Victor Prieto performed recently with Yo-Yo Ma, and Cristina Pato at the Colbert Report, presenting his new CD “Songs of Joy and Peace” Sony Records BMG Masterworks. You can see the performance here at the Colbert Report website. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/189590/october-27-2008/yo-yo-ma-pt–2
Musicians: Carlo De Rosa, bass. John Hadfield, percussion,. Shane Shanahan, percussion
Accordionist and composer, Victor Prieto is revolutionizing the way that the accordion is played by creating new sounds and techniques for this instrument. His music embraces different tendencies that come from Jazz, Tango, Classical and Celtic Roots enriched with new rhythms and colors. He is the creator of a new technique for the accordion called “chord approach on both hands”, which creates rich and elaborate harmonies.
Victor Prieto was born in Orense (Spain) in 1975. At the age of nine, encouraged by his mother, Victor began to play the accordion. He pursued his studies in Classical accordion at the Orense Conservatory (Spain), while taking harmony, arranging and improvisation classes at Estudio Escola de Musica (Santiago de Compostela, Spain). After receiving a scholarship by the highly respected Jazz schoo, Berklee College of Music,Victor decided to pursue the performance major under the direction of Joanne Brackeen. Victor studied accordion at Berklee College of Music. During his stay at Berklee, Victor became friends with one of his mentors, Oscar Stagnaro. In 2002 Victor moved to New York where he quickly established himself as one of the most prolific and versatile accordionists on the music and Jazz scenes. As a leader, Victor has performed at many prestigious venues and events such as Berklee Performance Center, Lincoln Center, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Blue Note NY, New Jersey Performance Art Center, Three Rivers Musical Festival, Williamsburg Jazz Festival, Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center. Victor has shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma, Jeff Ballard, Chris Cheek, Paquito D’Rivera, Regina Carter, Donny McCaslin, Lionel Louke among others and is involved in projects such as Pablo Aslan’s Avantango, Emilio Solla’s NY Jazz Tango Project, Alexis Cuadrado’s Trio Iberico and Fernando Otero X Tango. He teaches Master Classes in Spain, Italy, Portugal, USA and has headed the jazz accordion studies at the Brooklyn Conservatory (2003 – 2004).
Victor is a recipient of numerous awards and prizes for excellence in accordion performance and composition, among them are: the Creative Performer award from the Spanish Association of Artists and Performers, and the first prize at CMZK’s Concourse of Composition (Argentina). Victor now lives in New York City dividing his time between performing, teaching and recording. He has recently introduced his new CD, “Persistencia” with Foxhaven Records.
For a full schedule, visit www.victorprieto.net
