The count down to August 14th! After all the months of planning, the 75th American Accordionists’ Association (AAA) Anniversary Celebration is less than three weeks away. And we’re ready to give you the best accordion show ever! Our superb concert programs will delight every musician.

The workshops highlighting the lives of our founding fathers are all on board with former students and colleagues contributing their stories on the lives of the “greats”. Joe Cerrito, Elliott Seif, Bob McMahan, Eddie Monteiro and Ray Oreggia will share the stories and little known facts of the AAA founders. The two-part Finale Workshop presented by Finale expert, Don Gerundo, is designed for beginners and the 2nd part, for those who have had some experience with Finale, “Accordions Around the World” with Marion Jacobson, author of Squeeze This!; Dallas Vietty’s hands-on workshop featuring “The Art of Gypsy Jazz,” Mary Archuleta’s program entitled “Local Festivals, Competitions and Fun for All”” and Joe Natoli’s “Effective Orchestration Techniques for Digital Instruments,” all promise to be entertaining and informative.

You won’t want to miss the exhibit of the AAA Archives compiled by Historian, Joan Grauman with two workshops on “Carnegie Hall and the Accordion” and “The Women Who Made a Difference” promise to be entertaining and informative. The Archives will be on display in the Exhibit Room throughout the Festival.

All set to join the party at Bryant Park? You’re going to love the performers we have lined up to delight the New York listening audience. Bring your dancing shoes – a few of the groups will have you dancing in the aisles.

We anticipate over 100 accordionists performing ‘New York, New York’ at 7:00 pm on August 15th at the fountain in Bryant Park. Want to join in? Just let us know by emailing ameraccord1938@gmail.com with NYNY in the subject line.

A special kickoff to the 75th Anniversary Celebration will take place on Thursday, August 1st at the Italian-American Museum on the corner of Mulberry and Grand in New York’s Little Italy. AAA Board members, Dominic Karcic and Ray Oreggia, will present an evening of Valtaro Music – lecture and performance. Many door prizes for tickets to the 75th Anniversary Concerts will be available for lucky winners. The program starts at 7:00 – seating is limited so be sure to arrive early.

On August 10th, the CT Accordion Association and the American Accordionists’ Association are sponsoring a delightful concert entitled “Entertaining Music for a Saturday Afternoon” featuring accordionists Alexander Poeluev and Mary Tokarski, jazz guitarist Liza Poelueva, violinist Darwin Shen, pianist David Harris and soprano Krista Adams Santilli and classical pianist, Alex Beyer – the 2012 US Presidential Scholar in the Arts. The concert will take place at 4:00 pm at the Pequot Library in Southport, CT on Saturday, August 10th.

One project we were unable to complete in time for the Festival is the “Reflections – 75 Years of Accordion History.” We received a huge volume of material from our members and friends and we want to give everyone the opportunity to be included. So we will still take material – letters, articles, photos – until September 1st. The publication will be available before the end of the year and each contributor and festival attendee will receive a copy. This will enable us to also include highlights of the 75th Anniversary Festival which is guaranteed to be a memorable event.

We want to wish our Coupe Mondiale candidates all the best for the Coupe Mondiale competitions in Vancouver, BC (Canada) which include
– Junior Virtuoso Entertainment contestants Naomi Harris, Rachel Quirbach, and Tor Stumo;
– Senior Virtuoso Entertainment contestants Jamie Maschler and Sam Thomas;
– Ensemble category, Bel Canto with accordionist Jamie Maschler.
All the best! And remember to have fun!

See you in September with another exciting calendar of events for 2014!

Visit us online at http://www.ameraccord.com.

Read more articles about the various events taking place at the AAA Festival in the July USA News. To see the July news, please click on “Previous News” which you will see at the top of the August page.