Will Holshouser at Barbes

The Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International celebrated their 63rd Anniversary during an action packed weekend of music, competitions, performances and workshops at their annual convention which was held in the Chicago area.

Four outstanding concerts featured such guest artists as former ATG Champion and Nashville recording star Jeff Lisenby, Jazz Legend Frank Marocco, Chicago Jazz accordionist John Simkus, (pictured left) the UMKC Community Accordion Orchestra under the direction of Joan C. Sommers, Italian concert accordionist and director of the Scandalli Accordion Factory Mirco Patarini (pictured right), Trio Bez Ime ensemble featuring Dee Langley and The "K" Trio minus one.

Other performers included: Joanna and Stan Darrow, Tony Lovello, Igor Zavadsky from Kiev, the Star-Sera duo of John Simkus and Stas Venglevski, The KC Seven. In addition to the scheduled performers, several contestants from the competitions were selected by the adjudicators to perform on the concert including "The Stars of Tomorrow" (left) from the International School of Music in Chicago under the direction of Peter Giacalone and Barbara Slechter, Samantha and Christine Jarquio and Shanxi Upsdell from UMKC Conservatory of Music under Joan Sommers and Andrea Caruso from Dearborn, Michigan a student of Lana Gore.

A highlight of the annual convention is the Festival Orchestra which was this year under the baton of UMKC Community Accordion Orchestra director Joan Sommers, Janet Millard the musical director of the Concord Symphony Orchestra in Milwaukee and conductor of the Auckland Symphony Orchestra in New Zealand Gary Daverne. The orchestra performed several times during the festival including at a cameo appearance at the Arlington Race Track which opened the days racing. (pictured below)



Several competitions were held including some which qualify the contestants to enter the CIA Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships in Slovakia and Hungary in October. (The ATG held two categories on behalf of their sister organization The New Zealand Accordion Association (NZAA). The contestant is a New Zealand citizen residing in the United States, so this competition was held on behalf of the NZAA to serve as a qualification round to represent New Zealand in the Coupe Mondiale.)

• Christine Jarqueo, Junior Virtuoso Competition
• Andrea Caruso, Junior Coupe Mondiale
• Shanxi Upsdell, Junior Virtuoso Competition (New Zealand)
• Shanxi Upsdell, International Competition for Piano Accordion (New Zealand)
  

The UMKC Community Accordion Orchestra presented an dazzling performance of pieces from the new award winning movie "Chicago" arranged by ATG Board Member Liz Finch. Complete with singer Whitney Nashville star Jeff Lisenby presented an exciting concert with many styles of music including Country, Scottish, Cajun music with his outstanding accordion work being complimented by violin, rhythm section and vocalists. The audience rewarded the electric performance with a standing ovation, and just when the everyone thought they had heard it all, Jazz legend Frank Marocco brought the audience to their feet again with his show that included many popular Jazz favorites both solo and with the backing band.

The Saturday Orchestra Extravaganza Concert featured the ATG Festival Orchestra performing under the direction of Joan C. Sommers, Janet Millard and Gary Daverne. Among the compositions performed was "Pocket Overture" composed by Gary Daverne which won the 1993 ATG Composition Competition. As an encore, the 50 piece orchestra stood and played 'Chicago' as a tribute to Joan Sommers and her work for the ATG. (Pictured above is Janet Millard rehearsing the Festival Orchestra.)

After the Festival Orchestra portion of the concert, the audience was treated to a program of three accordion concertos with the Concord Symphony Orchestra from Milwaukee. The featured soloists were Kevin Friedrich performing Gem of the Kaipara by Gary Daverne, Lidia Kaminska performing Concerto Classico by Przybylski and Stas Venglevski performing the Concerto No. 2 by Anthony Galla-Rini. Each of the soloists received a standing ovation during this rare evening of accordion concertos. (Pictured are conductor Gary Daverne, Janet Millard, soloist Stas Venglevski (incoming ATG President), conductor and immediate Past ATG President Joan Sommers and soloist Kevin Friedrich.)

During the festival many workshops were given on diverse subjects such as The Music of Astor Piazzolla, Wild and Crazy Rhythms of Eastern Europe, Quebecois Accordion Music, What is Expected of the "Session Player", The Importance of Teaching Left Hand Free Bass, and a panel moderated by Kevin Friedrich on "What is Important for the Accordion Arranger to Know" with panelists Gary Daverne, Joan Sommers, Jeff Lisenby, Liz Finch and Stas Venglevski. There were also exhibits and displays by Ernest Deffner Publications, Pancordion, PanItalia, Pigini Accordion, Titano Accordions, Paul Leonard and his Accordion Jewelry as well as the ATG Displays.

