The Leavenworth International Accordion Celebration happens from June 22nd-25 2023. LIAC is a world-class accordion festival in the town of Leavenworth located in Cascade mountains of Washington State. The festival features concerts with renown performers, workshops, jam sessions, accordion competitions, accordion parade, and accordion vendors. The Northwest Accordion Society, proud sponsors of LIAC, brings people together “for the love of the accordion”. 

2023 Featured Performers Include:

Joey Miskulin is a multiple Grammy Award winning American accordionist and producer. In a music career spanning more than six decades, Joey has collaborated with a range of artists including Frankie Yankovic, Johnny Cash, John Denver, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Paul McCartney, Ricky Skaggs, U2, Shania Twain, as well as many others. He is a member of the Grammy Winning Grand Ole Opry  quartet “Riders In The Sky.” 

Alicia Jo Straka (previously Alicia Baker) is a professional accordionist, singer, pianist, and composer from Portland, OR, currently residing in Denver, CO. Throughout her career, Alicia has won multiple International accordion competitions, worked as an artist for the prestigious Roland Corporation, sung leading operatic roles, and has performed at many notable venues including Carnegie Weill Hall and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. 

Andy Mirkovich studied accordion starting at the age of five. He was the featured performer at the Space Needle Restaurant in Seattle, for 11 years, and has performing experience in radio, television, movies and concerts. He has performed with or for many artists, including Lawrence Welk, Myron Floren, Dick Contino, Frank Yankovich, Liberace, Burl Ives, The Vienna Boy’s Choir, King Hussein of Jordan, and the King and Queen of Norway.

Lyle Schaefer and Toby Hanson are each accomplished bandleaders and accordionists in their own right.  Toby and Lyle switch off effortlessly to create a whirling flurry of notes, reminiscent of the finest accordion duos in the Cleveland-style tradition going all the way back to Yankovic and Pecon.  Die-hard polka fans and newcomers alike will both love the polka stylings of Lyle and Toby.

Creosote is the accordion duo of Jamie Maschler and Gabriel Hall-Rodrigues based out of Seattle, WA. Together they play a dynamic array of original and world music. Maschler and Rodrigues are both seasoned musicians and have individually and collectively mastered their craft of performing, composing and arranging on the accordion.  Expect to hear elegant and clever arrangements of new and old Brazilian and world music. 

Andy Gonzales and Juan Barco Singer and songwriter Juan Barco, born in Lytle, Texas, brings an enormous wealth of experience to the Tejano folk music for which he is so well-known in the Northwest and his native Texas. His songs are colored by his childhood experiences in the migrant labor camps of the South and the Midwest, his service in the military at the Army Firing Range in Yakima, his rich musical family background, and by his twenty years as a caseworker for the Washington State Department of Health and Human Services.

Max Kyllonen was raised in the Andreas Keller Restaurant in Leavenworth, WA. Having embraced the inherent Bavarian tendency to seek harder paths after years of piano accordion playing, he switched to the Alpine Style Button Box following periods of wandering through the alps. Many songs and a few pilgrimages back to visit his Bavarian Folk music teacher just north of Berchtesgaden, Bavaria later, Max can be found continuing to fan the flames of tradition at the Andreas Keller and around Leavenworth.

2023 LIAC Workshop Summary:
Workshops are $13 if paid by June 12 or $15 at Leavenworth
#1 Conjunto Music and the Button Diatonic Accordion
With Andy Gonzalez & friends
Fri 10:00am Grange/Upper

#2 Accordion Gym
With Jamie Maschler and Gabe Hall-Rodrigues
Fri 11:30am Grange/Upper

#3 How to Play Together
With Toby Hanson and Lyle Schaefer
Fri 1:00pm Grange/Upper

#4 Varying Your Performance
With Grammy Award Winner, Joey Miskulin
Fri 4:30pm Grange/Upper

#5 The Difference Between Demonstrating and Communicating with your Audience
A Master Workshop with Andy Mirkovich
Sat 10:00am Grange/Upper

#6 Ask A Teacher
Workshop with Cooksie Kramer (Kaserzon)
ABCA, LBCA, Member ABRSM Trinity College London, UK
Sat 1:30pm Grange/Upper

#7 The Art of the Musette
With Alicia Jo Straka
Sat 4:30pm Grange/Upper

Be sure to attend the FREE Sessions!
Playing in a group; performing at the gazebo
with Toby Hanson and Lyle Schaefer
Thurs 3:00 – 4:30 PM Grange/Upper

The Button Box Across the Centuries with Tom Tilton
Fri 12:30 – 1:15pm Festhalle by Button Box display