It gives me pleasure to present to you the 2018 annual president’s report. Our newsletters, website and Facebook page have detailed the numerous performances and other achievements of many of our accordionists both in New Zealand and overseas. Thank you all for the ongoing support and contribution you give to our association in whatever capacity. It is not possible to mention every event featuring an accordion so the following is a summary of the major activities that our members have been involved in during the past year.

In July 2017, Angela Chen competed at the Shenzen Bao’an International Accordion Festival progressing to the third round of the knockout competition. This is a major event on the Chinese and international accordion calendar which also featured the Guinness World Record for the largest accordion ensemble comprising of a small Kiwi contingent who assisted with the event.

In August 2017, the 70th Coupe Mondiale championships were held in Osimo, Italy. This year, the official New Zealand delegation consisted of myself, Harley Jones, Grayson Masefield and Heather Masefield. Harley Jones also attended in his capacity as CIA Public Relations officer along with Grayson Masefield in his capacity as a CIA music committee member and member of the international jury together with Heather Masefield and Stephanie Poole. Amber Masefield and Tamba Carleton from the NZAA committee also attended. A large group of Kiwis travelled over for the event including Kiwis now based in Europe and participated in World Accordion Orchestra IX at the final concert. Some extended their stay to enjoy the accordion festival in nearby Castelfidardo which immediately followed the Coupe Mondiale. There were no candidates competing for New Zealand but NZAA member Owen Fan did a fine job competing in the junior virtuoso entertainment category representing China.

Grayson Masefield released two CDs at the Las Vegas Accordion Convention in October 2017. He recorded a third CD of Baroque transcriptions in New Zealand and is currently recording a fourth CD with his Piazolla group in Italy. Grayson has given masterclasses in Italy, USA, China, New Zealand and Germany. He has provided performances for many national accordion organisations including at the Berlin Philharmonica Hall as a soloist with the string orchestra.

In January 2018, Lionel Reekie gave a very polished and informative interview on all things accordion for Radio New Zealand with Jesse Mulligan as part of their weekly music feature.

Harley Jones has covered accordion events in Shenzen and Shanghai. He also attended the CIA winter congress in Kokkola, Finland in February 2018 as a delegate for the NZAA together with Alison Worthington.

Kevin Friedrich returned to New Zealand to hold his 11th annual concert in his hometown Dargaville in March 2018. A touch of Kiwi was the theme. There were performances from the Christchurch Accordion Orchestra, Lionel Reekie, Maurice Jones, Alanah Jones, Alexandra and Alina Reekie. A highlight was Kevin and Lionel’s performance using eleven different accordions.

Sadly this year, we lost one of our life members. Gerald Ryan passed away in May 2018. Gerald gave up a lot of his time to assist our association in its inception. As a solicitor, Gerald was instrumental in drafting our constitution.

Our annual competitions and festival were held over Queen’s Birthday weekend. Over the last five years, we have been fortunate enough to obtain funding to cover the cost of our venue hire from Pub Charity and the Four Winds foundation. This financial assistance has proven to be invaluable. We thank both organisations for their continuing support.

Our guest artists, the trio Maestro Accordion from Russia provided us with entertaining performances over the weekend. We also had competitors and performers from China and Australia. It was pleasing to see such a group of international performers as it always enriches our event.

The farewell concert featured the Auckland Accordion Symphonietta, the South Pacific and New Zealand solo accordion championship winners, other special performances from the weekend and Maestro Accordion.

The weekend was completed with a dinner at Aubergine restaurant in Takapuna. We thank our fabulous entertainers for the night, Andrew Redepenning, Sven Balvan, Lionel Reekie and the accordion/guitar duo Steevy Dan comprising of Steve Cope and Dan Wrightson for making the festivities extra memorable.

At the dinner, trophies and prize monies were presented to the following winners of the South Pacific championship classes:

1. 15 years and under – Ben Drury;
2. Junior Virtuoso – Marina Jin;
3. Virtuoso Entertainment – Huang He
4. Accordion Solo – Wenting Yang.

2018 special awards were also presented to the following recipients:

1. Samantha Rutherford Memorial Trophy – Catrina Lin;
2. Cecil Smith Trophy – Emma Wollum;
3. Cocurullo Family Trophy – Mandy Ma;
4. Doreen and Ben Emmett Memorial Rose Bowl – Adam Perry;
5. Ben Emmett Accordion Orchestra Commendation Trophy – North Shore Music Makers.

Thank you to everyone for your contribution towards making this event a worthwhile and enjoyable experience for us all.

Again, for a small membership, we remain very active in the promotion of the accordion and our participation in international events. There are a lot of performing opportunities available at an international level especially for our younger members to take advantage of. I would strongly encourage you all to do so. You build confidence not only in your performance but also in your personal development. Further, you get to travel to some really interesting places that you would not normally think of visiting thus creating memories to last a lifetime.

Sonja Palinich
President
New Zealand Accordion Association