At the conclusion of the Awards Ceremony and Concert, the formal handing over of the Presidency from Joan Sommers to Stas Venglevski took place, followed by the Festival Orchestra under the direction of Gary Daverne playing the official ATG March, the Paragon March by ATG President Emeritus Anthony Galla-Rini.

The Lark In The Morning World Music & Dance Celebration 2003 Lark Camp will be held from August 1st to 9th in the Mendocino Woodlands State Park, a National Historic Landmark built in the 1930s, nestled in 700 acres of redwood trees, ferns, and glades along both sides of the Little North Fork of the Big River in Northern California, near the coastal village of Mendocino.

The event will include a variety of workshops including English Concertina (Joel Bernstein), Cajun Accordion & Cajun Songs (Joel Breaux), High Tech Reed Making (Casey Burns), Galician Accordion, Percussion and Reedmaking (Alexandre Cadarso), Anglo System Concertina In The Irish Style, Irish Flute & Whistle (Jack Gilder), Tex Mex Conjunto, Tex Mex Button Accordion, Mexican Songs (Miguel Govea), Tex Mex/Colombian Button Accordion (Rene Peña Govea), Reed Making, Irish Songs (Peter Heelan), Piano Accordion, Accordion Jam, Tango, Musette And Old Time Tunes For Piano Accordion (Dan Newton - Daddy Squeeze), Button Accordion (John Paul) and French Music & Button Accordion (Vickie Yancy).

For further details phone: +1 707 964 4826

Winner of the 2002 CIA Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships Alexander Poeluev (Russia) will appear as a special International guest artist in Philadelphia as part of the American Accordionists Association Celebration, then on July 13th at White Recital Hall on the UMKC Campus in Kansas City, followed by concerts in Chicago and Milwaukee.

Alexander won the 2002 Confederation Internationale des Accordeonistes (CIA) 55th Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championship hosted by the Danske Harmonikaspilleres Landsforbund (DHL) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

While different CIA categories have been won in subsequent years when Jerome Richard won the Virtuoso Entertainment Category (1997) and then the Coupe Mondiale (1999), Alexander became the first contestant to ever win two categories in the same year - the "Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships" and "International Competition for Piano Accordion".

Alexander, a student of Viatcheslav Semionov recently appeared as a guest artist at the Australian Accordion Teachers Association National Festival in Sydney, Australia and the New Zealand Accordion Association Championships and Festival held in Auckland, New Zealand.

The San Francisco Free Folk Festival will be held this month in San Francisco. The event will include a variety of performances and workshops. Performers include "Tipsy House" (with concertina player Jack Gilder) and "Dogwatch" which includes Claire Norman (concertina, Appalachian dulcimer, Irish harp and guitar), Craig Johnson (accordion, piano and guitar), Gary Keep (concertina, mandolin, penny whistle and guitar), Robert Hill (banjo, violin, mandolin and guitar) and Roger Bramble (harmonica).

The festival workshops include Concertina by Riggy Rackin, Beginning Button Accordion by Paul Kostka and Piano Accordion by Art Peterson. For information e-mail: info@sffolkfest.org

Accordionist Jon Hammond performed live on Radio KCSM this week with music director Jesse "Chuy" Varela in San Mateo, California. Jon talked about his life, career and new CD "Hammond's Bolero". In addition tracks from this CD were played including "Six Year Itch", "Jennifer's Song" and "Soon I Will Be Free".

Earlier Jon also entertained to a full house at Laguna Honda Hospital and at the Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco with Jimi James (guitar).

Keeping a busy schedule, Jon recently did a gig Laguna Honda Hospital to a full house and the night before at San Francisco's Irish Cultural Center with guitarist Jimi James.

Argentinean bandoneonist, Norberto Vogel will play in San Francisco from July 4th to 12th with the local tango group "Notable Tango Trio" (bandoneon, piano & contrabass). The group will perform traditional tangos as part of "Nora´s tango week".

Norberto Vogel was born in Buenos Aires in 1972. He started studying the piano at the age of four, and later he went on to study with the greatest maestros in his country, such as Beatriz Tabares, Santiago Giacobbe, Hector Zeoli, Pedro Aguilar, taking subjects like classic piano and jazz, musical theory, harmony, counterpoint, dodecaphonism, composition, etc.

