The 7th International Accordion Culture and Arts Week, is an important part of the 40th Shanghai Spring Music Festival, and took place from March 31 to April 7 in Shanghai’s Changning district. Organized by the Shanghai Musician Association, Changning District Culture and Tourism Bureau, and other partners (list below), the event featured a diverse lineup of performances and activities centered around the theme “Echoes of Tradition and Modernity”.

The festival had accordion performances integrate with various cultural events, spanning a range of venues and times, from daytime family-friendly activities at the Columbia Circle, a multifunctional complex with offices, stores, a bookshop, restaurants and cafes, to night-time crossover concerts at the Hongqiao Art Center.

The festival was superbly organised with pickup at the airport with flowers presented, excellent artwork of the posters and event graphics, badges, folder of all the papers and many smaller gifts of accordion.

Posters in date order – very creative graphics – click to view large

The Seminar was held in the Changning Art Center, a historic home / building donated to the city by a wealthy citizen. The historic beautiful building is the home of the Changning Children’s Palace for young peoples artistic education including accordion tuition.

Poster left: Kevin Friedrich who serves as Director of the CIA initiative, the World Accordion Museum Alliance (WAMA), will begin by giving an introduction to this group before his feature presentation called “Variations on a Theme” by C. Demian. The presentation will follow some of the interesting developments in the evolution of the accordion over almost 200 years.

CIA Public Relations Harley Jones spoke about “Future possibilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the accordion”. This seminar is published at. https://accordions.news/future-possibilities-of-ai/

CIA Secretary General Kimmo Mattila had a seminar titled “Technology Can Be Lost, but Playing Skills Are Forever” about music education and the importance of the teacher and structure of lessons to enable each student to feel success.

Click pictures to view large:

Poster right: The Breezing Terrace of the Columbia Circle, a multifunctional complex with offices, stores, a bookshop, restaurants and cafes, will serve as a venue for activities for the festival. The new complex was full of people and had a very nice outdoor concert venue with good sound and lighting for the audience.

The public outdoor concert included accordionists from Russia, Italy, Sweden, Estonia and were joined musicians from the Yangtze River Delta region for the evening performance.

A number of the international guests had been successful at the 2024 Coupe Mondiale international competitions in Castelfidardo Italy. Nikita Kuznetsov was the 2024 Coupe Mondiale Virtuoso Entertainment Champion, from Moscow. Leonid Florin Muravjov of Sweden was the 2024 Coupe Mondiale Masters category competition winner. The Duo Shanghai Breeze were winners of the 2024 Coupe Mondiale International Competition for Ensemble Music, and they are playing on several other concerts in the festival. Pietro Adragna was the 2011 Coupe Mondiale Virtuoso Entertainment winner and 2011 Coupe Mondiale Digital Accordion winner, at the Coupe Mondiale held in Shanghai, China.

Open Air Concert, Melodies with the Wind
Click pictures see large:

Program:
1. USSR Tunes Potpourri – Nikita Kuznetsov
2. Sunny composed by B. Hebb – Nikita Kuznetsov
3. Gallito Cantor – Nikita Kuznetsov

4. Autumn Leaves composed Joseph Kosma – Sun Jingyi, Hu Hao
5. Libertango composed Astor Piazzolla – Sun Jingyi, Hu Hao

6. Palladio composed by K. Jenkins – Leonid Florin Muravjov, Jevgenia Siros
7. Little White Donkey by J. Ibert – Leonid Florin Muravjov, Jevgenia Siros
8. Bulgarian Suite (I,III) by V. Semionov – Leonid Florin Muravjov, Jevgenia Siros

9. Sicilian Medley – Pietro Adragna
10. Tango pour Claude by Richard Galliano – Pietro Adragna
11. Tico Tico by Z. De Abreu – Pietro Adragna

After the concert, we all enjoyed visiting the Columbia Circle restaurants and enormous food hall area with an amazing array of different foods available, to enjoy for dinner. Thank you to the Shanghai accordion teachers Musicians Association for the dinner.

Event Organizers and Sponsors
Advisers: 
Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes (CIA)
China Accordion Association
Organizers:
Shanghai Musicians Association
Propaganda Department of Shanghai Changning District Committee of the Communist Party of China
Shanghai Changning District Culture and Tourism Bureau
Shanghai Changning District Federation of Literary and Art Circles
Co-organisers: 
Shanghai Changning District Culture and Tourism Management Affairs Center
Accordion Professional Committee of Shanghai Musicians Association
Shanghai Garment (Group) Co., Ltd.