Vivant! will be in concert with Grayson Masefield, 2009 Accordion World Champion from New Zealand! This will be a fantastic concert at Unity on The Plaza at 3:00 PM, 707 W. 47th Street, Kansas City, Missouri.

Vivant! is made up of multi-talented musicians whose primary musical training centered around the accordion, in addition to various keyboard instruments and other acoustic and percussion instruments. The focus of the group is to share the unique versatility of the accordion and the various styles of music that are possible to produce with the instrument.

The accordionists in Vivant! all began studying the instrument at a young age. They are highly decorated musicians in both ensemble and solo performing. Most have toured professionally, and collectively they have concertized in most of the United States and in 28 countries throughout the world. Several of the musicians chose the accordion as their major area of emphasis in college and have continued to play professionally.

The sound of Vivant! combines the richness of the acoustic accordion with the electronic sounds of synthesizers, trombone, and various percussion instruments. Their style combines the art of virtuoso concert accordion with jazz, pop, Latin and tango. Vivant! explores original music written for the accordion, Baroque and other classical works suitable for the instrument, as well, as tango, jazz and other popular works. Above all, their music is exciting, captivating and alive!

Janne Silverberg: Janne has lived in the KC area his whole life. He played the accordion for a few years before switching to the trombone in the 4 th grade. Janne is currently a senior at the Music Conservatory at UMKC majoring in Trombone Performance. While trombone is his first love, Janne is a big fan of Mexican and Italian food, likes classic cars and Slurpees at 7 Eleven.

Gail Overly: Gail is originally from New Jersey, just outside of Manhattan and started playing the accordion when she was 7. Her husband, Bob, their 21 year old son, Brent, and the head of the household, Sandy (the dog), live in Lee’s Summit MO. Gail earned bachelor and master degrees in Accounting from UMKC and is a Vice President of Finance for an international direct marketing company where she has responsibility for call centers and fulfillment operations in Kansas City, Austin, Philadelphia, Clearwater and Manila (Philippines). Vivant! is obviously her creative “outlet.” She also enjoys running, cooking and gardening.

Karen Fremar: Karen was born into a musical family that operated a music studio in Fort Scott, Kansas, and began playing the accordion at age 2. She is the composer/arranger for Vivant! and remembers composing “giant music” on the piano when she was very little and had to stand and reach up to play the keyboard. Karen is a member of ASCAP and also holds a Performance degree from UMKC in Accordion, as well as Masters and Doctorate degrees in Composition and Music Theory from UMKC and the University of Kansas. She won the United States Accordion Championship and a World Accordion Entertainment Championship title in Sweden. Karen has toured internationally playing accordion with several music groups and also played accordion with Pavarotti on his World Farewell Tour. An accomplished composer, Karen has written numerous compositions including the test pieces for the Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Competition and most recently performed in New York City at Tavern on the Green premiering a piece commissioned by the American Accordion Association in honor of Faithe Deffner.

Julie Siflverberg: Julie grew up in Ft. Scott, Kansas. When Julie was 8, her mom came home one day and asked her if she would like to learn how to play the accordion. Julie said ‘Sure!’….. a couple of years later, she added piano lessons. Margie Fremar was her teacher. Julie successfully participated in many music festivals. She was the Kansas Accordion Virtuoso Champion for three consecutive years. In 1980, Julie received her Bachelor of Music degree in Accordion at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, married Juha from Finland, and they lived in Helsinki for the next five years. They moved back to the States in 1985. Julie is a member of the accordion group, The International Trio (Julie, Juha, and Kevin Friedrich) that has toured in Finland, New Zealand, Estonia and the USA. Julie runs a very successful music studio in Overland Park, KS., where she teaches accordion and piano to students five years to adult. She was past president of both Federated Teachers of Fine Arts., Inc. and the Mid-America Music Association (M.A.M.A.)

Dee Sligar: Dee began studying the accordion at the UMKC Conservatory at the age of twelve. She continued studying accordion through college and now her music career is culminating with the Vivant! Adventure. Dee had the privilege of touring with a USO tour through Europe and the Azores, was a featured artist with the Young Audiences National Program, and played lots of gigs through the years. Dee is a passionate gardener, loves great food, wine, laughter and fun people…not necessarily in that order.
Sarrah Cantrell: Sarrah moved to the KC Area in 2002, from Dallas, Texas. She has been playing drumset and other general percussion instruments for eight years, and is now teaching elementary and middle school percussion lessons. She is a Sophomore at the UMKC Conservatory majoring in percussion performance.

During their individual careers, the members of Vivant! have toured and concertized as accordionists in most of the states in the continental USA and in the following countries, islands, and principalities:

Austria, Azores, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Guam, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Midway Island, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Okinawa, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, and Taiwan.

Tickets are: Adults $10.00; Students with ID $5.00; Children 12 and under Free.Tickets are available at the door.

For further information: www.vivantsound.com