Next was the Sunday night banquet, held at the Hyatt International Hotel in Auckland. Tickets for this were sold out. After the feast that was provided, everyone danced to the music of Grant "Yogi" Martin and Maurice Jones in what was a great social occasion that went well into Monday!

Wayne Knights

Emails to the Editor

AAA FESTIVAL, SHERATON CITY CENTRE HOTEL, WASHINGTON, DC, USA

Contributed by Faithe Deffner, President of the American Accordionists' Association

Due to spectacular promotional opportunities the American Accordionists' Association will hold the 1997 Competitions and Festival in the nation's capital - Washington, DC. The event is scheduled from Wednesday July 9th to Sunday July 13th and will open Wednesday evening with a media barrage called a "Press and Squeeze Party," followed by a press conference for members of national and international media.

AAA Festival participants will perform throughout Washington. Some events are being planned to include performances with instrument-playing government officials. Hundreds of accordionists will perform publicly as a massed band conducted by Joan Cochran Sommers on the Capitol steps Friday July 11th at noon.

In addition to competition and performance, a Tribute Concert and Testimonial Banquet in honour of eight accordion notables will take place on Friday and Saturday evenings, July 11th and 12th, respectively. Honourees are Maddalena Belfiore, Elsie Bennet, Carmen Carrozza, Lee (Pietro) Deiro, Aldo DeRossi, Anthony Ettore, Louis Iorio, Marcello Roviaro.

The event will include an Accordion Summit Meeting similar to that held in Houston at the 1995 Festival. The meeting will deal with developing the details for the "Launch an Accordion Star" campaign which has been conceived to promote the whole accordion community as a program to run from 1997 through to 1998.

Performers include a contingent of French musette players from the Institute Andre Thepaz, a prize-winning accordion orchestra from Denmark, a group of Chinese accordionists from the Music Conservatory of Sichuan and the US Army Strolling Strings featuring accordionist Manuel Bobenrieth, plus Tony Dannon, The "K" Trio, Eddie Monteiro, Carmelo Pino, Peter Soave, Mario Tacca and other great musicians.

Early reservations are prudent because the event promises to be a sellout. Room reservations should be made directly with the Sheraton City Centre Hotel, by calling + 1 202 775 0800 or toll free at 1 800 526 7495.

SOUTH PACIFIC & NEW ZEALAND ACCORDION CHAMPIONSHIPS

Contributed by Lionel Reekie

Both the South Pacific and New Zealand Accordion Championships and Festivals were held from the 30th of May to the 1st of June, in Auckland, New Zealand. There were well over 500 entries including entrants from New Zealand, Australia and China.

The top international class, with a first prize of $1,000 is open to international contestants who are from countries that border the Pacific Ocean. This year there were seven contestants, all of very high standard. They played two twenty minute own choice programmes.

On the Saturday evening the New Zealand Accordion Orchestra Championship was held. This prestigious class was won by first time entrant West Auckland Accordion Orchestra, (conducted by Erica Knights) with North Shore Accordiana and North Shore Musicale orchestras tied for second, only one mark behind. For many, this class was one highlight of the weekend's entertainment with competitors ranging in age from 11 years old to 70+.

The weekend culminated in a sell-out banquet dinner, with entertainment provided by Grant "Yogi" Martin and Maurice Jones. They had the dance floor packed all night long, with many people leaving well past midnight. It was a most fitting ending to a festive weekend, which has been said by many to be one of the most memorable.

South Pacific Championship Solo, 12 years and under

4th INTERNATIONAL ACCORDION COMPETITION IN TULA, RUSSIA

Contributed by Tatiana Lanchtchikova

The 4th International Accordion Competition "Beloborodov", was held from the 13th to 20th of May in the Concert Hall of the Tula Musical College, in Tula (a city in central Russia). The competition was co-organised by the Ministry of the Culture and Art Department and the Tula administration.

The competitors played both bayan and piano-accordion. They were all under 17 years of age and were from many different cities of Russia, Belarus, China and other countries.

The competition programme consisted of two sections. The first section consisted of one original piece by a Russian composer (18th to 20th century) and a virtuoso piece. In the second section, they had to play one piece of folk music and one work of cycle form (works by Scarlatti, Mozart).

The Jury included famous Russian teachers and performers: B. Egorov, Petr Marinov, N. Sevrjukov, Vladimir Soloviov, A. Kudriavtsev and E. Fedorov. The President of the Jury was Professor Viatcheslav Semionov.

Button Accordion, under 10 years

EUROPEAN TOUR BY THE KHARKOV BAYAN DUO

Contributed by Vladimir Besfamilnov

During the past few months, the Kharkov Bayan Duo from Kharkov, Ukraine, were on a concert tour in Europe, performing many concerts in Spain, France, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Norway. Their programme was of a wide variety; from classical to contemporary works.

The Kharkov Bayan Duo was founded in 1979 by Professor Vladimir Podgorny. The members of the Duo are Alexander Mistchenko and Igor Snedkov, both of whom post-graduated at the Russian Academy of Music with Professor Mikhail Imkhanitski.

In 1986 they received a diploma from the 3rd All-Russian Competition for folk instrument performers. In 1996 Kharkov Bayan Duo won the Duet section at the International Accordion Competition, Klingenthal, Germany.

ACCORDION IN CHILDREN'S DAY CELEBRATIONS IN SICHUAN, CHINA

Contributed by Wu Shou Zhi, President of the China Accordion Society

To celebrate Children's Day, on the 31st of May at 7.30 pm, about 400 students of the Xin-Xin Music School held a concert in an auditorium of the Sichuan Conservatory. There were many instruments playing a wide variety of music including pianos, violins, electronic organs and of course the accordion.

