10th Victoria Accordion Festival

add to outlook add to google calendar remind me

Friday, July 29th, 2016

Once again, some of the world’s best accordion soloists and ensembles will be “descending” into the beautiful city of Victoria, British Columbia, from July 26 to 31.

But this year the Victoria International Accordion Festival will have a special flavor – we are celebrating our 10th anniversary.

In the previous nine years, Victoria International Accordion Festival has established itself as one of the most recognized accordion festivals in North America. Probably the greatest achievement was hosting the 66th Coupe Mondiale, the world’s largest accordion event, back in 2013 as the part of the 7th Victoria Accordion Festival, when hundreds of accordionists from all over the world showcased their talents for thousands in the audience. Ensemble Concertino, Trio Voronezh, Frank Marocco, Quartetto Gelatto, Alexander Sevastian, Renzo Ruggieri, Ludovic Beier, Grayson Masefield, Jelena Milojevic, World Accordion Orchestra are just some of the names who thrilled the audience in Victoria in the last decade.

This year’s celebratory festival is welcoming back the world’s greatest accordionists of our young generation, Grayson Masefield from New Zealand and Jianan Tian from China. They will be joined by Jelena Milojevic, the Artistic Director of the Festival, who herself is considered one of the foremost classical accordionists of today.

These three amazing performers together have won over 50 highest international prizes in their careers and their concert will be a night to remember. As for the ensembles, the festival has invited the best accordion ensemble in the world, Concertino from Moldova, but their participation is still uncertain. The ensemble Los Del Mapocho from Chile will come to Victoria  for the first time and will be presenting Chilean traditional music. The BC Accordion Orchestra, Maureen Jarosh Accordion Ensemble, Victoria Accordion Club Band, Bucan Bucan, Mary Ross-Klektau and many other local groups will contribute to the celebration.

Like every year, the competition will be a very important part of the festival. This year, the Victoria International Accordion Competition will have six solo and one additional category for the ensembles. The prize budget (money and awards) is over $5000CAD and the competition committee has already received entries from Europe, South America, China and North America.

So there are many reasons for all of you to spend another unforgettable week in beautiful Victoria BC, from July 26-31, this year.

For the festival schedule, visit: http://bcaccordion.ca/schedule/