CIA - Accordions Worldwide

09
Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG)
President: Dee Langley
First Vice President Elizabeth Finch
Second Vice President: Mary Tokarski
Executive Secretary: Joanna Arnold Darrow
Treasurer & Membership Secretary: Bruce Lawrie
ATG Board of Directors
Faithe Deffner, Kevin Friedrich (Past President & Information Specialist)
Peter Giacalone, Esther Lanting, Jeff Lisenby, Amy Jo Sawyer (Past President)
Barbara Scott, Norman Seaton, Betty Jo Simon
Joan C. Sommers (Past President), Stas Venglevski (Past President)
Appointment: Stanley Darrow (Historian)
News from USA-ATG…
MEMORIAL-HONORARY STATUS
founding member – the late Anthony Galla-Rini (1904-2006)
Contact the ATG
Dee Langley, ATG President
P.O. Box 68012, Minneapolis, MN 55418, USA
Phone: 612-781-8192
E-mail: dlangley@airaccordion.com
The Story of the ATG: The Accordionists and
Teachers Guild, Int. (ATG) was established in 1940
by a group of 29 founding members including ATG
President Emeritus – the late Mr. Anthony Galla-Rini)
with the purpose of furthering the progress of the
accordion by improving teaching standards, music,
and all phases of music education.
The ATG has sponsored the Accordion Conference
Week at the famous National Music Camp at
Interlochen, Michigan and has worked with the Music
Educators National Conference (MENC) which is part
of the National Association of Education. The ATG
has also commissioned numerous compositions for
the accordion by such composers as Alan
Hovhaness, Ole Schmidt, Torbjorn Lundquist, Francis
Pyle and Ernst Krenek.
ATG National Festival: Our 2009 event, ‘Accordion
Renaissance’ marked the 69 th anniversary of
Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International
festivals, what a celebration we had at the Hilton
Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Mall of America! It was
a rewarding event full of friends new and old from
around the United States and Canada. The festival
opened Thursday evening with Orkestar Bez Ime,
one of the leading Balkan Dance Bands in the USA.
Their repertoire included music from Bulgaria,
Romania, Albania, Hungary, Greece and other
Balkan and Eastern European countries. The stage
was outfitted with light columns and sound system for
their unique and energetic performance. The sixmember
group used the accordion as the backbone
of the ensemble to provide a cohesive and rich
musical experience presenting a rare American
experience into the land of odd and complex meters
including 7/8, 13/8 and 22/16. Instrumentation
included violin, clarinet, accordion (me, Dee Langley),
guitar/mandolin, double bass, vocals and hand
percussion.
The ATG Friday banquet entertainment was provided
by Dan Turpening who left us feeling all warm and
cozy to begin the Friday night concert. The
atmosphere turned sizzling as National Champion
Jeff Lisenby took the stage with his vocalist Abby
Burke. A favorite moment from their performance was
a song Abby sang specifically for ATG Board
member, Norman Seaton. Oh my! Norman became
famous for the rest of the weekend, I think he
stopped blushing by Sunday. The Friday night
concert was well rounded with performances by
Canadian favorite, John Scaffeo, ATG Executive
Secretary, Joanna Arnold Darrow, and Roland guest
artist, Don McMahon.
One event holds
brightest in my
memory, our Gala
Banquet and Concert
on Saturday night with
featured performers
CIA World Champions
Alexander Savastien
(2007) and “Skeets”
Langley (1963)
(pictured left with sister and ATG President Dee
Langley) and the ATG Festival Orchestra under the