AbsolutAccord, an accordion ensemble based in the San Francisco area, will be featured at the July ATG Festival in Santa Clara, California. Their performance is on Friday, July 23 at 8 PM at the Santa Clara Hilton, 4949 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA.
Accordionist Richard Yaus founded the group ten years ago and uses many of his teacher’s arrangements. Born in Germany, he began to play the accordion at the age of six. Richard Yaus studied with the German accordion virtuoso, Georg Schwenk, while winning music competitions in the solo, duo and orchestra categories during the 1980’s and 90’s.
Richard attended conducting classes held at the conservatory in Munich and in Trossingen, led his own accordion orchestra, played accordion parts in opera and musical theater in and around Munich, and later joined his teacher’s accordion ensemble and orchestra. Richard recently performed music by Astor Piazzolla as part of the chamber music series with the Palo Alto Philharmonic, and with the Redwood Symphony in Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra.
AbsolutAccord has been recognized as an unusual and rare musical treat and consists of seven accordionists: Lynn Ewing, Marian Kelly, David Perry, Joe Simoni, Sharon Walters Greyhosky, Richard Yaus, Norma Zonay-Parsons. AbsolutAccord’s repertoire includes jazz standards, French, Italian, and Russian music, tangos, and classical music.
How did they get the name, AbsolutAccord? Richard said, “ We wanted a name using the word, “accordion” and because all the musicians in the group are perfectionists and we are very focused on a high quality performance in order to achieved a professional result……. we used the word, “absolute” which means “Perfect in quality or nature; complete” thus our name, “AbsolutAccord”.
Lynn Ewing was born and raised in San Diego, California, where she started playing accordion at age seven. As a young adult, Lynn taught at the Robert Mitchell Accordion School, where she directed five accordion bands and gave accordion lessons to over a hundred young children. She received her certification in the Orff Method of Music instruction from Mills College, and was the music specialist at El Granada Elementary school for seven years. Currently Lynn teaches private accordion students, and performs with two accordion ensembles, the San Francisco Accordion Chamber Ensemble (ACE) and AbsolutAccord.
Marian Kelly grew up in Northampton, Massachusetts where, at the time, there was a great deal of accordion interest. She joined the orchestra of and taught for the Pizzitola Music Studios, which provided many rewarding experiences along with a bit of income and became kind of a second home. Her current accordion interests include teaching, participating in the San Francisco Accordion Chamber Ensemble (ACE), playing the bass-accordion in AbsolutAccord, schmoozing with her many accordion friends and helping at least a few folks in the general public appreciate the variety of musical treats, which an accordion can provide.
David Perry studied accordion from ages six to seventeen, most of that time with Ernst Gloe who taught music at the California Conservatory of Music and at California State University, East Bay.
David played the clarinet for many years in various groups throughout the San Francisco Bay Area but the accordion sat unused in the closet for forty-eight years. In the spring of 2008, David crossed paths with a member of the San Francisco Accordion Chamber Ensemble (ACE) who invited him to join that organization and David now performs with ACE and AbsolutAccord.
Joe Simoni has been playing accordion for almost fifty years and has studied with San Francisco’s own Michael Corino and Professor Giovanni Vitale, an accomplished and highly respected accordion instructor from Lucca, Italy. Joe is the leader of the JPS Band, which has been entertaining audiences from Napa to Monterey. Joe is also proud and honored to be one of the three original accordionists in AbsolutAccord.
Sharon Walters Greyhosky began playing the accordion at age six. Sharon studied with (and taught in the studio of) Orlando Meni-Ketti, and later studied for several years with Ernst Gloe. Sharon is a member of the San Francisco Accordion Chamber Ensemble (ACE), plays with the San Francisco Cabaret Opera Company and accompanies poetry presenters at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. Sharon is a member of the Accordionists and Teachers Guild; she resides and teaches accordion in San Francisco.
Norma Zonay-Parsons is originally from Southern California. Norma has entertained since her teens, was lead singer and accordionist touring with her own trio for a number of years, playing in clubs, shows and radio. Norma teamed for several years in a violin/accordion duo with a noted violin impresario in Salt Lake City, doing POPS Concerts and a weekly variety TV show. Norma now teaches in her studio in San Jose and performs with Bellows and Bow, a violin/accordion duo, and with AbsolutAccord.
The next performance of AbsolutAccord will be on August 8, 2010 2 PM at the Rengstorff House ,3070 N. Shoreline Boulevard, Mountain View, CA. Their CD which includes jazz standards, tangos, ethnic music, and classical music is available. Individual selections are also available from ITunes.
For further information: e-mail: info@absolutaccord.com
