2010 Photos. AAA participants and guests were welcomed by President Linda Soley Reed to the 2010 AAA Festival held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania from July 14-18. The event attracted people from all over the USA and Canada, Lithuania, and Russia.

The festival had something to please everyone ranging from concerts, meetings, new accordion music premiers, competitions, social events, dealer displays, banquets and receptions.

Many informative and entertaining workshops were creatively presented:
Midi Basics and Application-Getting the Most Out of Your Digital Accordion (Joe Natoli)
New Book Presentation of “An Accordion, What is That?” (Karen Malan-Uribe, Joan Grauman, Mary Tokarski), The Evolution of the Accordion Concerto: From Before Deiro to the Present (Dr.Robert Young McMahan), Remembering Art Van Damme (Ray Oreggio assisted by Dominic Karcic), Music Therapy and My Accordion (Gabriel Hall-Rodrigues) , Inside a Judge’s Head, Answering Questions from Contestants (Joe Natoli and guest judge, Patricia Bartell from Washington), Classic Rock Accordion 2 Bruce (Bruce Gassman), Accordion- More Than One, Lots of Fun! (Mary Kathryn Archuleta).

Various prestigious competitions were held. The winners in the AAA scholarship categories were as follows:
United States Virtuoso Solo – 1st place – Gabriel Hall-Rodrigues
United States Piano Accordion – 1st place – Christopher Gorton; 2nd place – Albert Manginelli
Maddalena Belfiore Entertainment Competition for Female Accordionists – 1st place – Danielle Renzi
Electronic Entertainment – 1st place – Danielle Renzi
Elsie M. Bennett Composition Competition – Junior – 1st place – Albert Fry
Elsie M. Bennett Composition Competition – Senior – 1st place – Michael Bridge; 2nd place – Peter DiGiovanni; 3rd place – Joseph Ciccone

Featured guest artists and ensembles included:
The Potomac Ensemble (Joan Grauman director and conductor, Mara Cherkasky, Karen Malan-Uribe, Peter Di Giovanni, Phil Fox, Yimeng Huang, Lee Paulson, Meryl Benanati, Mark Nejako, Jo Ann Pankow, Louis Silvia), Dominic Karcic and Ray Oreggia, Dr.Robert Young McMahan, Joe Natoli, John “Elvis” Moceo, Bruce Gassman, Beverly Roberts Curnow, Ilana and Daniel Pavlotsky , brother and sister Tango dancers with the AAA Festival Orchestra, Chris Gorton, Vladimir Mollov(accordion) and Annie Moger(violin), Peter Chudolij, The Busso Trio, Martynas Levickis, winner of the 2009 AAA Piano Accordion Competition, the Alex Meixner Band, Massed Band directed by Frank Busso, Jr., and the AAA Festival Orchestra conducted by Dr. Emilian Badea.

The premiere of the AAA Commissioned Work by Roger Davidson, “Tango Blues”, a quartet with Christina Busso Lammers (Flute), Alice Bish (Viola), Yulia Zhukovay (Cello) and Mary Tokarski (Accordion) was presented on the Friday night concert.

People who attended were amazed by the versatility of the accordion. Festival attendee Sam Adler from New York said, “I loved the variety of the programs. Whatever level the accordionists were at and whatever type of music they were into-was very successful. The acoustic accordion held its own alongside the electronic.”

Below is the weblink for WABC of the massed band performance in front of the Sheraton. http://cfc.whtm.com/videoondemand.cfm?id=69484&cat=loc

President Linda Soley Reed and Contest Chairperson, Mary Tokarski both agreed that it was a very successful event and encourage all of you to attend the 2011 AAA Festival next summer. 2010 Photos.

For further information about the 2010 or 2011 AAA Festival: aaa1938@aol.com