During these difficult times, it is always uplifting to witness the musical talents and progress of young people. Gia Ciccone is such a person, talented, motivated and always willing to share her musical talents with others. For these reasons, I thought our readers would enjoy her performance. Gia’s proud dad is AAA President, Dr. Joseph Ciccone, who also performs with the Hudson Valley Accordion Ensemble. The great Carmen Carrozza was her uncle.

14 year-old Accordionist, Gia Ciccone, is in the 9th grade at Somers High School in Somers, NY. She started taking accordion lesson at the age of 5 with her Great Uncle Maestro Carmen Carrozza. Gia has consistently entered and won many prizes at the American Accordionists’ Association’s Annual Festival/Competitions and is a student of Maestro Mario Tacca, with whom she has been studying Accordion & Music with for the past 6 years.

Gia has participated in The AAA’s Youth Orchestra under the direction of Mary Tokarski and has been featured as a Guest Artist for: Mario Tacca & Mary Mancini’s “A Candlelight Christmas Concert”, The Connecticut Accordion Association, The Carmen Carrozza Scholarship Fundraiser Events, The Valtaro Reunion, Mario Tacca AAA’s Life Achievement Award Concert, The Feast of St Joseph the Worker, The AAA’s Youth Outreach Program, The Hudson Valley Accordion Ensemble, The Accordion Pops Orchestra and the 2019 American Accordionists’ Association’s Gala Banquet/Concert.

Gia is the first student Accordionist to receive The DeBellis School of Performing Arts Music Scholarship on May 19, 2019 and was the First Place Winner of the 2019 Carmen Carrozza Scholarship Competition Jr Division which took place in King of Prussia PA July 16, 2019 at the American Accordionists’ Association annual Festival/ Competitions.

At the 2021 AAA Virtual Competition, Gia won the following awards:
1st Place – Honors – Intermediate  (Cascade, Tico Tico)
Gold – Open – Intermediate  (Hungarian Dance #5)
Gold – Ethnic – Intermediate (Samba Italiano)
Gold – Evaluation  (Tico Tico)

AWW will continue to feature young accordionists each month in the Children’s Corner. You may send information about your talented students to Ritabelll@aol.com for consideration to be included in this section.

For further information about Gia: drjciccone@aol.com