On Monday, June 20, 2011, Joseph Natoli performed for the first time at the famed Chicago Accordion Club meeting in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst, Illinois. The Chicago Accordion Club is one of the most well-known accordion clubs in the country and Joe is preceded at this monthly meeting by such great artists as Art Van Damme, Frank Marocco, Eddie Monteiro, and Stas Venglevski.
Joe delighted all with a variety of original compositions and arrangements, all specifically created for the Roland FR7x Virtual accordion, and exploiting the robust orchestral sounding capabilities of the instrument. Joe played a very accurate recreation of Aaron Copland’s orchestral masterpiece “Fanfare For the Common Man,” as well as a program of classical, light classical, and jazz favorites.
Joe presented his CDs “Waltz For Ron” (an all Roland recording) and “Omaggio” (an all acoustic Giulietti free bass recording) at the event, along with his new “Adult Accordion Method (Vol 1).” In addition, since Joe is a Roland V-Accordion dealer, he answered questions about the V-Accordion line.
Joe will also perform at the 2011 AAA Festival in Charleston on the the Thursday, July 14th, Cabaret NIght. He will present his workshop, “Getting the Most Out of Your Digital Accordion, Midi Orchestration” on Friday, July 15th at 8:30 AM.
Joseph Natoli lives in northeast Ohio and has been a performer and advocate of the accordion since 1960. Joe started his studies with prominent Ohio accordion teacher, the late Mickey Bisilia of Youngstown, Ohio. Like many other accordionists of his time, Joe developed his classical performance skills in state and national competitions hosted by the American Accordionists’ Association (AAA), eventually winning its national title at the age of 18 in Washington, D.C. Later that year (1972), Joe became the AAA United States representative in the Coupe Mondiale world accordion competition held in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was chosen first runner up. Joe also released an album for Giulietti Accordion Corporation that year entitled Accordion Masterworks presents Joseph Natoli and Richard Romiti, which includes many unique solo and duet arrangements and original compositions for the free bass accordion.
Natoli was the first student ever to be accepted at the University of Toronto using free bass accordion as an applied major instrument, studying with renowned Canadian accordionist Joseph Macerollo. While at the University of Toronto, Joe participated in the first International Accordion Symposium as a performer and composer, for which his Eclat for 5 accordions was commissioned. In 1978 and 1979, Joe also received 2 substantial Ohio Arts Council grants to write and record Prism/Rebirth for free bass accordion, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, and a large constituent of percussion.
Joseph Natoli, 1972 AAA US Virtuoso champion, 1972 Coupe Mondiale 1st Runner Up, and 2008 Roland US Digital Accordion champion, and active Roland clinician has found a way to teach students anywhere in the world who want to study with him, using Skype’s available technology. Since current laptop and desktop computers typically come equipped with a web cam and microphone, and since most people currently have high-speed internet access, Joe has been successfully using a free online video conferencing tool to teach students anywhere on the planet via web cam.
Joe recently released an Adult Accordion Method which comes with a 63-track CD that includes every exercise and musical selection in the book. Although it is always wise to find a good teacher, this method is written with the self-learner in mind as well. Therefore if a student is in a remote area where access to accordion teachers is not readily available, a student can use the method book and its accompanying CD as an effective self-teaching tool. Both are designed to give the self-taught as well as the instructed student the ability to make as much progress as possible. If a student is fortunate enough to have found a teacher, then think of the accompanying CD as a way to take the teacher home to help practice the other six days of the week!
Joseph Natoli is very active at accordion festivals and conventions as a clinician and performer. Make sure you attend his workshop and performance at the 2011 AAA Festival in Charleston.
For further information on Joe’s workshops or purchasing his CD’s and books:
janpresspub@yahoo.com
