Joseph Petric reimagining the accordion
The Artist
The London debut of accordionist Joseph Petric – “...a performer of miraculous power and understated mastery” (Winnipeg Sun) – was acclaimed by The Independent, while his American debut merited a citation in “Performances of the Year” by the Washington Post’s Joseph D. McLellan. Mr. Petric's trajectory across the Classical concert hall comprised solo appearances at Seiji Ozawa Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. He is also a forensic advocate for new creation, having commissioned 360 new works for the accordion canon, curatorial initiatives that have been compared to the artistic stewardship of the Kronos Quartet and London Sinfonietta.
Mr. Petric made his concerto debut with the Toronto Symphony under Jukka Pekka Saraste that began his concerto-led career and a performance of three concertos in one evening with the Victoria Symphony. He has collaborated with Pauline Oliveros, Witold Lutoslawski, John Cage, David Tudor and the Penderecki String Quartet and the stylistic diversity of his 42 albums has been cited for “stunning, powerhouse performances” (Fanfare).
A historian, author and reviewer Mr Petric introduced Giovanni Gagliardi’s forgotten 1911 Paris treatise Manualetto del Fisharmonicista to a wide international readership (2017 Augemus) while shedding new light on the true account of an accordion history ignored or forgotten. Mr. Petric maintains a full concert, research and recording schedule and is professor of graduate performance at the Faculté de Musique, Université de Montréal (Québec). He plays a bespoke instrument modelled on the 1910 Modernissima, Camerano, built 1996 by Leo Niemi, Sudbury, Ontario.
Mr Petric lives in Upper Canada, Montreal and on the Aegean coast.
NEWS
February 28 - World premiere of Abigail Richardson-Schulte's chamber concerto BLOOM for accordion and string orchestra, conductor James Kahane and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra for the Intimate and Immersive HPO series, the Cotton Factory, Hamilton, Ont.
March 25 - translations of the Bach Trio Sonatas with Jerzy Kaplanek, vln.
April 9 - translations of Lepa Sumera quasi improvisata, Saint Saens Sonatine, les Anches Lyriques
April 24 - Launch of con fisarmonica English version by author Teresa Adamowicz-Kaszuba, published Paderewski Academy, Poland; jP advisor and reviewer to the English edition.
April 25 - NEW Publication of Accordion Dialogues and the Poetics of an Interpretive Art , Augemus Press, Germany.
April 25-28 - Universite de Montreal, Faculte de Musique, graduate masters and doctoral recitals.
April 30 thru July - Europe, research for planned publication of Denigration, Denunciation and the Re-imagined Accordion for Augemus Press, Germany.
August 17 -21 - les Anches Lyriques, (oboe, acc.,) Recording with Ari Cohen-Mann for the Astrila label; works by Lepo Sumera, CPE Bach, Mozart, Lutoslawski, Saint Saens.
October Date TBA - Concerto performance of Denis Gougeon's En Accordeon with Montreal's Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, conductor Jean-Michael Lavoie.
Lutosławski – Dance Preludes (1954)
Joseph Petric gratefully acknowledges the generous support of:
...External Affairs Canada, The Svenska Reikskonzerter and the late Toronto philanthropist Roger Moore.