Joseph Natoli performed on Septemer 5-6, 2015 for the first time at the well-known annual international accordion and diatonic festival in Montmagny Quebec Canada called the “Carrefour Mondiale de L’Accordeon.”
Joseph was introduced to the event by his friend, John Lettieri from Toronto Canada who, along with Natoli, had studied at the University Of Toronto with renowned Canadian accordionist Joseph Macerollo. Mr. Lettieri also performed at Carrefour with Mr. Natoli and has performed at this event for the last seven years.
This wonderful festival attracts free reed players from all over the globe and is hosted in the quiet, beautiful, and unassuming town of Montmagny, where the music festival is also accompanied by outside vendor flea markets, great food, and great accordion camaraderie. Aside from the accordion performers at Carrefour, there were also some incredible diatonic players, and of special note was a diatonic and cello duo from Belgium with Didier Laloy and Kathy Adam. They perform all original material, all of which is extremely technical, creative, and musical.
The format of Carrefour includes free outside concerts provided by the artists on the first day and if people like what they heard, they can opt to attend paid indoor concerts for the artists of their choosing. Natoli performed a diverse program of classical, light classical, and jazz works and also included the Canadian premier of his latest work written for the Roland V-Accordion called “Epic Cinematic Soundtrack” which was enthusiastically received.
While performing at Carrefour, Natoli also performed in the outside tent for vendor Keith Anderson who was representing his own music store business in Toronto. Keith sells Roland V-accordions as well as Beltuna and other top rate acoustic instruments.
After leaving Carrefour, Natoli came back to Toronto with his wife JoAnn and spent the rest of the week there while preparing to perform two more concerts, one an annual event organized by Keith Anderson’s Music Store and another private concert at the home of Joseph and Fran Macerollo, where many accomplished accordionists attended, including Alexander Sevastien as well as doctoral and masters accordion students and the University Of Toronto.
Joseph Natoli lives in Northeast Ohio with his wife, JoAnn, and has been a performer and advocate of the accordion since the age of seven. Joe started his studies with prominent Ohio accordion teacher, the late Mickey Bisilia of Youngstown, Ohio, and won the 1972 AAA US Virtuoso Accordion Championship under Mr. Bisilia’s tutelage, while placing first runner-up several months later in the Coupe Mondiale world accordion competition in Caracas, Venezuela.
More recently, Joe won the grand prize for the first Roland US V-Accordion competition held in Los Angeles, California, in 2008. Joe’s education includes Bachelor and Master of Music degrees (1976, 1977) in music theory and composition from the University of Toronto Faculty Of Music in Toronto, Canada, where he was the first student accepted there to use the free bass accordion as an applied major instrument, studying with world-renowned Canadian accordionist, Joseph Macerollo.
Joe Natoli has written many original pieces in all musical styles and genres for standard and free bass accordion, some of which are performed regularly throughout Europe, Canada, and the US. Some of Joe’s recent compositions include “Toccata #2” (free bass accordion solo), “Tarantella Fuoco” (for accordion solo or duet), “Epic Cinematic Soundtrack” (for Roland digital FR8X accordion), “Shimmer” (for accordion orchestra), and “Four Likes” (free bass accordion solo).
Some of Joe’s most recent recordings include an all-acoustic accordion CD entitled “Omaggio,” which is dedicated to the many musical influences in his life from various composers, musical friends and family members. Joe has also released an all-digital Roland V-Accordion CD entitled, “Waltz for Ron,” which contains a bevy of original compositions and arrangements of classical, light classical, ethnic and jazz pieces fully exploiting the orchestral possibilities of the Roland virtual accordion. “Waltz For Ron” is not only the title of the CD, but the title track of one of the CD’s compositions dedicated to the memory of the late Ron Lankford, who is very much responsible for the success of the V-Accordion in the US.
In addition to his music degrees, Joe also attended Youngstown State for a Computer Science degree and has an MBA from Franklin University. Joe has been working in the Information Technology industry since 1984, working for General Motors, Delphi Packard, EDS, JP Morgan Chase, Nationwide Insurance, and PNC Bank. Joe and his wife JoAnn have three adult daughters and one granddaughter.
For further information: jnatoli_yh@yahoo.com
