5th Roland V-Accordion Festival

The Competition

The V-Accordion Festival is an international competition open to both junior and senior soloists. The UK national final is to be held as part of the NAO (National Accordion Organisation) national finals, at Metropole Hotel Blackpool on May 13th 2011. The winner of the senior category will win a Roland FR-7x or FR-7xb (b for button) V-Accordion. The winner of the junior category will win a Roland FR1 or FR-1b V-Accordion. The International Final will be held in Italy 21st-22nd October 2011, where the winner will win 5,000 Euros.

How to Enter

The competition is open to any UK resident, amateur or professional aged 18 and over (senior soloist) or 17 or under (junior soloist) by the entry deadline of 28th February 2011. Entry is free. Each entry must be accompanied by an audio/video digital file such as MP3, MPEG or DVD of your recorded performance. You can either send your entry via mail or email using the contact information at the bottom of the entry form. Your performance must be no longer than 5 minutes in length and can feature any genre of music. The recording does not need to be professionally filmed or recorded (most mobile phones now have this feature) but needs to be of sufficient quality to enable the judges to clearly see and hear the artist/s performance. The name of the piece/s of music and the composer must be stated verbally at the beginning of your recording. You may enter this stage of the competition using any type of accordion. The adjudication of recorded material will take place on March 1st 2011 and entrants will be notified as to their status in the competition in the week following the adjudication. National (and international finalists) will be required to perform using a Roland V-Accordion. Loan units will be made available for practice purposes at least 3 weeks prior the national final.
Requirements to be a contestant

SENIOR SOLOIST division

Participants who were born before April 1st, 1992 belong to the senior category. Minimum required age: 18 years. Any genre of music is allowed. At the National /International Final, the finalists are allowed to use just one V-Accordion; they are not allowed to use any external module. They are allowed to use any V-Accordion onboard orchestral sounds in addition to the V-Accordion onboard accordion sounds. At the National/International Final, contestants may not use any audio playback as CD, iPOD etc. (as a backing track) and/or external sound modules, MIDI sequencers. At the International Final, every contestant has to play two different repertoires: one in the Challenge(Pre-Final) (it must take max 10 minutes) and another one in the Final Round (International step) (it must take max 5 minutes) The participants may only play V-Accordion without singing The winner of the previous International Festival may not participate in other V-Accordion Festivals. The winners of the National steps may participate again if they didnt win the International steps.

JUNIOR SOLOIST division

Participants who were born on or after April 1992 belong to the Junior category. Maximum allowed age: 17 years. Any genre of music is allowed. At the National Final, the finalists are allowed to use just one V-Accordion; they are not allowed to use any external module. They are allowed to use any V-Accordion onboard orchestral sounds in addition to the V-Accordion onboard accordion sounds. At the National Final, contestants may not use any audio playback as CD, iPOD etc. (as a backing track) and/or external sound modules, MIDI sequencers. The Junior soloist division may only participate in the National step. The winner is not allowed to participate in the International step.
Adjudication of Recorded Materials
The pre-selection session is not open to the public. Judgement shall be made by a jury appointed by Roland UK, based on the video performance submitted by each applicant. At the pre-selection the jury will choose the contestants that shall be entitled to compete in the national final (national finalists). A maximum of ten National Finalists per category will be chosen. If there arent sufficient numbers of competitors of an appropriate standard, Roland reserve the right to reduce the number of finalists OR combine the two categories with one qualifier OR cancel the Final. Roland UK will not be able to return the recordings to entrants nor give any reasons regarding their qualification.

National Final

The National Final will be open to the public During day time, sound check and rehearsal are held. Every National Finalist (senior and junior soloists) shall play for a maximum of 10 minutes, on stage in front of an audience and the jury members At the senior and junior divisions, National Finalists may play only V-Accordion for a maximum of 10 minutes (No limitations about the number of songs).

