ATG 2024 Festival Page
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts
ATG does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.
Anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult to attend the festival or compete in any category.
Featured Guest ArtistsÂ
Saturday Evening Program (7/27)
ATG Festival Orchestra
​
The ATG Festival Accordion Orchestra Concert is a long-standing activity which brings ATG members from all over the USA, Canada, and some overseas countries to perform together.
Conductor Joan C. Sommers is a lifelong ATG Member and past President and ATG Champion. She is founder of the CIA World Accordion Orchestra and was awarded the title of Professor Emerita upon her retirement from the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory of Music (USA), where she established and taught the accordion degree program for forty years. She has arranged innumerable works for the accordion orchestra, and often for the UMKC Accordion Orchestra, a large symphonic accordion orchestra (the UKMC Ensemble is featured in the Thursday evening program).
Read more of her biography on the Festival Orchestra invitation page, https://www.atgaccordions.com/festival-orchestra.
ATG World Cup Champion
The Saturday Evening Concert will also feature the champion of the ATG World Cup Competition being held on Friday morning.
​
​
Friday Evening Program (7/26)
Grayson Masefield
http://www.accordions.com/gmasefield/
​
Grayson Masefield is a New Zealand born accordionist and is the first person to win World Championships in Classical, Virtuoso and Digital accordion categories. He is the Instrumental Music Teacher for accordion at the University of Auckland, New Zealand and is invited to perform concerts, give masterclasses and serve as jury at festivals and universities around the world.
​
Grayson will be joined by guitarist Beau Bledsoe and other local Kansas City musicians (Coleen Dieker - violin, Mark Lowrey - piano, Jeff Harshbarger - bass) in order to bring you some excellent tango music.
Beau Bledsoe performs and records classical music, jazz and folkloric music from around the world as he seeks to integrate different musical cultures with diverse audiences. Through his many varied projects and ensembles, Beau has toured extensively throughout Europe, Russia, South America and North America in addition to producing fifteen recordings under his recording label T​zigane. ​Beau is currently artistic director and founder of E​nsemble Iberica w​hich explores the music of Spain, Portugal and other areas of the world connected to the Iberian diaspora.
Bridge & Wolak
​
Bridge & Wolak are a globe-trotting musical duo from Canada who create life-affirming concerts full of beauty, virtuosity and humour.
Michael Bridge, accordion, and Kornel Wolak, clarinet (both also play piano), met over a decade ago and immediately established an artistic alliance based on the attraction of opposites: Wolak - intensely focussed with a world view infused with sardonic humour; Bridge- flexible and fearless with a playful wit.
What they have in common is a love of classical, jazz and world music, a fascination with fusing genres and a passion for performance. They play dozens of original shows every year, exploring everything from Bach to Benny Goodman and figure they’ve logged about 350,000 kilometres on the road - from Kraków to Quito, from Nancy, France to Fargo, ND - about the same distance as a trip to the moon.
Thursday Evening Program (7/25)
UMKC Community Accordion Ensemble
Directed by Joan Sommers
Most of the players in the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) Community Accordion Ensemble are alumni of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and former members of the renowned UMKC Accordion Orchestra. The players make their living in various careers, but each has remained devoted to promoting the accordion and its varied repertoire, including transcriptions, commissions and other original works.
Over the last years, they have performed in San Francisco, Kansas City, the 80th Anniversary of the American Accordionists’ Association (AAA) in Alexandria, VA, Superior, WI at A World of Accordions Museum and at the recent Accordionists and Teachers Guild, (ATG) in Lisle (Chicago), IL. In addition, they have participated in the USA contributions to World Accordion Day events, when videos of their performances were broadcast during the live presentations.
Director Joan C. Sommers has held numerous positions in several music organizations, including the Accordionists and Teachers Guild International (ATG) and the Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes (CIA – IMC-UNESCO) where she was recently awarded lifetime Honorary Membership. Joan C. Sommers was awarded the title of Professor Emerita upon her retirement from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music (USA), where she established and taught the accordion degree program for forty years. She has arranged innumerable works for both Accordion Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble over many years, works that have been performed around the globe.
Today she enjoys performing with fellow accordionists in duo, with other instrumentalists, with the UMKC Community Accordion Ensemble and working as guest Conductor with various orchestras around the world including founding and leading the magnificent CIA World Accordion Orchestra in many countries around the world including the USA, Scotland, New Zealand, Croatia, Canada, Austria and Lithuania and twice in both China and Italy.
