Join us on Sunday, May 20th while Gabe interviews another wonderful Seattle area accordionist/bayanist/pianist, Jon Persson.
Jon Persson // Seattle, WA
Having come from an extremely varied musical background, Jon Persson is an accomplished performer on three instruments: piano, piano-accordion, and Russian chromatic accordion ("bayan").
He started doing public performances while still in his early teens, performing for parties as well as classical recitals. At the same time he studied classical accordion privately, which led to winning numerous competition prizes.
Going on to university, in addition to majoring in languages (Russian and Swedish), music was a primary focus. He went on to expand his classical piano studies, as well as taking the full courses in music theory and composition at the University of Washington (B. A. Degree, 1980).
Jon Persson has done a wide variety of contracts in a multitude of locales around the world. One particular highlight was spending over 3 years at EPCOT / Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
In the last two decades, Persson has worked primarily as an entertainer on major cruise-ship lines (Norwegian, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Princess, and many others), doing variety shows and classical concerts, in which he performs a wide-ranging repertoire of music by composers including, but not limited to: Bach, Beethoven, Boccherini, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Dvorak, Faure, Gershwin, Grieg, Khatchaturian, Kreisler, Liszt, Mozart, Pachelbel, Piazzolla, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korskakov, Satie, Schubert, Sibelius, Strauss, and Tschaikovsky.
He performs a variety of styles on both piano and accordion, including pop standards, Broadway show tunes, ragtime, and Latin tangos. In addition to doing numerous concert tours in the U.S., Canada, Scandinavia, and Asia, he has played frequently at numerous luxury resort hotels.
There have been many tours with a Russian balalaika / gypsy music ensemble, and several World Cruises on American, British, and Japanese luxury cruise lines. From 1997 through 2005, he spent several months each year in New Orleans, playing often at parties and restaurants, even accompanying opera singers, frequently at the popular Genghis Khan and Chat Noir clubs.
Details:
Date: May 20th. 2018
Time: 2:00 PM PST - 3:30 PST
Location: Wherever you are! Use the link to register and download the zoom platform.