Keyboard Magazine profiles Accordionist

LOUISE ANN GABBANELLI, passed away September 1, 2008 at age 68 from liver and kidney failure. She is survived by her three children; Joey, Michael, and Mary Gabbanelli; beloved sister Joan Morales; devoted best friend of 50 years Margaret Mandola; three grandchildren; and many dearly loved friends who will miss her. Together with her late husband, John Gabbanelli (1937 - 2003), Louise dedicated over thirty years to initiate a family owned business for her children.

Louise was a role model for others through her courage, her willingness to try new things, and her fortitude. Anyone who knew Louise was blessed as there was no one more selfless, loving, fun, and a loyal protector until the end.

Visitation will be held from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at Forest Park Westheimer Funeral home with a Rosary at 7:00 pm.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11:00 am on Thursday, September 4, 2008 at Holy Family Catholic Church, 1510 Fifth St., Missouri City, TX, 77489 with Rev. Sonny Joseph celebrant. Rite of Committal will follow at Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery.

After more than nine years of producing the Accordion USA United States National Accordion News, my last publication will be the January 2009 edition, coinciding with my new increased work based commitments in other areas.

We hope that someone will be able to continue this free service to the accordion community, which will be entering its 10th Anniversary year, and interested persons should contact the Owner and Manager of Accordions Worldwide Mr. Harley Jones (e-mail listed below) to express interest.

Various tasks involved include, but are not limited to:

• News Items: gathering, soliciting, researching, coordinating and editing all news items
• Pictures: taking, finding and requesting all pictures, including formatting, resizing and editing such graphics. Assistance from AWW staff can be provided with graphics and web page making if necessary
• Articles: researching and publishing articles
• Upkeep: keeping information on longstanding items such as contact details for Clubs and Associations across the USA as current as possible
• General: inserting links as appropriate, as well as various other duties, while publishing the USA News on a monthly basis
  

We will offer as much assistance as possible to ensure that a transition to a new producer will run smoothly, and if you have any queries regarding the possibility of taking over this news site or are interested in taking on this job, please e-mail: harleyaccordion @yahoo.com

Three International Competitions were held during the festival with results as follows:

• AAA International Piano Accordion Competition
  1st Prize - $3,500.00: Not Awarded
  2nd Prize - $1,000.00: Nie Qian (China)
  3rd Prize - $500.00: Anthony Falco (USA)
  
  
• AAA Vivian Vivio Stolaruk International Entertainment Competition
  1st Prize - $3,000.00: Jeremie Buirette (France)
  2nd Prize - $1,500.00: Nie Qian (China)
  3rd Prize - $500.00: Anthony Falco (USA)
  
  
• AAA Maddalena Belfiore Entertainment Competition for Female Accordionists
  1st Prize - $1,000.00: Nie Qian (China)
  2nd Prize - $500.00: Danielle Renzi (USA)
  3rd Prize - $350.00: Sun Liqin (China)
  4th Prize - $150.00: no entrant

In addition to the competitions and workshops, the festival featured several artists including AAA Board Member and concert artist Mary Tokarski with pianist Dessie Vaughan, jazz artist Joe Cerrito as well as the AAA Board of Directors Ensemble and the AAA 70th Anniversary Festival Orchestra. International guest artist Alexander Poeluev from Russia received several standing ovations and encores for his spectacular performance.

Workshops included: Charles Magnante - His Life and Recordings by Ray Oreggia, Music of the Val Taro Musette by Dominic Karcic, A Multi-Media Presentation of Accordion and AAA Memorabilia by Joan Grauman, The Accordion in the Symphony Orchestra from Tchaikovsky to the Present by Dr. Robert Young McMahan.

Last minute plans are being made for the 2008 Las Vegas International Accordion Convention to be held in Las Vegas at the Gold Coast Hotel from September 29 - October 2.

The convention includes:

• Monday afternoon we begin with Registration from 2-5 PM, including a Welcoming reception. That evening we will have a Las Vegas Style Buffet followed by the Welcome Dinner Concert at 8 PM.
• Tuesday through Thursday – each day begins with a full morning of workshops. At noon we break for lunch and entertainment. Then it’s back to workshops and master classes until 5 PM. At 6:30 each evening, the doors open, Dinner is served at 7 PM, and a fantastic concert follows. Later, more music and dancing are just a few steps away in the after- hours hot spot – Club Concerto.
• Thursday evening is our Grand Finale Concert featuring the International Accordion Orchestra with Prime Rib dinner!

Seven meals, seven concerts, all special events and classes are included, with Single Attendance priced at $465 and Couple Attendance at $795. Evening-Only Options are available - contact us for details! The convention offers a special Room Rate ONLY $59 per night!

