PASSION

SIMONE LOCARNI PROJECT /// ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

 “My greatest wish was to find the right slot for this instrument, so often described as the ‘poor man’s piano’, but my accordion was always a “Steinway with strings”. Richard Galliano is telling us how he views the instrument he has been famous for playing for the last 50 years. It is no exaggeration to quote one of his illustrious colleagues who says Richard Galliano has changed the history of the accordion: “We can talk of before and after Galliano.”
This evening’s programme is headed Passion, and combines music by Debussy, Satie, Chopin, Granados, Piazzolla and Galliano himself. He says: “My friend Pierre Barouh wrote a fine piece entitled L’Allégresse on one of my compositions, Il Piccolo Circo.  He noted how it was incredible the number of countries that had made the accordion their national instrument.  He was right! The accordion holds prize of place in popular music in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, China, Russia, Ukraine and the Balkans.
He notes that “With this experience and all the concerts I have given on the five continents in my fifty-year career, I am inviting you here to share this Passion.”