Joseph Natoli performs on Sunday August 7, 2022 at 7:PM with the Packard Band in Warren Ohio, and SFC Aaron D Scott, clarinetist with the U.S. Army Band. Joseph will be performing the accordion part for the John Williams composition entitled “Viktor’s Tale for Clarinet, Accordion, and Orchestra” and will be accompanying the clarinet soloist SFC Aaron D. Scott in the performance.

Joe shares, “Viktor’s Tale” is a very intriguing composition by John Williams which he wrote for the 2004 Tom Hanks movie The Terminal and it presents a very memorable, tuneful, and challenging integration between the clarinet and the accordion part. For those of you who have not heard this wonderful selection, you can watch the John Williams BBC Proms 2017 performance:

Joseph was also asked to play a solo selection, which he will do immediately following “Viktor’s Tale”. It was exactly 50 years ago that he performed with the Packard Band, doing a big band arrangement of “Donkey Serenade”, by Rudolf Friml and arranged by Edmud Cifani. It has been years since Joseph performed this piece, so it seemed only fitting to dust off the cobwebs and perform it again 50 years later, but this time, doing both the big band and the accordion parts himself on digital accordion!

A footnote about the Packard Band. They have been in existence since 1955 and are affiliated with the famed Packard Music Hall in Warren Ohio, which was in turn named as such because of its endowment support from the Packard Brothers who developed the famous Packard automobile and ultimately the Packard Electric Corporation, which was the electronic components division of many different automobile brands, but especially General Motors. It’s even more fitting that Joseph worked at Packard Electric for about 12 years. Packard Music Hall was also the home of Warren performances of the famed Kenley Players who did off Broadway performances of musicals and theater all over the country. It is definitely a small world however, especially since Army clarinetist SFC Aaron D Scott performed for many years with Manny Bobenreith, AAA Board Member who is also good friends with Joseph Natoli! If you are local to the area, come out and enjoy this outdoor performance.

Joseph Natoli makes his home in central Ohio with his wife JoAnn and has been a performer and advocate of the accordion since the age of seven. Joe started his studies with prominent Ohio accordion teacher, the late Mickey Bisilia of Youngstown, Ohio. Joe later attended and achieved Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music where he also studied free bass accordion as his applied major instrument with renowned Canadian virtuoso, Joseph Macerollo.

Joe is a past president of the Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG) as well as co-founder and director of the International Digital Electronic Accordion Society (IDEAS), which holds its annual Symposium in November each year.

Joe has released 5 CDs, including Omaggio, Waltz For Ron, Merry Christmas, Chameleon Vols 1 & 2, with Vol 3 on its way in early 2022 (to include his latest compositions including Alone…, Homage & Offspring to the Bumblebee, Fantasy On a Well-Known Melody, & Remembering Ennio, along with many others).

Joe tries to use his orchestrational knowledge to exploit all the best coloristic possibilities on digital accordion. Joe’s compositions and arrangements traverse a diverse set of musical styles (including classical, light classical, jazz, ethnic, avant garde, and cinematic).

For any information about IDEAS and/or his publishing company JANPress Music, you are invited to send any requests to josephnatoli@ymail.com or to janpressmusic@yahoo.com.