The 2024 UMKC Community Accordion Ensemble Members: Joan C. Sommers, Kenn Baert, Ron Barrow, Sherry Carroll, Jane Christison, Mary Ann Covone, Ron Dake, Kevin Friedrich, Christine Jarquio, Betty Jo Simon, and Samantha Jarquio Wagner. Additionally, former members of the ensemble will be joining for a few songs in honor of Joan’s birthday celebration. These members are Liz Finch, Paula Bechtold and Cathy Sommers Tiritoglu.
Mirco Patarini & String Quintet
https://www.mircopatarini.com/
​
Mirco was born in Spoleto (Italy). In 1978 he began studying music at the CDMI (Centro Didattico Musicale Italiano) in Spoleto.
In 1981 he ranked first in the Italian Pre-Championship of Castelfidardo, obtaining the right to access the 31st CMA Accordion World Trophy, where he was the youngest participant.
Between 1983 and 1985 he won the Italian Pre-Chamionship three times, so that he could compete for the World Trophy in Caracas (Venezuela), Caldas de Rahina (Portugal), and La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), where he won 1st prize in 1984.
His concert activity ranges from classical repertoire to modern music; from acoustic to electronic and MIDI accordion; from solo performance to concerts for accordion and orchestra, reaching 69 countries around the world. His career boasts many important collaborations with famous artists such as Luciano Pavarotti and Nicola Piovani in the most prestigious theaters in the world.
He is the President of “Scandalli Accordions” company, one of the historical and most prestigious accordion factories in the world.
Since 2007 he has been the Artistic Director of the IAC (Italian Accordion Culture) association, Italian Premier Voting Member of the CIA. For years he has been the Italian juror for the CIA Accordion Coupe Mondiale.
​
Since 2021 Mirco has been the President of CIA IMC-UNESCO
​
Mirco will be joined by a String Quintet who are all members of the Kansas City Symphony
Alex Shum
Violin
Anne-Marie Brown
Violin
Jesse Yukimura
Viola
Lawrence Figg
Cello
Nils Aardahl
Bass
Wednesday Evening Program (7/24)
Stas Venglevski
​
His artistry, dazzling technical command, and sensitivity have brought Stanislav, "Stas," Venglevski, a native of the Republic of Moldova increasing acclaim as a virtuoso of the Bayan. A two-time first prize winner of Bayan competition in the Republic of Moldova, Stas is a graduate of the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow where he received his Masters Degree in Music under the tutelage of the famed Russian Bayanist, Friedrich Lips. In 1992 he immigrated to the United States.
Stas is an Accordionist, a Musician, an Arranger, an Entertainer and a Teacher. Stas' repertoire includes his original compositions, a broad range of classical, contemporary and ethnic music. He has toured extensively as a soloist throughout the former Soviet Union, Canada, Europe, and the United States, including numerous performances with Doc Severinsen, Steve Allen and with Garrison Keillor on the Prairie Home Companion Show. Additionally, he has performed with symphony orchestras throughout the United States. He performed the world premiere of Concerto No. 2 by Anthony Galla-Rini and also the world premiere of Bayan and Beyond, composed for Stas by Dan Lawitts. He is a regular participant the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's Arts in Community Education Program (ACE); has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra; has done television commercials and performed in theater productions; produced 15 acclaimed albums including a transcription of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite for Bayan as well as one of original compositions.
The brilliant artistry and musical virtuosity of Stas afford an expanded dimension in music and an innovative musical adventure to the audience. Beyond his artistry he is a consummate entertainer capable of engaging any audience.
Nikolay Bine
Nikolay has been playing accordion since the age of 6. He studied at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and has already won many prestigious competitions including: first place in the Trophée Mondial in 2014 (Lithuania) and in 2017, placed third at the Internationaler Akkordeonwettbewerb Klingenthal (Germany), Coupe Mondial and Citta di Castelfidardo (Italy), and Trophee Mondial (France). Nikolay has performed with world-famous jazz musicians such as Chick Corea, David Binney and Simone Zanchini. He has toured as a soloist and with his jazz ensemble “Four ever band,” participating in many international festivals.