A full Review of the event with many photos is on the ATG website, 2010 Review.
ATG President Dee Langley welcomed members and guests to the 70th Anniversary of the Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG) which was held in Santa Clara, California, July 21-25, attracting people from across the United States as well as countries such as China, Lithuania, Austria, Canada and New Zealand.
Held for the first time in California, in honor of ATG President Emeritus the late Anthony Galla-Rini, the festival featured Meetings, Concerts, National and International Competitions, Trade Shows and Social Events such as Gala Banquets, Receptions and the new after-hours Bootleg Lounge Jam Sessions.
Numerous workshops were held on topics such as The Life of Galla-Rini (Esther Lanting), Music Notation Software (Liz Finch), World of French Musette (Bernard Metais), Book Release – ‘What is an Accordion?’ (Mary Tokarski & Karen Malan-Uribe), Music of the Professional Musician (Gordon Kohl), Film Documentary Screening of ‘Behind the Bellows’ (Steve Mobia), Understanding and Playing Balkan Rhythms (Dee Langley), Bass Patterns (Betty Jo Simon), 50’s & 60’s Music (Bruce Gassman) and Developing Technique (Alexander Sevastian).
The 3rd edition of the Anthony Galla-Rini International Competition for Classical Accordion was won by Gao Yi Cheng from China, a student of Chen Jun. Performing a series of three rounds, the competition was of such a high standard that the judges and ATG unanimously decided to award a previously unannounced 4th prize, with results as follows:
1st: Gao Yi Cheng – China ($5,000)
2nd: Martynas Livickis – Lithuania ($3,000)
3rd: Jelena Milojevic – Serbia/Canada ($1500)
4th: Michael Bridge – Canada ($500)
Featured guest artists included CIA World Champions Alexander Sevastian (Coupe Mondiale) and Cory Pesaturo (International Competition for Digital Accordion). Alexander was also the winner of the first edition of the Anthony Galla-Rini International competition for Classical Accordion held in 2001. Other guest artists included Accordion Chamber ensemble (conducted by Joe Smiell, Jr.), The Great Morgani, Patricia Bartell, Ron Borelli, Steve Albini Duo, Stas Venglevski, Lionel Reekie (New Zealand), Peter Di Bono Trio, Bruce Gassman, William Cosby, Betty Jo Simon, AbsolutAccord and Amy Jo Sawyer.
Two Festival Orchestras were presented in concert including the Galla-Rini Festival Orchestra conducted by Esther Lanting which performed at both the ATG Festival and at the Great America Theme Park and the ATG Executive and Friends Orchestra conducted by Joan Cochran Sommers.
Hailed as a tremendous success by all who attended, ATG President Dee Langley announced that plans are already well underway for the 71st ATG Competition and Festival to be held in Orlando, Florida from July 19-23, 2011. Details will be available soon on the ATG Website. Full 2010 Competition and Festival Review is also on the ATG website. 2010 Review
Photo at top is: Betty Jo Simon, Amy Jo Sawyer, Liz Finch, Kevin Friedrich, Dee Langley – President, Norman Seaton, Mary Tokarski, Jeff Lisenby, Joan C. Sommers, Stas Venglevski and Esther Lanting
