Quintet and Kalle Välimaa and master classes were held by Allan Jakobi, Professor Friedrich Lips and Kalle Välimaa. An accordion ensemble course was held by the Lithuanian Quintet.

The final festival concert was held on the 8th at the Kuhmo Arts Centre, with performances by Allan Jakobi, Jukka-Pekka Kuusela, Friedrich Lips, the Lithuanian Quintet and Kalle Välimaa.

This year Gary Blair will perform popular pieces such as "The Flying Scotsman" and "Muchacha del fuego" (samba) as well as performing duets with Professor Giancarlo Caporilli. Giancarlo has promised to wear a kilt as they will be playing a set of Scottish reels composed by Iain Macphail, which will include "Suzanne Barbour", "Miss C.M. Barbour" and "Miss Mary Printy".

Contributed by Wolfgang Krämer

On November 21st, the Hopfner Accordion Orchestra will celebrate their 30th anniversary with a concert at the Bürgerhaus Karlsfeld, Bayern, Germany. The program will include many popular pieces such as Irish Suite, Rakoczy Overture, Carnival of Venice, Espieglerie ("Eulenspiegeleien") and Koncertino.

Contributed by Sean Minnie

The Boer Music Club in South Africa have been busy organising regular concertina functions and dances. The club was originally called the "Concertina club of South Africa", but later decided to change their name to "The Traditional Boer Music Club" so that all instruments would have equal status. Younger musicians are encouraged to play so they receive the chance to perform in front of an audience.

On November 7th the "Oudag Boer Band" performed at the Acasia Town Hall, Pretoria. On the same day, club meetings were held by the Bloemfontein, Pietersburg and Hartswater Boer Music branches.

Contributed by Dr Herbert Scheibenreif

On November 18th, Russian accordionist Friedrich Lips will celebrate his 50th birthday. To celebrate this occasion he will perform a concert at the Gnessin's Academy of Music in Moscow during their bayan festival on December 19th.

Professor Friedrich Lips has lectured at the Gnessin Institute since 1992. He has performed concerts throughout the world including the USA, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Japan, Norway and Denmark and has recorded over 100 works which are available on CD.

Swedish accordionist Chris Aberg has just returned from a Scandinavian concert tour with American swamp-pop performer, Johnnie Allen. Chris is also the accordionist and vocalist for the Swedish rock cajun band "Cajun Hurricane" who perform rockabilly, swamp-rock, cajun and zydeco music. Cajun Hurricane are currently working on their second CD and are planning a tour to Louisiana, USA in 1999.

Contributed by the Intermusik Newspaper

Russian accordionist Viktor Romanko performed a concert in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen on November 6th, followed by another on the 7th in Ettlingen as part of his recent tour. The following day, he performed in the venue Musikhaus Büdenbender in Netphen-Werthenbach.

Accordionist Andrej Mouline, also from Russia was in Germany as well and performed a solo concert in the Zwielfalten Monastery on November 8th.

Contributed by Wayne Knights

Accordionist Graham Geddes and his Scottish Dance Band will travel from their hometown of Aberdeen to Bangkok to perform a concert on November 21st at the Shangri La Hotel for The British Embassy. Over 600 tickets for this popular concert have already been sold.

For further information email: Gizasong@aol.com

As well as repairing and selling accordions, Jac's hobby is the study of accordion reeds and as an engineer he takes great interest in this. Assisted by his former colleagues from the Philips Physics Laboratory, he studied the differences between Italian, German and Russian tongue materials using electron microscopy technology.

Over the past few years Jac concentrated on piccolo reeds, trying to achieve a better volume balance between low and high sounds. His new patented reed construction can be applied to any type of reed but the most impressive results are A#3 to D5. Jac Verberne had a display at the recent Coupe Mondiale for interested visitors to view.

Contributed by Li Cong

The Chinese Accordion Society are currently organising the first annual "Beijing Cup" accordion competition, which will be held from February 1st to 5th 1999 in Beijing. The competition will include solo, duet, and united performance sections and entrants must be amateur accordionists. There will be a variety of age group classes from 7 years and under to 35 years and over.

For further information phone: + 86 10 65024259

Contributed by Christine Adams

On November 22nd, the 25th Anniversary Reunion of the Pakuranga Accordionaires will be held at the Pakuranga Community Centre, Auckland. The evening will include a concert by the current Pakuranga Accordionaires (conducted by Lyn Barraclough) who will perform a varied program including a selection from "My Fair Lady". Guest soloists will also perform and the evening will conclude with a mix and mingle social.

