The Coupe Jeunesse, an international competition for young accordion soloists, will take place as a part of the International Accordion Festival and Workshops organised by Marta Szokeová, under the auspices of the CIA, from October 5th to October 9th in Dunajská Streda, Slovakia.
The one round competition is open to accordionists of all nationalities in three categories: A: under 14 years, B: under 17 years, C: under 21 years. The participants must compete with music originally written for accordion (maximum duration A/15, B/25, C/35 minutes), one piece must represent the home country of the competitor. The competitor is not allowed to play any piece from last year’s program and the participants in category A may read music.
The international jury is composed of world-renowned artistes and teachers. The application form, one passport photography and a short curriculum must be sent to the Competition Secretary by July 31st 2007. Contact: Marta Szokeová, Methodical Centre of Accordion, Bratislava State Conservatory, Tolsteho 11, 811 06 Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
The International Accordion Music Festival 'From Baroque to Jazz', is a long running series of events, including competitions, concerts and master classes, that takes place in Wroclaw and Brzeg from April 20th to November 25th. The organiser is Olexiy Suslov.
An accordion contest, scheduled for November 22nd to 25th, includes five categories. The contest jury chairman is Bogdan Dowlasz, Professor at the Lodz Musical Academy, a distinguished composer, accordionist and lecturer. The November contest also includes a concert featuring prominent prizewinning accordionists Eneasz Kubit and Oleksandr Khrustevich.
The festival is held under the joint patronage of the Lower Silesia Region Speaker and the General Consulate of the Austrian Republic in Krakow.
For the first time, MusicforAccordion.com enables the medium to advanced accordionist not only to listen to great accordion music, but also to play it by himself by issuing nearly all the compositions on the new CD ‘Accordion mon Amour’ in print. Many of these great pieces are now for sale as sheet music advertised in the MusicForAccordion.com online catalogue.
Yehuda Oppenheimer dedicated this new CD to Harley Jones "whose whole life is dedicated to ‘Accordion mon Amour’". Also, not to forget Holda Paoletti-Kampl, the driving person in keeping us informed of so many accordion activities in the world. For her, Yehuda Oppenheimer wrote the very appropriate piece called ‘Perpetum Mobile’.
Unwell Owen Murray Postpones London Concert, Copenhagen – Denmark
Contributed by Romano Viazzani
Unfortunately Owen Murray suffered a mild heart attack on Wednesday June 6th and has had to postpone his concert scheduled for June 8th at the Wigmore Hall, London, as the doctor has ordered complete rest. Owen will rearrange this concert as soon as he is well again. Accordionists everywhere will all wish him a speedy recovery.
Not only the accordion seems to be in good hands – but also Carlotta Maria, born on Monday May 28th, feels secure in the hands of his father, accordionist and Professor Francesco Palazzo.
What will I have to learn first? Italian, English, German, Spanish or Russian by professional translator mother Claudia or the diatonic accordion by professional accordion player and Fismen Accordion Distributor Günther Lerch? “Well – I think, I will just have a good time first”.
Best wishes for this from Accordions Worldwide to Nicolas and his happy parents, born on the March 26th.
French accordionist Jean-Louis Noton gave a concert in at the Hernani Musika Eskola in northern Spain on May 25th, preceded by a master-class on the midi accordion for the students of Professor Joxan Goikoetxea.
An audience of 300 were transported by the magic of the accordion of Jean-Louis Noton.
The Orient House Ensemble, led by Israeli saxophonist Gilad Atzmon and featuring accordionist Romano Viazzani, performs at the Romanian Restaurant, 32 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7HS, on June 13th, at 9pm.
A concert featuring accordionist Yan Li - Peking, China, the Panflötenquartett Pan Tasti Co, featuring accordionist Roman Prüller, and the Akkordeon Ensembles – MD Hermine Kaleta, takes place on June 16th, 6pm, at the Volksheim GroB, Jedlersdorf 1210, SiemensstraBe 17, Vienna.
On June 14th accordionist Ian Watson performs with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, 7.30pm, in Prokofiev's '2nd Cantata' (for the October Revolution). This incredible work has 5 accordion parts and Eddie Hession, Mark Bousie, Karen Street and Tracy Goldsmith form the section.
The 4th KlezMORE Festival takes place at various venues in Vienna from June 25th until July 8th. Artistes featuring accordions include Mandy’s Mischpoche, Ensemble Klesmer Wien, Isle of Klezbos, Max Klezmer Band, Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird, Gojim, Lerner Y Moguilevsky Duo, Kohelet 3, Frank London & His Klezmer Pirates, and the 17 Hippies.
French accordionist Pascal Contet has the following dates in his diary for June:
June 9th, 10pm – appearance on TV France 3
13th, 6pm – Opéra, Lille
15th, 8am to 9am – appearance on Musique, Radio France
16th, 10.30pm – Theatre, St Quentin en Yvelines
21st, 22nd and 23rd, 10.30pm – Le Phoenix, Valenciennes
30th, Théâtre de La Criee, Festival de Marseille
Australian Accordion Teachers Association Daily Reports and Results from the Australian International Accordion Championships & Festival run by the AATA on 9th and 10th June.