NewsletterAMERICAN ACCORDIONISTS’ ASSOCIATION A bi-monthly publication of the American Accordionists’ Association July-August, 2016 From the Editor Welcome to the July-August 2016 edition of the AAA Newsletter. Congratulations to all those that made the 2016 Festival in Buffalo a tremen- dous success. The annual festival showcased a diverse and talented array of ac- cordionists, performing a variety of genres of music. You will have all received information that this Newsletter is now available in both a printed format and also as a .pdf file. While some prefer to have a printed copy to browse at leisure, there are also a number of people who enjoy having their news presented in an electronic format, and thus a digital version is another means for the AAA to take advantage of the technology available today. Be sure to let the AAA know of your preference, and they will be happy to arrange your Newsletter delivery accordingly. Once again my sincere thanks to all those that have assisted in providing news items and pictures, including your very own AAA Board of Director Rita Barnea who is always an avid supporter of the AAA Newsletter sharing a variety of news items from around the country. Items for the September 2016 Newsletter can be sent to me at [email protected] or to the official AAA e-mail address at: [email protected]. Please include ‘AAA Newsletter’ in the subject box, so that we don’t miss any items that come in. Text should be sent within the e-mail or as a Word attachment. Pictures should be sent as a high quality .jpg or similar file, and the larger the file size the better. We can always reduce/crop the picture if necessary, however we are unable to increase the quality from smaller pictures. The deadline for the September 2016 Newsletter will be the 15th of August 2016. Sincerely, Kevin Friedrich – AAA Newsletter Editor Message from AAA President - Mary Tokarski AAA has been busy! Tralf included incredible performances from Grayson Masefield (New Zealand), Cory Pesat- This year’s AAA uro (Rhode Island), Ginny Mac and Glenn Competition her- McLaughlin (Texas), Guy Klucevsek (New alded the “best of York), Dr. Robert Young McMahan and Nora the best” from Sirbaugh (New Jersey), and Alexander Sevastian around the U.S., with Quartetto Gelato (Toronto, Canada). The Valtaro Celebration Canada and Slova- full house audience was spellbound with the va- Magnanini Farm Windery kia! If you missed riety and virtuosity of these incredible artists. Saturday, November 26, 2016 it, you missed a Check out the highlighted performances on the Noon until 5:00 p.m. LOT! Plans have AAA YouTube Channel. Featuring traditional already begun for The week’s activities started with a “Meet and Valtaro and French Musette 2017, and we hope Greet” party, where accordionists entertained at- Music by a star-studded you will plan on tendees and guests from the local press with cast of performers. being there July 12- music of all genres. Representatives from the 16, 2017 at The Westin Princeton at Forrestal local NPR, The Buffalo News, TV cameras from Village, New Jersey. Details will be available national and local stations (WGRZ – NBC, AAA Festival 2017 soon on the AAA Website at Channel 7 – ABC Eyewitness News), radio in- The Westin Princeton at Forrestal www.ameraccord.com. terviews, and calendar listings in Artvoice added Village (New Jersey) The Buffalo SqueezeFest at The Adam’s to the excitement, and brought in the participa- Mark Hotel was brimming with great accordion tion of many “locals” to see and hear our amaz- Save the dates: sounds - from the competitions, workshops, con- ing instrument! Wednesday, July 12 through certs and the array of exhibits. Guest Artists for Next up, is our Valtaro Celebration on No- Sunday, July 16, 2017 “An Evening With The Stars” concert at The vember 25, 2016 at the Magnanini Winery, 172 continued on page 2 Room Rates: $129 Plus Free Parking! Did not attend the Festival? You can still order your copy of the AAA 2016 Journal with articles on Composers Commissions, Spotlight on Joe Cerrito, and remembrances of Sponsored by the Huguette Meunier and LaRue Mangelly. See order form inside. American Accordionists’Association A bi-monthly publication of the American Accordionists’ Association - page 2 July-August, 2016 From the President, cont’d from page 1 Jamie Maschler and the Strawridge Road, Wallkill, New York 12589. The event will feature Seattle Symphony Orchestra traditional Valtaro and French Musette Music with a special Guest Artist from Italy - Giangiacomo Bucella, along with a “star-studded” Jamie Maschler, a former student at the University of Denver lineup including Mario Tacca and Mary Mancini, Dominic Karcic played the accordion part in the "Lord of the Rings" score with the and Ray Oreggia, Beverly Roberts Curnow, Mary Tokarski, Gia, Joe Seattle Symphony Orchestra on July 