The AAA Board has been busy making many exciting plans for this year’s festival, which will take place from July 10-13, 2025. This consolidated schedule will be packed with events, performers, workshops and food functions beginning with Thursday evening performances featuring the Accordion Pops Orchestra and the Busso Festival Orchestra, followed by an “After Hours Party” featuring our attendees.

The full registration package will include luncheons and dinners on Friday and Saturday with live music at each event. Other included food functions feature a reception after the Friday evening concert and a breakfast meeting on Sunday morning.

We are delighted to announce our incredible celebrated guest artists: the Dallas Vietty* Trio (jazz, gypsy jazz, French musette), Peter Stan(Balkan, Klezmer), and Filipe Hostins (Brazilian, jazz, classical). We will also feature a few of our very talented Board members: Don Gerundo, Ray Oreggia, Frank Busso, Jr. and Frank Busso, Sr. Exciting workshops will include “Playing for Oktoberfests”, presented by Dominic Karcic, assisted by Ray Oreggia and Beverly Roberts Curnow.

We are delighted to be featuring a special presentation called “Meet the Family” where Kevin Friedrich will demonstrate 17 different accordions/free reed instruments from the collection of “A World of Accordions Museum” in Superior, Wisconsin. Kevin will showcase both historical elements as well a some of the oddities of accordion development over the years.

The festival will feature an orchestra for intermediate to advanced players under the baton of our very personable and talented guest conductor Mary Ann Covone, plus a beginner adult orchestra led by Joanna Darrow, and a youth orchestra led by Dee Langley.

Please save the date and join us for this special event! Along with performances, orchestras and workshops, there will be competitions for students of all ages and proficiency levels.

There will be performance opportunities for all attendees, plus vendors, exhibits and more! The hotel in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania is lovely and suits our needs well! It is a short drive or train ride into the heart of Philadelphia where there are beautiful parks, museums, historic areas, waterfronts and small quaint towns nearby.

*See brief bios on our guest performers below.

Please visit the AAA website festival information page (https://ameraccord.com/festival.php) for hotel discount code, registration info (to come) and all updates.

Hope to see you there!!

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DALLAS VIETTY

Dallas’ unique style comes from his background in the American jazz tradition, as well as study and immersion in the European swing tradition of Django Reinhardt (Gypsy Jazz) and with French accordionists including Frederic Deschamps, Jacques Mornet and Natalie Bouchiex.

Dallas remains very active teaching giving workshops and performing on the East Coast and in California. He has performed at festivals including Musikfest, TEDx Philly, the Djangoary Festival, on Broadway as the accordionist in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, for Djangofest Northwest, Dizzy’s Club at NY’s Lincoln Center, in New Orleans, in France and two tours of Switzerland with Grammy winning clarinetist Linus Wyrsch. His pleasant style and excellent skills delight audiences everywhere!

FELIPE HOSTINS

Felipe Hostins, Brazilian composer, accordionist, multi-instrumentalist, fuses jazz, Brazilian folk and classical music to create a distinctive sound. He discovered his passion for music at age 3, influenced by his grandfather, and later moved to NYC to launch an international career.

Felipe’s versatility has led to collaborations with many renowned artists. His musical output includes featured composer and performer on the album CHAMA by Cyro Baptista, performer and co-composer of the album IMIGRA in partnership with Ian Ruas, among others. Felipe was a finalist in the 2nd Premio da Musica Instrumental competition in Brazil in 2024.

Felipe is co-creator of the musical duo Forropera with Chrystal E. Williams. Blending Brazilian folk and classical music, the duo aims to promote unity, peace and understanding through music. Forropera’s Carnegie Hall debut in March 2024 featured a world premiere composed for the duo by John Glover and Kelley Rourke.

PETER STAN

Well known as the accordionist in the celebrated bands “Slavic Soul Party”, “Yale Strom and Hot Pstromi”, and the “Eva Salina and Peter Stan Duo”, Peter Stan is truly delighted to be performing for and mingling with a group of accordionists at our AAA Festival!

Peter was born in Banat on the border of Serbia and Roumania into a family of Balkan musicians. He studied accordion with his father, and at the Queensboro Institute of Music. He continued his studies in the US with Jacob Neupauer and Stanley and Joanna Darrow.

Peter has performed with Harold Seletsky and Valerie Capers in a Jewish and Jazz Concert in Carnegie Hall, on Garrison Keillor’s radio show, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and in festivals in Europe. With his accordion he has toured the US, Africa, Serbia, Germany France, Hong Kong, Portugal and others. He has appeared in several movies playing his accordion including “On the QT”, starring James Earl Jones and Sam Ball.