Accordionist Rocco Jerry and his daughter, Marina, performed new works for the accordion and cello at the Mid Atlantic Music Teachers Guild Festival on March 31, 2012 in Whippany, New Jersey.

They performed works by composers by Peter Machajdi, Max Simoncic, Bjorn Borstad Skjelbred, Tuji Takahashi, and Christina Wolff. presenting the following program (More about these composers in future USA News issues):

CHRISTIAN WOLFF – “Accordionists (and possibly others)” (2010) for accordion, cello, and pre-recorded accompaniment * (Movements 1, 2, and 4)
YUJI TAKAHASHI – “snow/wind/radios” (2010) for two accordions and narrator (poems by Diane di Prima)
PETER MACHAJDIK – “Early and Late Clarities” (2011) for accordion**
MAX SIMONCIC – “Reminiscence” (2011) for accordion and cello
BJORN BORSTAD SKJELBRED – “The Verge of Understanding: Playing Wittgenstein” (2011) for two accordions**
*World Premiere
**US Premiere

Rocco Jerry has given solo concerts throughout the US including New York City, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia, at venues including the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institute (Washington D.C.), the National City Christian Church (Washington D.C.), and other churches and halls in the US. He has performed with several chamber music groups including the Downtown Ensemble and the Flexible Orchestra and premiered new works by Peter Machajdik, Daniel Goode, Conrad Kehn, Arthur B. Rubinstein, Max Simoncic, and Robert Young McMahan, and has given the US premieres of many other pieces.  

Rocco Jerry performs each year at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York City, during the annual AAA Concert Series , organized by Dr. William Schimmel. In 2009, Rocco premiered Conrad Kehn’s multi-media work “Maximinimal” for Accordion, Electronics, and Video at The Festival of Firsts, at The Brick Elephant in Valley Falls, New York (presided by composer, Mary Jane Leach). In May-June 2004, he worked closely with Hollywood film composer, Arthur B. Rubinstein, and performed accordion in the premiere run of Rubinstein’s new musical “He Who Gets Slapped”, with the next run scheduled for the Mark Taper Auditorium in Los Angeles.

After being awarded a SPAF Project Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts in 2000, Rocco Jerry premiered Robert Young McMahan’s “Mists and Mountains” in solo concerts in upstate New York. In 2007, Rocco began the Accordion Ensemble Project , which was awarded an SOS Grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2008. In this ongoing project, Rocco is recording all parts of accordion ensemble works, so that they may be performed as a solo, accompanied by his recording of the remaining parts.

To date, he has performed the accordion ensemble works of Bjorn Borstad Skjelbred, Peter Machajdik, Magnar Am, Kjell Perder, Jacob ter Veldhuis, and Yuji Takahashi, with more works added each year.

Marina Jerry studied cello with Karen Russell of Stevens School  and Heather Walker at O’Rourke Middle School in Burnt Hills, NY. She performs with her school orchestra, and has also performed with All-County and other community orchestras, and as a member of her church ensemble.  She enjoys playing a variety of music. The March performance at MAMTG was her first opportunity to perform with her father. She will perform the third movement of Max Simoncic’s Accordion Concerto later this year. In November 2011, Accordion virtuoso Peter Soave gave the World Premiere of Max Simoncic’s “Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra” with the Stockton Symphony Orchestra in California.

For further information: rajerry@juno.com