Attendees can enjoy the reasonable convention hotel rate of just $59 per night per room if reservations are made before August 29. Reservations can be made by calling 1-888-402-6278 and saying you are with the Accordion Convention (outside the USA +01-702-367-7111).

For more information or to register for the event call 1-800-472-1695 (outside the USA +01 801-486-1695) or visit our website at www.AccordionStars.com where you may make room reservations directly online and also download registration forms.

Dr. William Schimmel will perform Domenic Argento's Valentino Dances with the Nashville Symphony on September 11, 12 and 13 at the new Schermerhorn Center under the direction of their newly appointed musical director, Giancarlo Guerrero.

Dr. Schimmel is no stranger to this piece, having performed it on tour with the Minnesota Orchestra and recorded it with them on Reference Records. He also performed this work with the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the Eugene Symphony in Eugene, Oregon.

Valentino Dances is a ten minute showpiece - adapted from his full length opera, The Dream of Valentino - about Rudolph Valentino, the movie star and tango dancer of 1920's Hollywood. Brilliantly conceived and elegantly orchestrated, it leaves plenty of room for Dr. Schimmel's tango expertise through embellishment, phrasing, ornamentation and cadenzas.

Domenic Argento grew up in Baltimore, Md - but later became the official composer of the state of Minnesota. He won the Pulitzer prize in 1975. Although Argento is twenty years Schimmel's senior - they both share two common traits: they both studied composition with the great opera composer Hugo Weisgall and ear training with Mme. Rene Longy. Argento was also an accordionist in his early years. Also on the same program as the main feature with be flutist Sir James Galway.

Concert Billing on the Nashville Symphony Orchestra website is as follows:

Nashville Symphony
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor (above right)
Sir James Galway, flute (right)
William Schimmel, accordion (below right)

Dominick Argento -  Valentino Dances
Ibert -  Concerto for Flute
Bizet/Borne -  Carmen Fantasy
Respighi -  Roman Festivals

Flute-legend James Galway's golden tone has enthralled audiences across the world. He showcases two French flute masterpieces: Ibert's cherished Concerto and Bizet's beloved Carmen Fantasy. Seductive tangos in Valentino Dances evoke the magnetic charisma of film star Rudolph Valentino while the kaleidoscopic finale of Respighi's Roman Festivals brings the concert to a glorious finish.

Featured Instruments:
Accordion
Flute

For more information on tickets and location, please visit the: www.nashvillesymphony.org

The town of Philipsburg, Montana again played host to the Rocky Mountain Accordion Celebration. The event took place on August 1st and 2nd. An international collection of accomplished accordion musicians came from all over the US and Canada to share their music and benefit the local schools music department.

Headlining the event was Mario Padone, of Sugarland, Texas, and Richard Theiss (right) of Vancouver, BC, with guest performances by Bev Fess of Alberta, Canada, and Sam Thomas of Cheney, Washington. Musicians of all kinds and levels of expertise jammed together throughout the two-day event. All who attended had a good time, and a generous donation was given to inspire and motivate young musicians.

In summation, this was a thrilling , engaging, moving accordion event that brought people together to share the music they love, renew old acquaintances and make new ones. The event will be held again next year the first weekend in August 2009.

For further information e-mail: quigleybb@yahoo.com

The Victor Prieto Trio + One performed at Smoke in New York City on August 20th with Chris Cheek - sax, Carlo de Rosa - bass, and Henry Cole - drums and Victor Prieto - accordion and gaita Gallega (Galician bagpipe).

Victor will be performing at OLEA in Brooklyn, New York on September 3 and 10 at 8:00 PM, and at Bates College in Maine on the 26th of September.

Victor Prieto was born in Orense (Spain) in 1975. At the age of nine encouraged by his mother Victor begun to play the accordion. He pursued his studies in Classical accordion at the Orense Conservatory (Spain), while taking harmony, arranging and improvisation classes at Estudio Escola de Musica (Santiago de Compostela, Spain). After receiving a scholarship by the highly respected Jazz school- Berklee College of Music- Victor decided to pursue the performance major under the direction of Joanne Brackeen. Victor is the first and only of his kind, to specialize and apply studies in Accordion at Berklee College of Music. During his stay at Berklee Victor becomes friends with one of his mentors, Oscar Stagnaro.

In 2002 Victor moved to New York where he quickly established himself as one of the most prolific and versatile accordionists on the music and Jazz scenes. As a leader Victor has performed at many prestigious venues and events such as Berklee Performance Center, Lincoln Center, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Blue Note NY, New Jersey Performance Art Center, Three Rivers Musical Festival, Williamsburg Jazz Festival, Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center.

