Please mark your calendars for what is shaping up to be a very exciting weekend!
The 2025 AAA Festival will take place Friday July 11, to Sunday, July 13. The hotel in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania is lovely and suits our needs so well!! It is a short drive or train ride into the heart of Philadelphia where there are beautiful parks, museums, historic areas, waterfronts and small quaint towns nearby.
The event’s full registration package will include all food functions: two luncheons, an informal dinner, a banquet and a breakfast on Sunday. Workshops will feature topics such as playing for Oktoberfests, led by Dominic Karcic, and how to create a successful accordion school, led by Mary Ann Covone.
The festival will feature an orchestra for intermediate to advanced players under the baton of our very personable and talented guest conductor Mary Ann Covone (see attached bio), a beginner orchestra for adults led by Joanna Darrow, and a youth orchestra led by Dee Langley (Joanna and Dee’s bios will appear in the March News). Along with opportunities for attendees to play in various venues, we will have an exhibit room, competitions for all ages, workshops and more.
Mary Ann Covone holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accordion Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music where she studied with Professor Joan Cochran Sommers. After graduating from the University, Mary Ann spent several years performing and teaching in the Chicago area before entering law school. After a thirty-plus year career as an attorney, four years ago, Mary Ann returned to the accordion and has embarked on a new journey in music performing, teaching and conducting.
In 2020, she founded the Chicagoland Accordion Academy in Western Springs, Illinois where students of all ages learn the foundation of good accordion technique applicable to any style of music they choose to play. Mary Ann conducts her Academy Accordion Orchestra, and they perform quite regularly in the Chicago area. She also travels to Kansas City, Missouri on a regular basis to play in the UMKC Community Accordion Ensemble under the direction of Joan Cochran Sommers. Mary Ann is the immediate past president of the Accordionists & Teachers Guild, International and an active member of Sigma Alpha Iota, an international professional sorority for women in the field of music.
Visit Accordion USA and the AAA website: ameraccord.com in March for updates and hotel room rates.
We look forward to seeing you there!!!