15-18, 2016 at the Benaroya and Reagan Ciccone, Emilio Magnotta, Fred Schwinger, Bruce Hall in Seattle, WA. Nielsen and Frank Toscano. Be there. Reservations are $69 per per- The epic Lord of the Rings score was composed and orchestrated son (flyer included in this newsletter). New this year – You can make by Academy Award winner Howard Shore. During the concert, the a donation of $50 to sponsor a guest artist, and have your name in- audience viewed the first film of The Lord of the Rings trilogy on a cluded on the program! giant screen as the Seattle Symphony performed live under the di- We hope to see YOU soon! rection of Ludwig Wicki. Jaimie Maschler is a professional accordionist and popular session musician in the Seattle region having recorded with many top stu- dios. On July 29, 2016 her popular band En Canto was featured at the Seattle Latin, Caribbean, and Brazilian Festival, a festival free to all ages held at The Royal Room Seattle. ■ Jammin’ at the Meet & Greet - Buffalo SqueezeFest Don Gerundo is joined by Will Comer and Emannuel Gasser. Both Will and Emannuel were top winners in the Elsie M. Bennet Composition Competition with Will winning 1st in the Junior Division and Emanuel 1st in the Senior Division. Check out Emanuel’s “Spring Blizzard” and Will’s “The Existential Dream” on the AAA You Tube Channel. Special Connections via new Instruments at the World of Accordions Museum Not long ago the World of Accordions Museum was wanting in numbers of early button chromatic accordions. Then, quite unex- pectedly, two remarkable instruments were brought in, both are Italo American accordions manufactured in closely related decades. The accordion pictured below is a five-row “C” System with 98 treble keys and one slide shift behind the treble keys joining the bas- soon reed-bank to the triple-middle banks. Its seven-row, 140 bass Stradella section includes an additional counterbass row of minor thirds above the fundamental row and four-tone dominant and di- minished seventh chords. The name “Erickson” is prominently dis- played in rhinestones at the treble section front. The accordion is a concert-level chromatic with extended pitch ranges rarely found in this construction era. Its beautifully preserved condition contributes continued on page 3 Many thanks to Pete Sbuttoni and Sandy Zera for all the wonderful photos of our 2016 Festival. See our Sept/Oct issue of the Newsletter for more photos. Order your copy of the 2016 AAA Journal $15 plus shipping and handling - total: $20 Send check payable to AAA to: Julie A. Cardona 67 Sackett Point Rd., Apt. 215 North Haven, CT 06473 con A bi-monthly publication of the American Accordionists’ Association - page 3 July-August, 2016 World of Accordions Museum, cont’d from page 2 Stas Venglevski at historically as well as to the visual attractions in the museum. In dis- World of Accordions Museum play, it is accompanied by a catalog of early 1930s Italia Accordions, Milwaukee based accordionist made in Italy and distributed in Chicago, IL. Stas Venglevski presented a Master Stas This instrument is an important addition to the museum for addi- Class and Concert on April 3, 2016, Venglevski tional reasons. It was owned and played by bandleader Axel Erick- hosted by the Harrington ARTS son. Axel became the Father-in-Law of trumpeter Ed Victorsen, who Center and A World of Accordions was among the founders of the Minnesota based Shriners Zurah Museum, an event gratefully under- Temple band called “The Jolly Nobles.” The dozens of unpaid mem- written by Robert Dingmann. bers used music to embody an American lifestyle of social contribu- Organizer Helmi Harrington re- tion by performing for senior center dances and religious venues, ports that in his popular Master and they were among the first to originate Polka Masses that filled Class, Stas was fully engaged every venue sites. Their hundreds of performances over the course of 60 moment, assessing each player’s years amassed thousands of dollars benefiting the Shriners Crippled technical level while offering com- Children’s Hospital and Burn Center. ments that were factually precise In the 1960s, my husband Duane Sellman taught students and op- without ever diminishing the com- erated the Wyoming, MN, studio of Gust Erickson, Axel’s brother. petence of the player and were often Duane participated in “The Jolly Nobles” band until his death in accompanied by demonstrations on 1995. Now, two decades later, 92-year-old Ed Victorsen phoned to both piano and button accordions. reestablish contact and to remind me that I, too, had played with the With each student’s presentation he band. Over the years, he had saved newspaper articles about me and offered a few pertinent points af- the museum which now inspired his donation of the “Erickson” ac- fecting interpretation or control of the instrument that were also cordion.