I am pleased to present to you the 2020 annual president’s report. Our newsletters, website, Facebook and Instagram pages have detailed the numerous accordion activities of many of our accordionists both in New Zealand and overseas. This has somewhat been a truncated year for us all given the COVID-19 global pandemic. Nevertheless, our committee and members have continued to actively carry on with accordion activities as best we can in the circumstances. The following is a summary of the major activities that our members have been involved in during the past year.

In August 2019, the 72nd Coupe Mondiale championships were held in Shenzhen, China. This year, the New Zealand presence was particularly strong. The official New Zealand delegation consisted of myself, Heather Masefield, Amber Masefield and Jessica Chen. Harley Jones attended in his capacity as CIA Public Relations Manager, Kevin Friedrich as CIA Ambassador and Grayson Masefield as Vice Chair of the Music Committee. Grayson together with Heather Masefield and Stephanie Poole were members of the international jury. Amber Masefield assisted with the results. NZAA Committee Members Bor-Kuan Song and Jessica Chen had busy roles assisting in the media office.

Other New Zealanders in attendance were Tamba Carleton, Lionel Reekie, Gary Stratton, and Gary and Sophia Daverne. New Zealand had four contestants competing in the junior categories, Jessie Chen, Angela Chen, Adam Perry and Catrina Lin. All of our contestants performed well and represented New Zealand impeccably. They can all be very proud of their achievements in performing at such a high level on the international stage. Videos of these performances are available on the CIA website.

The Auckland Accordion Symphonietta performed two concerts over the year. The November concert featured special performances from the Piazzolla Tango Quintet formed by Grayson Masefield and comprising of fellow instrumental tutors from the Auckland University school of music. Elena Reekie and her dance partner Jazz Lopez also gave the audience a memorable tango dance performance.

Kevin Friedrich was back in Dargaville to give a Christmas concert in December. Lionel Reekie and the North Shore Music Makers also performed. Kevin’s customary Dargaville concert scheduled in March was unfortunately cancelled given the COVID-19 lockdown.

A successful video competition featuring the music of Gary Daverne was held in January. This was sponsored by Gary Daverne and the NZAA and judged by Gary Daverne, Stephanie Poole, Grayson Masefield and Kevin Friedrich. The competition attracted a number of high-calibre international contestants who submitted videos of themselves performing Gary’s music. The prize was a trip to New Zealand to attend our annual competitions and festival for the successful contestant and their teacher. The winner Vladimir Stupnikov of Russia could not attend this year given the global COVID-19 restrictions.

Grayson Masefield performed with the Calabria Philharmonic, and in Las Vegas, Sydney and Singapore. He helped prepare the New Zealand contestants for international competition. His planned international concert tour in February was disrupted given the global pandemic with concerts and masterclasses cancelled in China, South Korea and Italy. Grayson was able however, to give a masterclass in South Korea and record music videos with Professor Haein Jeon which are available on YouTube. As part of his trip, he was also able to attend the CIA Winter Congress in Prague in early March representing the NZAA.

On 6 May, World Accordion Day was celebrated. From their New Zealand lockdown locations, CIA Ambassador Kevin Friedrich and CIA Vice Music Committee Chairman Grayson Masefield hosted the first of a series of four World Accordion Day events which were live streamed simultaneously all around the world. CIA Public Relations Manager, Harley Jones and Accordions Worldwide staff also contributed.

Unfortunately, our annual competitions and festival over Queen’s Birthday weekend could not proceed as scheduled given the COVID-19 restrictions. However, we were delighted to still be able to run a competition featuring only the South Pacific solo classes. The competition was held on 30 May at the Rose Centre with no audience in front of two judges. Videos of the performances together with results went online at 5pm later that day. Winners of the classes were as follows;

1. 12 years and under – Andre Samotoi;
2. 15 years and under – Sitong Li;
3. Junior Virtuoso – Jessie Chen;
4. Junior Classical – Adam Perry;
5. Senior Virtuoso – Angela Chen;
6. South Pacific Accordion Solo – Catrina Lin.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this event happen under unusual circumstances. To the NZAA committee for their creative thinking and work as we navigated a moving target. Also, to the contestants, their teachers and their families for their continued hard work and support to make these competitions a reality.

The Global Accordion Project Orchestra was initiated by the conductor of the London Accordion Orchestra, Ian Watson in response to the worldwide lockdown. New Zealanders, Kevin Friedrich, Grayson Masefield, Heather Masefield and Alison Worthington took part in these two performances.

Despite the challenges we have all been presented with due to the pandemic over the last few months, our members have shown that they are determined for the music to keep playing. We hope that we can put this all behind us soon so we can get back to interacting with each other in person, here and all over the world. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the NZAA and we hope that we can all join together to celebrate this milestone.

Sonja Palinich
President
New Zealand Accordion Association