Victor has shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma, Jeff Ballard, Chris Cheek, Paquito D’Rivera, Donny McCaslin, Carlo DeRosa, Lionel Louke among others and is involved in projects such as Pablo Aslan’s Avantango, Emilio Solla’s NY Jazz Tango Project, Alexis Cuadrado’s Trio Iberico and Fernando Otero X Tango.

He teaches Master Classes in Spain, Italy, Portugal, USA and has headed the jazz accordion studies at the Brooklyn Conservatory (2003 – 2004). He is a recipient of numerous awards and prizes for excellence in accordion performance and composition, among them are: the Creative Performer award from the Spanish Association of Artists and Performers, and the first prize at CMZK’s Concourse of Composition (Argentina).

Victor now lives in New York City dividing his time between performing, teaching and recording. He has recently introduced his new CD, "PERSISTENCIA", Foxhaven Records.

For further information please contact Victor Prieto at: e-mail: vpcruz@gmail.com

The Internet is changing the way your customers are searching for services. The days of lugging out a 12 lb. telephone book to find very limited and outdated business information are coming to an end. People are still letting their fingers do the walking, but they're doing it over a computer keyboard. Below are some revealing facts from the Kelsey Group.

• 74% of US households use the Internet as an information source when shopping.
• Approximately 45% of searches had a buying intent.
• The percentage of respondents who used yellow page directories decreased from 75% to 62%.

(If you have a printed yellow page ad, it is time to consider buying a smaller ad and shifting your marketing dollars to the Internet.) The off-line Yellow Pages see the writing on the wall and are scrambling to transfer their business model to the Internet.

Businesses can no longer ignore these facts. If you want to be successful, you must have a presence where your customers are searching. Being found on the Internet is vital to the future of your business.
 

Fortunately, he found that William Schimmel was free.  Dr. Schimmel in turn found yet a third willing accordionist, Brian Dewan.  Dr. McMahan arranged the five parts for three accordionists and persuaded ASO conductor Leon Botstein that three players would adequately replace a full accordion orchestra if well miked.  In fact, Dr. Schimmel and only two other accordionists had successfully played in the same work with the Kirov Orchestra and Chorus at Lincoln Center a number of years ago. 

In addition to the accordion orchestra, this massive, ten-movement, forty-minute work, completed in 1937, requires a full orchestra, chorus, vocal soloists, percussion ensemble, and off-stage military band.  Its would-be premiere, intended for the same year, was suppressed by the Soviet Committee for Artistic Affairs on the grounds that it did not meet the criteria of “socialist realism”.  It was first performed, with significant cuts, fifteen years after the composer’s death and has had very few revivals since then.  The accordions have a conspicuous and highly virtuosic entrance midway through the sixth movement as well as considerably important roles in the final three movements. 

The Cantata was the last work on the last program (August 17) of the prestigious annual, two-week Bard College Music Festival at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, located on the campus.  When the accordionists were acknowledged by the conductor during the applause following the performance, the audience cheered wildly.  The program was reviewed in the New York Times.

Photo caption: Robert Young McMahan, Brian Dewan, William Schimmel backstage at the Fisher Center, Bard College.

Several delegates and guests will attend the upcoming 61st CIA Coupe Mondiale in Glasgow, Scotland to be held from the 21-26, October, 2008.

CIA Music Committee and Advancement and Development Committee Vice Chairperson Joan C. Sommers (left) will represent the Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG) in addition to her work on the CIA Committees.

Faithe Deffner (right), the organizer of the 2007 Coupe Mondiale in the United States, the largest International accordion event ever staged in the USA will attend as VIP guest in honor of her work in preparing the 60th Anniversary Coupe Mondiale. A CIA delegate for more than 35 years, Mrs. Deffner will be representing the American Accordionists Association (AAA).

Former Coupe Mondiale Contestant Mary Tokarski (left) will also attend as a delegate for the United States. In an interesting side note, Faithe Deffner, Mary Tokarski and CIA President Kevin Friedrich serve as members of the Board of Directors for both the AAA and the ATG, and with Joan Sommers, represent the interest of the accordion in general for the AAA and ATG combined, the two national USA members of the CIA. It is anticipated that several guests from the United States will also be in attendance to enjoy the wide variety of talent from the young accordionists gathering in Glasgow to compete in the various International competitions.

The 61st International Competition for Accordionists "COUPE MONDIALE" is held by the Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes (CIA) and this year will be hosted by our CIA member, the National Accordion Organization of the United Kingdom (NAO).