International Final

The International Final is organized by Roland Europe. It will take place in Auditorium Parco della Musica Sinopoli Hall - Rome Italy 20th October 2011 Meeting and Drawing On 20th October 2011 all contestants and attendants have to arrive in the hotel in Rome - at 20:30 Welcome dinner; - at 22:00 Drawing for the performance order of participants. All contestants and attendants must be present. Note: This order will be used also for the final evening performance
21st October 2011 The Challenge(First Judgement) On 21st October 2011 the selection by the jury will be made: - in the morning (09:00 - 12:00) soloist division - first group; - in the afternoon (15:00 - 18:00) soloist division - second group; The International Final is the event opened to the public. The performance of every finalist (soloist) may last no longer than 10 minutes. The jury judges but the result of this section will not be disclosed to the competitors or jury members as long as the final result has been announced. 22nd October 2011 The Final Competition At the final Competition all participants may perform max. 5 minutes long. The final Round shall take place at 21:00. All musicians will play according to the above mentioned duration, for an overall duration of approx. 2.5 hours. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd ranking winners will be announced. Note: Every contestant has to play two different repertoires: one in the Challenge (Pre-Final) and another one in the Final Round (International step)
International Final winner prize
The 1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes are: trophies A dedicated jury composed entirely of journalists will award a prize - Press award is: trophy Compensation for the performer: - The 1st classified will be indemnified with a 5000 fee. - The 2nd classified will be indemnified with a 2000 fee. - The 3rd classified will be indemnified with a 1000 fee. - The 1st classified of the journalist award will be indemnified with a 500 fee.

What the judges will be looking for
a) Technical skill b) Musical Interpretation c) Specific skill in exploiting the whole potential of V-Accordion We mean the ability to play V-Accordion by using all the sound expression possibilities contained in this instrument.

SCORE RANGE

NOT GOOD

VERY GOOD

EXCELLENT

6 ~ 13

14 ~ 19

20 ~ 25

Each one of the criteria points will be assigned a mark from 1 (lowest mark) to 25 (highest mark) according to above SCORE RANGE table. The sum of all marks will determine the overall points (full mark =100 points) and the final judgement of contestants. Once all the voting sheets have been collected, the one featuring the highest mark and the one featuring the lowest mark will be discarded. The marks coming from all the other remaining voting sheets will be taken into consideration. The sum of all their marks will be divided into the number of jury members that have voted and the resulting number (average mark) will represent the overall mark of candidate. All marks will be published in the http://www.v-accordionfestival.com
General Rules and Conditions
The jury has the right not to award any prize whenever candidates do not prove to have enough artistic skills. No judgement may be expressed by any jury member who is acquainted with one or more contestants because of family ties or educational relations (up to two years before the contest). Should a member of the jury have a relationship, professional or otherwise, with one of the above categories of contestant in the competition the member of the jury will not be able to vote for that contestant and an average mark from the other three jurors will be added to the total score in place of that juror. The judgement expressed by the jury is final and irrevocable.
Any possible use of auditions and of the final concert for TV or radio broadcast purposes shall not make contestants eligible for any fee. Applying for the contest means accepting these regulations without conditions. In the National Final, contestants shall pay for their own travel and accommodation expenses. In the International Final the cost of contestants travel and accommodation shall be covered by Roland UK and Roland Europe. Roland does not accept any responsibility for any occurrence to contestants before, during and after the contest. In the event that the national winners cannot attend the international final they must let Roland UK know 3 weeks before the final so an alternative can be sought

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact: Joanna Awad Marketing Assistant Roland (UK) Ltd (01792)-702-701 Joanna.awad@roland.co.uk ROLAND ANNOUNCES NEW FR-1 DIGITAL ACCORDION Newest V-Accordion delivers small size, big performance January 15, 2009 Roland is pleased to announce the new FR-1 digital accordion, the latest addition to the revolutionary V-Accordion line. The FR-1 provides Powerful digital modelling technology in a traditional accordion design, and includes performance functions and authentic sounds to appeal to a wide range of players. The FR-1 is extremely lightweight, with a compact frame that weighs only twelve pounds. Its accessible and portable design makes it ideal for young students and stage performers alike. With the FR-1, players can simulate up to seven different distinct accordions, access four different organ presets with rotary effect, and play along with a variety of beats by adding drum sounds to the bass and chord buttons. With the included earphones and five hours of estimated battery time, players can practise the FR-1 anywhere, anytime. Plug directly into an external sound source like the MOBILE CUBE amplifier or R-09HR digital recorder, or use the headphone output for silent practice. With six different inlay sheets, owners can customize the appearance of the FR-1 to suit their own personal style. Players can even create their own custom design inlays using their computer and printer. The new FR-1 digital accordion is anticipated to ship in February, 2009 and will be available in both piano (FR-1) and button (FR-1b) types. -----Roland is a world leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of electronic musical instruments, professional audio equipment, multimedia products, and music accessories. ------For media use only ###