The Accordionists & Teachers Guild, International’s Festival & Competition was held for the 84th time this year in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the host, Paul Pasquali, and the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, top-class international soloists were once again invited to showcase the incredible diversity of artistic accordion playing to the American audience.

Workshops have long been an integral part of the festival and highlighted the diverse developments in the contemporary accordion world. Gordon Kohl provided new approaches to inspire and motivate the next generation of accordionists.

Chilean Joaquín Muñoz Donoso, with his “Music from the End of the World” ensemble, explored unfamiliar rhythms of his homeland and the cultural origins of each individual composition.

Mary Kathryn & Kathryn Marie Archuleta demonstrated new learning methods accessible to all age groups, making “dreams through music” a reality. Amy Jo Sawyer entertained her audience with musical games.

Michael Bridge’s presentation on “11 Bellows Shakes,” including a demonstration on the instrument with musical examples culminating in the quintuple ricochet, generated considerable interest. Heidi Floren, daughter of Myron Floren, recalled important milestones in the life of her now legendary father and his ideas for a successful career.

Stas Venglevski presented his new album featuring 13 one-minute tracks. In his masterclass with the young accordion student George Voorhees, Radu Ratoi demonstrated how to perfect articulation, bellows control, and technical precision. In another workshop on “The Accordion, the Child, and Neurology,” Joaquín Muñoz Donoso spoke about the potential application of the accordion in early childhood education for the development of cognitive skills: coordination of the bellows, bass, and treble sections.

Joan Cochran Sommers’ numerous achievements and significant contributions to the development of the accordion in the USA and worldwide are legendary. Mary Ann Covone, former ATG President and current First Vice President, conceived the idea of presenting her life and legacy in a comprehensive documentary.

At the beginning of the first evening concert, she reported on the progress of this project and showed a short trailer about its origins and development. Afterwards, Joan Sommers conducted her UMKC accordion ensemble, which performed several of her own transcriptions of classical works by Rogers & Hammerstein, Lecuona, Bach, Bernstein & Sondheim and Liszt in their usual bravura style, complemented by the original work “River of Destiny” by her former graduate Karen Fremar.

Stas Venglevski is a concert artist, composer, conductor, arranger, entertainer and a teacher and his extensive repertoire includes his original compositions and a broad range of classical, contemporary and ethnic music. He has toured extensively as a soloist, throughout the former Soviet Union, Canada, Europe and the United States and most recently in Japan and South Africa. He then processed his impressions and memories into new compositions. He has an inimitable way of captivating his audience and taking them on a journey through his program. With his new suite “Café Music” and virtuoso arrangements of Russian and American themes, he was guaranteed a standing ovation.

Joey Miskulin’s career as an accordionist and producer was remarkably successful, including among his achievements the first ever Grammy Award-winning polka album (1985). His successful, high-profile projects have played an important role in bringing top-quality recordings of Westerns Music to large audiences in the US and abroad. For all his achievements, he has now been inducted into the ATG “International Accordion Hall of Fame”. Joey Miskulin performed excerpts from his new CD “The Other Side of the Fence” as well as various jazz standards.

To mark the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence, Joan Sommers curated a program of works by American composers such as Berlin, Sousa, Rogers & Hammerstein, and Gershwin, complemented by the “Dance of the Comedians” from Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride.” After successful rehearsals, she was unable to conduct the concert herself due to health reasons, so Mary Ann Covone took over this task at short notice and solved it brilliantly.

Radu Ratoi is arguably the world’s leading accordion soloist today. He has not only won every competition in the classical and popular music categories but has also been highly successful in competitions with other instrumentalists (including the 2024 YCA “Susan Wadsworth International Auditions” in New York). His programs offer new perspectives for the accordion in terms of program selection and interpretation, and of course, an original work is always included. This time, he chose Sofia Gubaidulina’s groundbreaking work “De profundis,” which premiered in 1978.

Morning concerts are a regular feature of the festival. This year, the Spokane Accordion Ensemble, under the experienced direction of Beverly Fess, was invited to perform. The Concert of Original Music included compositions by Watson, Sawyer, Venglevski, Kholminov, and Ostenfeld.

Particularly impressive was the ATG Original Music Ensemble under Mary Ann Covone, as well as Leah Stephens (2nd ATG Vice President), who complemented her performance of Venglevski’s suite “Children’s Animal” with recitation of fitting poems.

ClubATG Fun, organized by Michael Bridge & Friends, offered everyone a chance to showcase their talent in a relaxed and entertaining atmosphere after the evening concerts.

The 85th ATG Festival & Competition will take place in Chicago from July 14th to 18th, 2027, where, as a special highlight, the “World Cup Competition” will be held for the second time after 2024 in Kansas City, with prize money of over US$10,000.