After Norberto had won a scholarship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he continued his studies in 1991 at the famous Rubin Academy of Music & Dance, where he specialized in the piano, arrangements and composition of jazz and contemporary music, obtaining the degrees of "Bachelor" and "Master of Music". In 1999 he returned to Buenos Aires, where he began his studies of the bandoneon with the Maestro Nestor Marconi and he formed the trio Hombres de Tango (Men of Tango) as a bandoneon player and arranger.

Vogel is the pianist, co-founder and arranger of the "Quinteto Tipico de Buenos Aires" (bandoneon, guitar, violin, double bass and piano), where he performs a repertoire of classics with arrangements of his own. www.quintetotipico.com.ar

As a pianist, he participated in the "Juan Carlos Sabatino's Sextet", with whom he played in the Festival of Tango 2001 in the city of Buenos Aires, rubbing shoulders with the great orchestras such as "Sexteto Mayor", "Beba Pugliese Orchestra", "Susana Rinaldi", etc.

Since he returned to Argentina, he has had an intense activity including presentations at the Salon Dorado of the House of Culture, the Cafe Tortoni, recitals on the FM Radio "de la Ciudad", appearances on the Channel Solo Tango, Confiteria Ideal, El Living, Bambalinas Theatre, Petit Avenida, Pleyades, Plaza Dorrego (San Telmo), as well as in private parties, accompanying singers and dance couples.

From his experience in the European "milongas" in February of 2002 (Zurich, Lugano, Bologna and Torino), Vogel formed the quartet of bandoneon, violin, piano and double bass, called "Milongueros Viejos", which is oriented towards the repertory that made Tango famous in the forties. www.milonguerosviejos.com.ar

On September 2002 he toured throughout United States (San Francisco) with different tango projects. And toured with his quartet "Milongueros viejos" throughout Australia on November 2002 on stages like "Melbourne National Theater", etc.

Currently, Norberto Vogel is a professor at some renowned Institutes of Musical Education such as the EMBA (Escuela de Musica de Buenos Aires) "School of Music l of Buenos Aires", where he is Chief of the Department of "Musical Appreciation" and of "Technology applied to Music".

Norberto Vogel makes musical arrangements for various groups in Argentina as well as in Puerto Rico, UK, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and many other countries.

He participates in various musical projects, recordings and independent productions in his own studio

For further details e-mail: norbi@vogel.com.ar

"Cerronato" entertained at a concert to raise funds for 3 year old Alexandria Rosalez who has leukemia. The concert will be held at Red's Scoot Inn in Austin. The band plays a variety of Colombian music.

For details e-mail: mike_maddux@rocketmail.com

Marie and Martin Reilly are two of the most outstanding young Irish musicians in the United States. They are first generation Irish Americans, born and raised in the Whitestone area of Queens just 15 minutes by car from downtown Manhattan.

Marie plays the fiddle and Martin the accordion. They have both been playing since their early teens. They began their Irish music careers with lessons in Brooklyn with the late Maureen Glynn, one of the most important figures in late 20th century Irish music in America. At the time Maureen was married to the great Kerry fiddler Johnny Cronin, who passed away far too soon in 1991. Johnny’s exuberant style, which in many ways mirrored his good natured, extrovert personality, rubbed off on Marie. Under Johnny’s influence she developed a tremendous swing and drive in her playing energized by a powerful bow hand.

Martin was attracted to the accordion from a very young age. He was exposed at a young age to a constant diet of traditional music much of it accordion playing from master musicians like Joe Burke, John Bowe and Billy McComiskey. After taking formal lessons from Maureen Glynn he later began to develop his own style as he listened to some of the outstanding young players in the tradition on both sides of the Atlantic.

Martin and Marie acknowledge a major musical debt to legendary figures in the Irish music scene in New York -- the likes of fiddlers Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds and flute players Jack Coen and Mike Rafferty. Another major source of support and inspiration came, when they were first starting to appear out on the scene, from Irish fiddle and banjo player and music activist Don Meade who has run the famed concert series at the Blarney Star for over a decade in Lower Manhattan.

