Once again, the American Accordionists’ Association is proud to offer a special program highlighting youth. Initiated last year in Charleston, this program is running again in Baltimore as part of the American Accordionists’ Association’s annual festival. The Youth Involvement Program takes place on Friday and Saturday, July 13 and 14 with their performance on Saturday at the Awards Concert in the Liberty Ballroom at 1:30 PM.

The “Youth Involvement Program,” as it is called, features young accordionists between the ages of 13 and 25 paired with youth from the festival’s host city, this year being Baltimore and the surrounding area, that play sax, trombone and bass. The non accordionist youth were recruited specifically for this program. The young musicians will combine to form a jazz ensemble that will rehearse on Friday, July 13 and Saturday, July 14 and then deliver a performance on Saturday at the Festival’s Awards Concert. They will be conducted by Mr. Don Gerundo, an active accordionist and pianist in the New York metropolitan area with an impressive array of experience in jazz. Mr. Gerundo arranged the pieces that will be performed by the ensemble.

The AAA is proud to introduce the accordionists for this year’s program. They are Christopher Gorton, Gabe Hall-Rodrigues, Albert Manginelli, Mark Nejako and Tor Stumo.

Christopher Gorton has an extensive accordion history, carefully fostered by his teacher, Bob Paolo. Among his many accolades, Chris is an AAA Virtuoso Champion, and also the winner of the 2010 Roland U.S. V Accordion Festival. He also competed in the Coupe Mondiale in 2003. He currently works as a representative for Roland.

Gabe Hall-Rodrigues is also an AAA Virtuoso Champion, and a graduate of Arizona State University’s Music Program. An all around gifted musician, Gabe is a talented vocalist and pianist who just picked up the accordion within the last 4 years. He has had the honor of playing alongside famous jazz accordionist Frank Marocco. A music therapist, Gabe will also be delivering a workshop on Improvisation at the festival.

Albert Manginelli is a 2 time virtuoso champion of the Mid Atlantic Music Teacher’s Guild and a student of Dan Desiderio. At the age of 16, he is one of the younger members of the Accordion Pops Orchestra.
Mark Nejako is a pianist turned accordionist, and a student of Frank Busso, Jr. who is taking time from his job traveling the globe to participate in this year’s festival.

Finally, the youngest accordionist of this group is 13 year old Tor Stumo, a student of Mary Tokarski who was recently featured in Smithsonian Magazine while “busking” in his home town of Great Barrington, MA.

The additional jazz musicians from the Baltimore area include Donovan Spence and Jake Smith on sax, Kevin Callahan on trumpet and Derek Wiegmann on bass. Their enthusiasm about par- ticipating in the program was immediately noted by Conductor Don Gerundo. Experienced young jazz musicians like these young men echo the sen- timents of all of the non accordionist musicians in this program.

Donovan Spence is a student at the Peabody Preparatory School. He joined this year’s program because he sees it as a “unique opportunity to col- laborate with a different set of instrumentation.” While he loves all kinds of music, this young man sounds much older than his 17 years when he says that he knows he’s succeeded musically when he can change someone’s mood by playing his music for them.

Sax player Jake Smith is a student at Shepherd University who has recently begun studying accordion after playing piano for 13 years and sax for 10. Jake “adores” the sound of the accordion, and is excited about playing along with accordion- ists in a unique ensemble experience.

Kevin Callahan and Derek Wiegmann on trumpet and bass respectively are both recent graduates of Archbishop Curley High School.
Kevin Callahan’s private trumpet teacher’s first instrument was accordion, and that he “talks about it all the time.” This young musician recognizes that the accordion is a “lesser known, underappreciated instrument,” and looks to this experience with the AAA as an opportunity to be a part of something “bigger than myself.”

Bass player Derek Wiegmann recalls that at one point as a high school freshman or sophomore stu- dent, someone donated an accordion to the school, but it stayed locked up in it’s case, as, sadly, no one knew how to play it. He says “I enjoy playing jazz whenever I get the chance, and doing it with accordionists should be interesting!”

The common denominator among the non accordionist musicians remains the drive to be different, to “press on the envelope,” so to speak, to travel a path where no other young musician has gone. Most young people under the age of 30 have never set eyes on an accordion, not to men- tion the people that play them. But as the instrument gets picked up and heard more and more across all types of music, youth, with their open minds and willingness to explore, are drawn to its unique sound.

Mr. Charlton Singleton, noted Jazz musician and teacher of last year’s backup musicians for the Youth Involvement Program summed it up well when he stated plainly: “The accordion can hang!”

DICK MORIARITY PERCUSSIONIST Dick Moriarity started playing percussion in high school around the Milwaukee area. During his teen years, he played with the great accordion bands of Frank Cascio. He later joined the US Army and qualified for the Army / Navy school of music. He performed in orchestras, jazz combos, big bands and – oh yes – marching bands. He claims his feet still hurt.
Dick went on to study at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Education. He has performed with various combos in Wisconsin often teaming up with his wife, Judy, on accordion.

Dick is currently the percussionist for Accordion XXI Century under the direction of Stas Venglevski performing concerts through out the Midwest.
Dick will be the percussionist for the Youth Involvement Program, as well as The Festival Orchestra, Junior Festival Orchestra, Connecticut Accordion Orchestra and Frabjk Petrilli.

Photos from top to bottom: Tor Stumo, Gabe Hall­Rodrigues, Christopher Gorton, Mark Nejako and Albert Manginelli