This spectacular event has already attracted competitors and International delegates from 30 nations, including: France, Germany, Finland, China, Croatia, Serbia, Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, New Zealand, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Norway, Macedonia, Brazil, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Portugal, Bosnia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Bulgaria, USA, Spain and Sweden.

Although this year there are no entrants from the United States, overall, the number of competitors has reached record levels. As with the 60th Anniversary Coupe Mondiale held in the USA last year, competitions will be held in the Coupe Mondiale, the Junior Coupe Mondiale, both Senior and Junior International Competitions for Virtuoso Entertainment Music, International Competition for Piano Accordion and International Competition for Ensemble Music.

This year, the CIA Music Committee enhanced the requirements to enter the Coupe Mondiale by eliminating the age old tradition of the Test Piece.  This has proven a tremendous success among contestants, evident in the fact that we have the highest number of entries ever for this elite and prestigious competition.  Recognizing that many contestants desire to enter multiple international competitions, by eliminating the Test Piece, the Music Committee has allowed competitors to utilize their programs in multiple competitions, rather than being forced to choose between events, based on required repertoire.

While acknowledging the needs of the contestants, the Music Committee also recognizes the importance of promoting new and original works for accordion, and therefore will be presenting awards to the best new works presented at the Coupe Mondiale in both classical and entertainment genres.  Contestants entering the various solo Coupe Mondiale categories have the opportunity to nominate original works for consideration for this new and important prize, and it is hoped that this popular addition will help promote many new works for the accordion, rather than only one new work per year that was submitted as the Test Piece.

After the tremendous success of the World Accordion Orchestra instituted by CIA Music Committee Vice Chairperson Joan C. Sommers at our 60th Anniversary Coupe Mondiale in the United States, the World Accordion Orchestra II will be held in Glasgow.  Three works will be performed with four guest conductors including the founding conductor Joan C. Sommers (USA), as well as conductors Elaine Beecham (United Kingdom), Ronnie Brown, Brian Laurie and Graham Laurie all from Scotland.

The program for the World Accordion Orchestra II will be as follows:

• 1. Springtime Symphony - Graham Romani
  Dedicated to the B.C.A. Orchestra in memory of Matyas Seiber (1905-60)
   
  I Movement: conducted by Elaine Beecham
  II Movement: conducted by Ronnie Brown
  III Movement: conducted by Brian Laurie
  IV Movement: conducted by Elaine Beecham
  

Program notes: This work, which was given its world premiere performance by the National Accordion Orchestra, conducted by Francis Wright, on the occasion of the 21st CIA Coupe Mondiale held in the De Montfort Hall, Leicester, and is the first full-scale Symphony written for the medium of the Accordion Orchestra. In the usual four-movement symphonic form, the work is an expression of the composer’s thoughts on the season of Spring. The first movement, in Sonata Form, expresses the gradual burgeoning of Spring over the earth, the bursting of the buds and flowers, and the songs of the birds and all the other signs of Nature of the coming of spring. The second movement is a slow-moving expressive elegy for the passing of Winter, while the third movement, in contrast, is a gaily rhythmic scherzo with a hint of mediaeval May songs and dances. The final movement is a paean in praise of Spring, interspersed with rustic peasant dances, and embodies fresh versions of the themes heard in the previous movements. The Symphony is dedicated to the B.C.A. Orchestra in memory of the late Matyas Seiber (1905-60) whose tone-poem “Spring” (1937) was the first original work in symphonic idiom for the Accordion Orchestra.

• 2. Film Noir: City at Night - Leonard (Lenny) Stack (World Premiere)
  conducted by the organizer of the inaugural World Accordion Orchestra - Joan C. Sommers (USA)

Program notes: The programmatic idea is of a dark deserted street at night where menace lurks anywhere. The second theme announces a "floozy" sauntering in. The middle section increases in tension and violence as all sorts of mayhem occurs. Finally the main theme is recapitulated and it ends with a quiet ominousness. This music is reminiscent of the film noir movies of the late 1940's and early 1950's.s

• 3. A Scottish March Selection - Traditional, arranged by Graham Laurie
  conducted by Graham Laurie

All attendees should visit www.coupemondiale.org for complete information including registration for the General Assembly, last minute contestant entries, Hotel Accommodation and participation in the World Accordion Orchestra II as soon as possible in order to assist the organizers with their final preparations and numbers of attendees. Additional information is available from:

Anna Bodell – Coupe Mondiale Organizer
Les Jardins D'Alizarine 121
1416 Avenue H Guillaume
Tamaris, 83500 La Seyne Sur Mer, FRANCE
Phone: +44 (0) 7770 450 840