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2024 PERFORMERS + GUESTS
Jelena Milojević
Jelena joins the Accordion Fest as our masterclass instructor. As a versatile musician with an extensive performance history and 3 studio albums, she has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Berlin Philharmonie. She is the winner of some of the most distinguished international accordion competitions, such as the CMA World Trophy, International Accordion Competition in Castelfidardo, Italy, International Accordion competition in Pula, Croatia, Roland V-Accordion Competition, and more.
With more than 20 years of teaching experience, her students have won numerous prizes at various international competitions, have played with symphony orchestras and developed successful performing careers. She is the Artistic Director of the World Accordion and Tango Festival in Victoria and a frequent adjudicator at the biggest international accordion competitions.
With more than 20 years of teaching experience, her students have won numerous prizes at various international competitions, have played with symphony orchestras and developed successful performing careers. She is the Artistic Director of the World Accordion and Tango Festival in Victoria and a frequent adjudicator at the biggest international accordion competitions.
Konstantin Bozhinov
Konstantin is a classically-trained folk musician, teacher, and researcher. Originally from Dobrich, Bulgaria, he's lived in Vancouver, Canada, since 2006. He studied music at Douglas College, UBC, and McGill University. In 2018, he completed a PhD in musicology from UVic.
Some performance highlights include concerts with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Opera Victoria, and the Vancouver Bach choir.
He's recorded soundtracks for movies and best-selling video games. He recently released his first solo accordion album, titled Folk Tales. He also launched Made Up Records, a record label devoted to folk and world music.
Some performance highlights include concerts with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Opera Victoria, and the Vancouver Bach choir.
He's recorded soundtracks for movies and best-selling video games. He recently released his first solo accordion album, titled Folk Tales. He also launched Made Up Records, a record label devoted to folk and world music.
Henry Slama
Henry Slama (a.k.a. Squeezebox Stanley) is an accomplished accordionist from Burnaby, BC, Canada. He studied the accordion when he was very young, taking lessons from world renowned accordionist Leo Aquino in the 1970’s. As a teenager, he played at German restaurants in the Vancouver area. He stopped playing in the early 80’s, instead committing his time to university studies, his accounting career and his family of a wife and 2 kids. He retired from accounting in 2021 and took up accordion again with a passion. He enjoys performing 60’s, 70’s and 80’s pop songs as well as timeless accordion classics. His favourite genre however is Accordion Parody and he has written many parody lyrics to such songs as “Yesterday" (Beatles), "On The Road Again" (Willie Nelson), and "Margaritaville" (Jimmy Buffett).
He is a member of the Arizona Accordion Club in Phoenix, Arizona. He enjoys performing locally in Vancouver and in Arizona.
He is a member of the Arizona Accordion Club in Phoenix, Arizona. He enjoys performing locally in Vancouver and in Arizona.
Martin Hergt
Martin will be on site at the Fest for accordion sales, tune-ups, and repairs.
Tempo Trend Music was established by Martin’s father 60 years ago in Victoria. He was a watchmaker by trade and always had a love for accordions. When Martin’s father was working in Sechelt in 1960, he was slowly introduced to the accordion business by a person who was in touch with the Canadian Accordions Institute. This person had a love for accordions and offered Martin's father Vancouver Island as the territory to deal with the Canadian Accordions Institute. So Martin’s father started his accordion business while still working as a watchmaker.
This was the beginning of Tempo Trend Music and Martin and his father, Karl, built it up from there. They moved into the current location in 1967. Martin started working here as a teen and has been working in the business for over 45 years.
What started as a business that focused on accordion sales expanded over the years to include teaching accordion lessons.
Tempo Trend's mission:
We aim to help people with all kinds of musical needs. We are a full end-to-end store making music accessible to everyone.
Tempo Trend Music was established by Martin’s father 60 years ago in Victoria. He was a watchmaker by trade and always had a love for accordions. When Martin’s father was working in Sechelt in 1960, he was slowly introduced to the accordion business by a person who was in touch with the Canadian Accordions Institute. This person had a love for accordions and offered Martin's father Vancouver Island as the territory to deal with the Canadian Accordions Institute. So Martin’s father started his accordion business while still working as a watchmaker.
This was the beginning of Tempo Trend Music and Martin and his father, Karl, built it up from there. They moved into the current location in 1967. Martin started working here as a teen and has been working in the business for over 45 years.
What started as a business that focused on accordion sales expanded over the years to include teaching accordion lessons.
Tempo Trend's mission:
We aim to help people with all kinds of musical needs. We are a full end-to-end store making music accessible to everyone.
Budge Schachte
Guitarist, composer, producer, and educator Budge Schachte has worked with a diverse cast of groups and artists, including playwright Tomson Highway, Tango Paradiso, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and many more. His playing can be heard on several film soundtracks. Budge co-leads the gypsy jazz group Van Django, which has recorded 4 CDs and toured in Canada, USA, Europe, and China.
Stephen Nikleva
From recording and touring with renegade Rockabilly wild man Ray Condo (and currently with Petunia & the Vipers), to touring the world with Sarah McLachlan, to a long association with Romanian Roma Jazz violinist Lache Cercel, Stephen has enjoyed and learned from this variety. All these influences are heard in his album "Square Moon", which has been described as “Weirdo space-age surf lounge for the terminally hip and playful”. The Georgia Straight called it “…a tour de force…pure retro fun with a sparkly nitro finish”.
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