Sammy Thomas will perform at the AAA 75th Anniversary Festival Carmen Carrozza Luncheon & Concert on Friday, August 16th, 2013 at 11:30 AM at the Crystal Ballroom in the New Yorker Hotel, NYC. Guest artists at this event will also include Mary Tokarski, Beverly Roberts Curnow, Mario Tacca, US Champion 1961 and singer Mary Mancini. Luncheon Concert tickets are included with AAA Event Package. Individual tickets are available in advance at $35/person.A limited number of tickets may be available at the Festival on a first come, first serve basis.
Sammy will also present the Friday Night Concert opening performance at the Wallace Accordion Festival in Wallace, Idaho on August 9,2013. See the article in this issue about the Wallace Accordion Festival.
Sammy Thomas was 11 when he started taking lessons with Ilmar Kuljus, who ran the Accordia-Nova studio in Spokane and taught hundreds of students over 50-plus years. Kuljus retired soon after Thomas started, selling his studio and moving to Arizona so Pamela Thomas drove her son south every spring. The Thomases lived with Kuljus for a month at a time, spending hours a day in lessons. Pamela Thomas served as his accordion coach back in Spokane. As a teen he competed in the American Accordionists’ Association’s national competition four times, winning twice. He also traveled overseas twice to compete in the Coupe Mondiale.
Sam Thomas was the 2006 USA Piano Accordion Champion but after the sudden death of his father in 2006, Sam’s enthusiasm for playing and competing slowed and he played very little. The 23 year old was encouraged to break his performance hiatus when it was announced that the Trophée Mondial would take place close to home. Sam qualified and became the first American to place first in the Trophée Mondial in more than 25 years. Sam credits the win to the variety in his repertoire, but also his “American style.”
Make plans to attend the Wallace Accordion Festival August 9-11 and the AAA 75th Festival August 14-18 in NYC and hear Sammy perform. More details about the AAA Festival in this July news issue.
For further information: ameraccord1938@gmail.com