Martin has also performed with Riverdance. He has toured nationally with the Aoife Clancy Band, the Eileen Ivers Band and the Green Fields of America. I’ve done a lot of concerts with him myself over the past three years. He has also been a featured performer in sessions with scores of Irish musicians in the New York area over the past five years. Remarkably in between all the gigs he managed to complete an undergraduate degree in New York University. The Reillys carry on a tradition of Irish American excellence that is now three generations in the making. It began in the 1970s with musicians like Kathleen Collins, Liz Carroll, Bill McComiskey and Jimmy Keane and continued in the 1980s with the likes of Seamus Egan, Joannie Madden and Eileen Ivers and with scores of other talented musicians. Now at the beginning of another century the Reillys’ star is on the rise. This debut CD, in which they are joined by distinguished accompanists and guest musicians including their father Martin, is a wonderful first recording, featuring an eclectic repertoire of highlands, hornpipes, barn dances, Appalachian music and of course jigs and reels -- a mixture which reflects their exposure to top musicians of all ages on both sides of the Atlantic. There are grand traditional tunes such as Old As the Hills a great favorite of flute player Jack Coen, a unique setting of the complex turn of the century dance piece Kitty O'Neil's Champion Jig, old barn dances from Donegal named after the late fiddler and accordion player Mick Carr, and closer to home, tunes learned from fellow musicians, from their father and from their mentor Maureen Glynn.

Their CD include the following tracks, and is available from Music Stores or Amazon.com

Calon Lan
Declan Rourke's Reels
Dry and Dusty
Jimmy Lyons' / Lorca's Reel
John Brennan's / P.J. King's
Kitty O'Neil's Champion Jig
Maureen O'Loughlin's / The Opera Reel / Miss McDonald
Mick Carr's Barndances / Sean Hayes'
Old as the Hills /Sean Ryan's / Scartaglen Jig
Sean Parnell's / Donegal Reel / Billy's
Stack the Rags / Mary McMahon of Ballynahinch
The House of Hamill / Karen Tweed's
The Woods of Old Limerick / Nora's Kitchen

The American Accordionists Association 65th Anniversary Festival will pay tribute to past AAA National Champions at their "Salute to the Stars" during the annual Competition and Festival to be held in Philadelphia from July 9-13, 2003.

In addition there will be a Polka Fest Competition offering $1500.00 First prize, $500.00 Second Prize and $250.00 Third Prize.

The festival will also feature current CIA World Accordion Champion and winner of the newly established International Competition for Piano Accordion - Alexander Poeluev as well as Eddie Monteiro, Tony Dannon & Joe Cerrito, The "K" Trio, The Busso Trio, The Stereo Strings with Lou Coppola, Tony Lovello and the Accordion Pops Orchestra conducted by Dan Desiderio.

The Festival will include workshops, exhibits, concerts, competitions as well as an outdoor performance of the AAA Festival Orchestra at Liberty Square in downtown Philadelphia.

Will Holshouser Trio featuring Ron Horton on trumpet, David Phillips on bass and Will Holshouser on accordion performed at Barbes in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Will Holshouser plays accordion with David Krakauer, popular NYC band Brock Mumford and with the Raymond Scott Orchestrette. He has also worked with Phillip Johnston, Andy Statman, Michael Hashim, Lenny Pickett, Soozie Tyrell, and many others. Ron Horton is known for his work with Andrew Hill, the Jazz Composers Collective, the Herbie Nichols Project, Jane Ira Bloom, and many others as well as his own CD "Genius Envy." David Phillips tours with his own band, Freedance, who just released their second CD, "Prayer."

A student of Dr. William Schimmel, Will keeps busy with jazz, classical, and theater gigs in New York City.

Bad Renaissance people are people who are bad for good reason, people who are possessed by more than one vision, charmingly unfocused people who like to "see in the dark," people whose journeys are dictated by the whims of the accordion, constantly reinventing the wheel and themselves, to be there for the show, yet to be seen at the same time, serious people, party people, healthy minds, sick souls, burned out bodies yet still moving on, moving on in every unpromising direction, loving every excruciating moment. Could this be you? Could it? Do you fit?

If you do, then come to our Bad Renaissance Fair. Leave your crumhom and cheese dip at home. We're using accordions here.

Composer/author/philosopher/accordionist Dr. William Schimmel will curate and moderate the ninth smash year of this esteemed Master Class and Concert Series sponsored by the American Accordionists' Association. If you don't fit, come anyway. Dr Schimmel is no longer the Artist in Residence. He's now the Lecturer in Residence. He understands! Topics will include: The Accordion Rebirth: A Luddite Affair; Guido D'Arezzo's Other Hand; The Unfocused Age; How to Play Goth Accordion in One Terrifying Lesson (I Bite You!); Was Landini the first accordion virtuoso because he played the portative or because he was blind? Should "Edelweiss" be required learning for all accordionists - or should it be eliminated? Can one play early music on the accordion without breaking into Lady of Spain?

