Sunday Recital

Suburban Chicago, June 1966. The recital has moved from the small space.

The Piano Teacher

Maywood, Illinois, April 1965. I never enjoyed piano lessons. It's really a pity: if I had focused on the keyboard as much as I did on the knitting needles, I'd be pretty good by now. Although I never took to the instrument, I adored my piano teacher, Mrs. M. I wasn't her favorite student, but she was very kind and patient with me. As a result, I count her among my favorite teachers.

CATcerto

This performance by the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra is from 2009, but the story is new.

Recital

An unexpected soloist surprises a middle-school band.

Related by Marriage: Ribbons

Chicago, 1967 through 1970. Mr. Irene wore the blue ribbon as a member of the accordion orchestra that performed in the "Parade of Bands" concert at the Prudential Building in the Chicago Loop.

About two years later, Mr. Irene had earned a second place finish—and the white ribbon—in a competition in which he played Accordion Boogie. 

Mr. Irene’s first Chicago competition in 1967 was at the Pick-Congress Hotel. The yellow ribbon identified him as a solo contestant.

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Chicago, Illinois, 1967. Mr. Irene's scoresheet summarizes his best qualities: lively, consistent, clean and clear, perfect, with nice bellow control.

Related by Marriage: Accordion Lessons, in Three Takes

Mr. Irene took accordion lessons, performed in group recitals, and competed regularly throughout his elementary school years. 
 
Polkas, Broadway show tunes, and movie themes made up the early curriculum. Within a few  years, Mr. Irene began studying the challenging music of accordion virtuoso performer and educator, Charles Magnante. 
 
In 1939 Magnante and his trio played in Carnegie Hall. With a single event, Magnante changed the image of the piano accordion from a folk instrument to a versatile and expressive voice for jazz and classical music. The Magnante Trio soon found new audiences and venues for their work. Magnante dominated the accordion music world with his engaging live performances, musical arrangements, recordings, and original compositions from the 1940s through the early 1960s. 
 
Mr. Irene played the Magnante composition, Accordion Boogie, for a Chicago-area competition in the summer of 1969. The following spring, Mr. Irene represented his sixth-grade class at a school talent show by reprising this tune. Listen to this thirteen-year-old accordionist play Accordion Boogie much like the young Mr. Irene did—it’s a precise reading, but a little rushed. This version comes from a more seasoned accordionist. The slightly slower rhythm and accented bass make the piece swing.
 
By the end of his music lessons, Mr. Irene had taken up Lithuanian folk melodies using a guide book he discovered in a Lithuanian gift shop in Marquette Park.
 

 
Suburban Chicago, 1965. Sheet music cover for the accordion solo arrangement of Hello Dolly.

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Suburban Chicago, 1969. Sheet music cover for the Magnante composition, Accordion Boogie.

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Suburban Chicago, 1971. Inside cover page of a Lithuanian-language, accordion method book, The Youngest Accordionist, written by the musician and arranger Povilas Četkauskas. The Chicago-based, Lithuanian-American, Karvelis Press published it. The book featured Lithuanian folk songs and dances as well as solo transcriptions of well known classical piano and opera melodies.

Related by Marriage: Recital at the Prudential

In addition to taking private lessons, Mr. Irene performed with an all-accordion orchestra. Mr. Irene joined the orchestra in 1966, barely one year after picking up the instrument. The orchestra gathered for rehearsal at a local auditorium on Saturday mornings during the school year. Arrangements of the hit movie scores of the day were a big part of this orchestra's repertoire—including "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's and "Baby Elephant Walk" from Hatari.

After a string of smaller, local recitals, the accordion orchestra performed at an All-City Recital in November, 1968, sponsored by a major teaching studio, The Music Center, Inc. The Sunday afternoon concert venue would be the auditorium of the Prudential Building in downtown Chicago.

The Prudential recital was a formal affair. Mr. Irene's Parents bought a new accordion for him, and Mr. Irene wore his first rented tuxedo.

Mr. Irene's Parents had decided that the occasion should be celebrated with a memorable dinner after the show. The restaurants at the Prudential, the Gibraltar Room and the Top of the Rock were closed on Sundays. The choice for dinner instead was a swank supper club close to home, The Homestead. The Homestead was in Melrose Park and stood on North Avenue on the northeastern edge of Thatcher Woods. After the show, Mr. Irene enjoyed a festive steak dinner at The Homestead.

Ashley Ricketts and his wife Kathryn established The Homestead in 1964. The Ricketts are a legendary Chicago restaurant family. Ashley's son, Ernest, later managed The Homestead. The Ricketts were long-time residents of nearby Park Ridge. Ernest grew up near the Rodham household, and he was a good friend of a Rodham daughter, Hillary.


Chicago, Illinois, November, 1968. Mr. Irene arrives for the recital and poses with his Aunt Martha and her husband, Wally, in the lobby of the Prudential Insurance Building.

Related by Marriage: The First Recital

Chicago, Illinois, February 26, 1967. Mr. Irene performs at his first accordion recital.

Dance Recital

Suburban Chicago, May 1966. My friend Kris, on the left, and I perform at another Lithuanian school folk-dance recital. We're again in the old school building's basement.

It looks like my Mom and Kris's Mom, Donna, went to the same source for the folksy sashes they sewed onto our folkdress aprons and blouses.

Weekend Duet

Suburban Chicago, Winter 1967. My Best Friend and I perform at a recital.

Debut

Suburban Chicago, October 1965. I perform at my first piano recital. My Best Friend, on the far left, looks on.