By Carol Stiffler
Last week, 18 accordion players arrived to Curtis for a week-long rehearsal and recording event under the direction of world-renowned accordionist Stas Venglevski.
Venglevski had already been to Curtis a handful of times, performing at the Erickson Center for the Arts alone or with other musicians. This visit was different: It was much longer, and the songs his Houston Accordion Orchestra Retreat group was rehearsing were their own original compositions. The end result will be available sometime in April when the audio and video recordings will be available for listeners.
Gratitude was overflowing at the events, where musicians mingled with audience members after and Venglevski spoke eagerly with guests. Accordion players are some of the happiest people in the world, said visiting musician Ashley Frye. They love the instrument and are thrilled to share it with others.
The accordion is a wind instrument powered by bellows, not human lungs. It can make a single note or a chord of notes – or both – at the same time, and many accordions have settings to sound like other instruments. It’s kind of like holding a whole orchestra in your lap.
“I want people to see this beautiful instrument,” said Venglevski, who plays a Russian version of the accordion called a “bayan”. “This instrument, people kind of forgot it.”
It would be hard to overstate Venglevski’s love for the accordion. He taught himself how to play at age 5, in his homeland, the Moldovian Soviet Socialist Republic, then part of the U.S.S.R.
Venglevski took his brother’s accordion and figured it out on his own, astonishing his family. He admits he was a child prodigy.
He is rarely apart from an accordion these days, and when he has to travel without one, Venglevski says it feels like he is missing an appendage.
Venglevski breathes in so his accordion can breathe out.
That’s not an overstatement: He confirms it’s true.
Venglevski plays and composes professionally, and when he’s not doing that, he’s teaching accordion students and trying to preserve a future for an instrument that’s no longer popular. You can find a good piano player anywhere, Venglevski said, but the sight and sound of an accordion catches much more attention.
“Every time people see an accordion, their reaction is different,” he said.
To bring exposure to the accordion, he helps make it accessible. The events in Curtis were free all week. The students attending his Houston Accordion Orchestra Retreat only had to pay to get there. The public was invited to attend daily rehearsals, an open mic night, and the final concert without charge. Students were invited to watch rehearsal during the school day. Anyone who wanted to touch an accordion after the performances and rehearsals was allowed to hold and play it.
Venglevski also runs the Stas Venglevski Music Foundation, a non-profit whose tagline is “Accordion for all.” He means it with every step he takes.
Curtis resident Gary Bowman helped bring Venglevski’s Houston retreat to Curtis and made the suggestion to Erickson Center President Kelly Chamberlin. Chamberlin and others helped find lodging arrangements for the group and built a daily menu to feed them.
Bowman first connected with Venglevski years ago after hearing him play in Manistique. His wife’s mother is an accordion player, so the Bowmans brought their mothers to the event.
“I was expecting polka music and what I got was a symphony,” Bowman recalled. And he was very impressed with Venglevski.
Bowman eventually came into contact with Venglevski and the two are now friends. Bowman was thrilled to have his friend and the group to town.
The musicians hated to leave, he said. Some even cried. “They came as musicians and left as friends,” Bowman said.