What's the difference between Monteverdi and Montovani? Is there a difference? ...and much more. Kamala Sankram will make her accordion a virtual sitar to accompany her vocalise and will sing Billy Strayhorn's Lush Life in Hindi; Benjamin Ikies will show us the benefits of Jack Daniels straight up, no chaser; the bright side of failing and the benefits of macaroni and cheese; Allyssa Lamb will teach youngsters how to be artistic right before our very eyes; Paul Stein will explain why we don't need new works all that much (the significance of the old); Dr. Robert Young McMahan will explain why he thinks that we do (the significance of the new); Micki Goodman will choreograph a new work to Praetorius on Accordions; Dr. Schimmel will present his Farnaby Variations using the cross-town bellow pleated bus as an example; Rembert Block will present a new work on infidelity and dying; Micki Goodman will direct a revival of The Dolls by Dr. Schimmel, a medieval cantata based on Valley of the Dolls starring Kathleen Goodman; Dr. Mark Birbaum will put the devil (musica diabolus) back into music where it belongs in a new work: No Sympathy; Will Holshouser will play new jazz oriented compositions using early music as psychomotor development; Drs. McMahan and Schimmel will perform AAA commissioned works by Henry Cowell, Otto Luening and their own works as well; David First will explore Alpha/Theta brainwave function in relation to the accordion: other oarticioants will include: Elsie M. Bennett; David Stoler, composer; Godfrey Nelson and Lorraine Nelson-Wolf (grunge artists); Faithe Deffner; Frank Busso; Rita Davidson; Ray Rue and Christina Spelligene.

Marni Rice will show us the relationship between Kurt Weill's Nanna's Leid and Schubert's Ave Maria; Waiter Kuhr will give us an update on Hildegaard's The Virtues; Micki Goodman will unveil the third segment of her ontological film: The Unforgivable Sin. This segment will use Dr. Schimmel's 1971 masterpiece, Parousia as the soundtrack, hence the same title of the film. Dr. Schimmel will also discuss the Reality of Burnout and hence its negative connotation, will discuss its useful and valuable dimensions. He will follow it up with a work about burnout entitled: World Weary! Micki will also follow this segment up with a fitness seminar Burnout: Dealing With It! The "K" Trio will explain "how they do it" along with a new array of early music inspired transitions and transcriptions.

There will be a staged reading of Holbein in New York, a seantic drama by George W.S. Trow and William Schimmel; a long-form version of Lady of Spain complete with a set of far-fetched variations; a Landini cadence will be reversed, stretched, turned into Rai and Berber and turned back again to Landini; the bass accordion will become a medieval organ; the regular accordion will become a virtual lute and finally the virtual lute will give way to a seminar on how to literally earn loot. Our credo.... pluralistic vision means many or all choice(s). All choice is no choice or no vision. The vision of no vision is the best vision. Pluralism = chaos = good chaos.

Welcome to the Bad Renaissance! No vision people are bad Renaissance people! Mercenaries by choice! Missionaries by nature! Messian by day! Tangueros by night! If working for others ne'er be uptight! Believe in this with all of your might! And you'll be a Bad Renaissance person!

The event will take place at the Tenri Cultural Institute of New York, 43 West 13th Street between 5th & 6th Avenues. Master Classes 3:00 p.m. Concerts 7:00 p.m. Reservations & Information (212) 876-0827 or the AAA Office (201) 991-2233.

Chubby Carrier will be performing all the United States in July with shows in IL, WI, KS, LA, MN, NE, IA and MO.

Chubby is undeniably "The World's Premier Zydeco Showman." Born on July 1, 1967 in Churchpoint, Louisiana, Chubby is the third generation of zydeco artists with such famous relatives as Roy Carrier (father), Warren Carrier (grandfather), and cousins Bebe and Calvin Carrier who are presently considered legends in zydeco history.

Chubby began his musical career at the age of 12 by playing drums with his father's band. He began playing the accordian at the age of 15. By age 17, Chubby had begun to play with Terrance Siemien and toured the world for 2 1/2 years, before forming his own band in 1989.

Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band have recorded five CDs over the past ten years of Chubby's professional career. His band has traveled all over the world, performing to audiences in all parts of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, Canada. North Africa and Europe.

Chubby and the band travel 150-175 days a year, taking his act to big festivals such as the New Orlenas Jazz Fest, the Chicago Blues Fest. Summerfest (Milwaukee), Memphis in May, and several festivals in Europe. Chubby has also been invited to play on different albums such as 6Was9, an alternative group from Europe, Tab Benoit's blues album and Jimmy Thackery's blue album. Ann Wilson of the group Heart encourages Chubby to "continue the great sound that you have. This sound will take you places."

For exact dates and performance times, please visit www.chubbycarrier.com