Stas Venglevski Music Foundation Recording Project at Curtis, Michigan

by Ron Griffin and Beverley Fess

The Stas Venglevski Music Foundation has been sponsoring annual music workshops and concerts for several years in Houston, Tx and Madison, WI.  This year, Stas planned a different event.  Stas has performed several times in Curtis, Michigan at their Performing Arts Center. It is a small township of 1100 people who love music and Stas’ accordion music.  The community offered to host Stas’ recording project in their off season.  

The orchestra is comprised of youth, young adults and a few older players.  All the music has been composed by the orchestra youth members working with Stas.  Megumi Hada is the organizational guru that puts the logistics together and keeps everything running smoothly. Stas made arrangements for a professional videographer team and audio professional to come record the 15 original pieces being played by the orchestra.  A Saturday night concert was played for the community in thanks for their help with local transportation, all meals during the week while we rehearsed and recorded.  Beverley was concert mistress, Gail Campenella was an anchor player as well as Amanda Balcom, Megumi Hada, Dani Keiko, Ron Griffin, Kim Parker and Chilharu Ebihara (from Japan for this event).

The purpose of this recording project was to showcase the development of the composers and performance of their original music.  Additional youth members will be needed to participate in the future as the existing players move on in their careers and lives.  This recording will be valuable for demonstrating the activities of the Stas Venglevski Music Foundation, attracting donations and recruiting new members.

The local Curtis community worked hard to take care of us with food and lodging.  Many new friends were made and Curtis, Michigan is looking forward to seeing us in the future.

More About the Stas Venglevski Music Foundation and Houston Accordion Orchestra Recording Project

By Megumi Hada

A small town, Curtis, in Michigan, hosted and welcomed our Houston Accordion Orchestra from

January 3 to 10 for a recording project.

All rehearsals, performances, and recordings were held at the Erickson Center for the Arts and

were open to the local public for opportunities to meet the orchestra members and experience

the process of preparation for recording and performances. Every single night, there were

performances by our musicians. Seven days of rehearsing, performing, and video recording 15

original compositions written by our young participants. Local school students were brought in to

meet the orchestra, which offered the students a chance to learn about the accordion and meet

orchestra members.

The local community arranged a dog sledding experience for us, the homeschool cooking club

made us a wonderful lunch, and they even prepared beautiful gifts. We are truly touched by the

kindness of the local community in Curtis, MI.