The Washington Metropolitan Accordion Society (WMAS) enjoyed excellent and well-attended programs so far this spring, and is looking forward to May’s Guest Artist Series Concert featuring Russkie Musicanti on May 18. This ensemble from the Washington Balalaika Society has been performing locally for years. On May 18, they will be joined by renowned Ukrainian artists, Natalija (domra) and Volodymyr (bayan) Marunych. The concert will be held at 4 pm at the Sleepy Hollow United Methodist Church in Falls Church, Virginia. We hope to see you there!

In March, we held our first, and very successful, International Folk Festival. Five WMAS members presented short programs: Mike Rubin, Jewish music; Yimeng Huang, Chinese music; Joan Grauman, Bulgarian and Macedonian music; Robert Ford, Bolivian music; and Frank Vidergar, Slovenian music. Jim Vandelly brought a terrific display of Russian costumes, instruments and music books, and Joan Grauman brought costumes of Eastern Europe. Of course, the music featured the accordion!

In April, we were treated to an excellent presentation by Pat Racioppa on “emergency accordion repairs”, something we all need to know and hope we will never need to do. Then, Pat played for us – lovely music on a beautiful spring day!

In June, WMAS will hold its annual spring concert with solos, duets and ensembles performing for each other and for the community. This will be our 11th annual spring concert.

For more information, please contact Joan Grauman at joangrauman@verizon.net or Peter DiGiovanni at peter@musicisforever.com

Photos:
1. Members in costumes, International Festival, March, 2014: l to r: Donna and Val Zadnik (Slovenian), Paul Aebersold (Bavarian), Mike Rubin (Klezmer), Jim Vandelly (Russian), Joan Grauman (Bulgarian), Yimeng Huang (Chinese).
2. Pat Racioppa
3. Russkie Musikanti, Peter DiGiovanni, accordionist
4. Nataliya and Volodymyr Marunych