The accordion performance was by seven accordion students playing in an ensemble. They are all students of Mr Wu Shou Zhi.

The music they played was:

1. Flowers and Children
2. Hungarian Rhapsody No.5

ROSE CITY ACCORDION CLUB FEATURES IN PARADE - USA

Contributed by Morris LaVerne of The Rose City Accordion Club

The Rose City Accordion Club performed on a float in the Starlight Parade, held in Portland, Oregon. This is the second largest, lighted, night parade in the USA. There were more than one hundred entries in the parade representing various community groups and schools.

The RCAC float had twelve accordionists, six facing each side of the street playing a fifteen minute program, as they were towed through the downtown area of Portland. The parade route was one hour long. The event was also covered on Channel 12 TV who estimated the audience to be over 300,000.

The crowd was enthusiastic about seeing the accordion represented in the parade and cheered loudly. The players were from all over the Portland metropolitan area and from northwest Oregon and southwest Washington.

FRENCH ACCORDIONIST TO JOIN ORCHESTRA TOUR

Contributed by Claude Cavagnolo of Europe Musique Instruments

Laurent Michelotto has a promising future. Now 24 years of age, he began playing the accordion when he was aged 10, under the direction of his teacher Josiane Crepin. When still very young, he started performing and was noticed by Maurice Larcange. After numerous appearances on radio and television programs, he toured countries such as Spain, Ireland, Great Britain, Sweden and Finland and has since released two CD's.

Laurent Michelotto has just joined Tony Bram's big variety orchestra (consisting of 18 musicians), as an accordionist. With them he recently toured Switzerland and is leaving shortly for a tour to the Cote d'Azur in July and August, performing over 50 concerts with the orchestra.

AN ACCORDION CONCERT IN SICHUAN CONSERVATORY - CHINA

Contributed by Wu Shou Zhi, President of the China Accordion Society

On the 6th of June at 7.30pm, Ms Xi Lingling will hold an accordion solo concert in an auditorium of Sichuan Conservatory. Xi Lingling is an accordion student who studies at the Sichuan Conservatory, and her teacher is Ms Zhang Xiaobo, an accordion teacher at the Teacher-Training Department of the conservatory.

Highlights of the program are as follows:

1. Dark Eyes
2. Heilongjiang's Great Waves
3. Rumba
4. Paganini Variations

THE 27TH ACCORDION INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PULA, CROATIA

Contributed by Paolo Picchio

From the 22nd to the 25th of May the city of Pula was the City of the Accordion. The festival has been very successful, especially for the great interest shown by the locals, for the impeccable organisation of the O.K.U.D. Istria directed by Damir Buzleta, but most of all for the wonderful concerts in the programme. The only regret has been the scarce presence of foreign competitors, considering that 90% of them were either Croatian or Slovenian.

The Jury was formed by a 50% of Croats and a 50% by the following foreigners: Dimitriev and Skliarov from Russia, Balyk from Ukraina, Picchio and Gordini from Italy, Horak from the Czech Republic, Fabiano from France and Soave from U.S. The standard of the competitors was very good and in some categories there have been challenges of a very high level. The challenge in the Orchestra Category between the Italian orchestra "Luciano Fancelli", from the town of Terni, and the local orchestra "Mihovilic" was particularly exciting, with the Pula orchestra winning by only one mark.

There were also some very exciting concerts that featured the Orchestra GM Synthesis 4 from Trieste, directed by Maestro Claudio Furlan, the two Russian guests Alexander Dimitriev and Alexander Skliarov and, for the closing night, the first place winners in the competition. The Trieste orchestra (winner of the 1995 competition) began the opening night with the piece "Carnival" by Derbenko (requested as an encore) and performed other pieces also. The two soloists distinguished themselves for their great technique and velocity (Dimitriev), and as an outstanding musician, refined and exquisite performer of any original accordion repertoire (Skliarov).

TWO NEW INTERNET SITES

Contributed by Harley Jones

Accordions Worldwide, the largest accordion internet site in the world, have designed two new internet sites over the past week:

Borsini Accordions
Borsini are one of the most well known brands of accordion, that are manufactured in Castelfidardo, Italy. They have a wide range of the latest Piano and Button Accordions, with the top accordion featuring seven chin switches! You can visit their site at: www.accordions.com/borsini

Maurice Jones
Maurice Jones is one of New Zealand's leading accordion entertainers. He has performed on many international stages all over the world, including guest appearances at some of the leading international competitions. He has also performed many times with some of New Zealand's leading rock bands. You can read more about Maurice at: www.accordions.com/mjones

EMAILS (ACCORDION TO THE EDITOR)

Subject: email addresses

Hi,

I very much enjoy your pages. I am an accordionist from Bristol England. I am new to the Internet. Please could you tell me how I can find e-mail addresses of other accordionists to correspond with. Thanks again for your super pages of information.

Jack Beecroft

Firstly, thanks for your kind words. People that have an email address have it listed in the Accordion Yellow Pages Database. If they don't have an email address, it either means that they simply don't have one or we don't have the information listed. Sometimes the email address is not directly on the screen, but you can "slew" to the right and find more contact details, including someone's email address.

I hope this helps. If you have any further questions, please let me know. Welcome to the internet, and Accordions Worldwide. Glad to have you on board!

Yours musically,

Wayne Knights
Accordions Worldwide

Subject: Buy and sell ad

I put an ad for a Hohner accordion on the web page, but it is no longer for sale. I can't find how to remove it. Could you remove it for me?

Thanks,

Ed Delany

No problem, I'll have it removed today for you. Thanks for using our service, and letting me know!

Best regards,

Wayne Knights
Accordions Worldwide

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