AccordiOna
Celebrating accordion music and the International Women's Day with a large all-women accordion ensemble

Running time: 90'

Guest musicians: Otto Lechner, Paul Schuberth, Heidelinde Gratzl (AT) 

AccordiOna 
Radmila Bikić Magdić, conductor
Špela Šemrl, Teja Udovič Kovačič, Špela Naglič, Maša Šuligoj, Zala Zarja Mesec, Alja Polanec, Metka Mateta, Urška Dermol (first accordion)
Karmen Hlade, Mateja Prem Kolar, Pika Debevc, Mojca Volavšek, Jana Šatej, Nina Pečelin, Ivana Kresević (second accordion)
Ana Zoja Dobnik, Julijana Peroša, Pika Drstvenšek, Sabina Trifković D., Ronja Slavič, Olga Radolič, Mia Tomič, Diana Šimbera (third accordion) 
Katarina Peroša (bass accordion)
Duo Accordipiano: Katarina Peroša, piano; Julijana Peroša, accordion
Zala Zarja Mesec, solo accordion

Otto Lechner, accordion, vocals
Paul Schuberth, accordion, vocals
Heidelinde Gratzl, bass accordion

The 25-member AccordiOna Orchestra, under the artistic direction of conductor Radmila Bikić Magdić, is composed of students and (post-)graduates of conservatoires and music academies, as well as professors of (concerto) accordion from all over Slovenia, as well as Croatia and Italy. In the world of accordion orchestras, an all-female ensemble is extremely rare, and AccordiOna is even unique in certain respects: it illustrates and stresses the importance and role of women accordionists in concert music and – just as importantly – in intergenerational accordion teaching.
A young orchestra both as regards the age of its members and the period of its existence, AccordiOna debuted with a mainly classical music programme at Ljubljana’s Cukrarna Gallery in 2022, with subsequent performances in Koper and Pordenone, Italy (2024). They participated in the premiere and four subsequent performances of Laibach's symphonic work Alamut in Ljubljana (2022), Frankfurt am Main, Trieste and Zagreb (2023). 

In late 2023, on the initiative of accordionist and composer Bratko Bibič and with guests O. Lechner, P. Schuberth and H. Gratzlová, the ensemble premiered in Ljubljana (the ZRC SAZU atrium) a concert of "different music by accordionists for the accordion", a selection of works from the repertoire of the international accordion quintet Accordion Tribe and the accordion orchestra Die Wiener Ziehharmoniker.

The CD Club programme includes orchestral compositions by M. Kalaniemi, G. Klucevsek, L. Hollmer, O. Lechner, P. Schubert and B. Bibič, as well as extremely rarely performed pieces and premieres of new works: 
Gratzl, orchestral rendition of Sticky Fingers; 
O. Lechner, Stückwerk II for piano accordion and two bass accordions, and the orchestral vocal-instrumental composition Love Cannot Live; 
B. Bibič, Buenas Vistas (avec un grain du sucre) for piano and two accordions, arranged and performed by P. Schubert with Duo Accordipiano (the duo will also perform Uroš Rojko's Bagatellen for accordion and piano); 
Uroš Rojko, Tango II – hommage a Piazzola, contemporary music deconstruction of “tango nuevo” performed by Zala Zarja Mesec (solo accordion) 

The evening’s programme meaningfully connects the highly individual poetics of featured compositions, extending the traditional boundaries between historical and contemporary music genres. Through AccordiOna's dexterous interpretation, the well-measured servings of fictional folk, experimental rock, contemporary jazz music and solo interventions by guest musicians flow seamlessly, and with great sensitivity, into the multi-layered rhythmic, (dis)harmonic and melodic counterpoints of ensemble playing. 

The concert is taking place in conjunction with the 6 March 2025 concert as part of the 26th Internationales Akkordeonfestival in Vienna (Evangelische Auferstehungskirche Wien-Neubau), whose main theme will be FEMMEOUSE: WONDERFUL WOMEN. On the way to Ljubljana, the ensemble will also perform in Bad Radkersburg (Kongresszentrum Zehnerhaus) on 7 March 2025, and will conclude a mini-tour dedicated to the International Women's Day on 8 March 2025 at the CD Club.