Contributed by Armin Wahler

On November 8th, the Leibnizschule" Accordion School organised a special annual concert in their school hall in Wiesbaden. This year's concert was held to honour the 75th birthday of the founder Dietmar Walther.

Contributed by Kevin Friedrich

The Kansas City Klezmer Consort comprising of Juha Silfverberg (accordion), Kayo Hasegawa (violin), Eric Tishkoff (clarinet), and Gay Lee Ludwig-Bonney (double bass), will perform its own eclectic blend of klezmer, classical, and world music in Tokyo, Chiba, Iwaki, and Numazu, from November 21st to 28th.

In addition to traditional klezmer tunes, their program includes Finnish, Japanese, and American popular music, and unique renditions of classical works by Gustav Mahler, Arcangelo Corelli, and others.

Holding citizenships in Finland, Japan, and the US, the group is a veritable melting pot, which they clearly celebrate through their choice of repertoire. In just over one year together the Kansas City-based ensemble has managed to create a unique and personal brand of music-making which combines classical craftsmanship and sensibilities with a variety of ethnic and popular musical traditions.

For further information, please email: etishkoff@cctr.umkc.edu

Contributed by the Intermusik Newspaper

At the beginning of October the international accordion competition "Trophée Mondial 1998" organised by the Confédération Mondiale des Accordéonistes (C.M.A.) was held in Recoaro Terme (Italy). The senior category was won by Vladimir Blagojevic (Yugoslavia). Winner of the junior category was Dragan Vasilievic (Yugoslavia). The "Varieté" category was taken out by three accordionists from France: 1st place Jérôme Richard, 2nd place Frederic Baldo and 3rd place Aurelien Noel.

For further information phone: + 33 1 48 74 69 04

Contributed by Renzo Ruggieri

Well-known Italian accordionist Massimiliano Pitocco has just released his fourth CD "Plays Piazzolla", which is a collection of pieces by Astor Piazzolla recorded live in February with the "Four for Tango" quartet. The group includes Massimilano Pitocco (bandoneon), Diego Conti (violin), Rosario Mastroserio (piano) and Giovanni Rinaldi (bass).

For further information phone: + 39 85 4516288

Guy's rendition of John Zorn's "Road Runner," was well received by the children as it features wild sound effects like knocking on the bellows, using the air button to imitate being out of breath after running and sight gags like the left hand stretching over to join the right hand on the keyboard.

Contributed by Tatiana Lanchtchikova

The Chelyabinsk State Institute of Arts and Culture celebrated their 30th anniversary from October 12th to 23rd in Chelyabinsk, Ural. The celebration consisted of seminars, conferences and concerts by a variety of orchestras, dance groups, choirs, ensembles and soloists.

The final Jubilee concert took place at their Concert Hall including a large number of telegrams from all over Russia being read out and many people offering congratulations to teachers and administration staff. Performers included the "Ural Virtuosos" who played "Krakovyak" (by Glinka from "Ivan Susanin"). This ensemble includes teachers and students from the Institute: Nikolay and Natalya Istchenko, Elena Omelnitskaya, Sergei Osnovin, Olga Parfentieva, Olga Savelieva and Marat Shakirov.

The anniversary concert concluded with a performance by the Chelyabinsk Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra "Malakhit" (conducted by Victor Lebedyev) who played a program of works such as a concerto for bayan and orchestra and original orchestral compositions.

Contributed by William Crawford

Ceilidh dance band "Da Fustra" with accordionist Peter Wood, hit the news in Shetland recently with the successful launch of their second album "Da Fustra Strikes Again" and their future tour of the Scottish Mainland with sell out concerts and dances.

This popular band, which includes accordion, violin, piano, guitar and drums has been performing in Shetland for a number of years and produced their debut album in 1997.

For further information email: highlander.music@zetnet.co.uk

I hope you enjoy this joke from Rennie Guenther.

Q. How do you know when an accordion is out of tune?

A. The bellows are moving.

http://www.accordions.com/piermaria Well known accordion manufacturer from Italy

http://www.accordions.com/nufringen/gotz.htm 60th birthday of this famous German accordion composer