Joseph Macerollo

Joseph Macerollo

Joseph (Nicholas Anthony) Macerollo,. Accordionist, teacher, b Guelph, Ont, 1 Oct 1944; B MUS (Toronto) 1965, MA musicology (Toronto) 1969. He began accordion lessons at six with Nicholas Antonelli and studied briefly in 1960 with Charles Camilleri, winning many classes and awards 1957-64 at competition festivals and subsequently playing in nightclubs and for a time (1969) with Phil Nimmons. He taught at the RCMT 1969-85, collaborating on the first free-bass accordion syllabus. Also in 1969 he began teaching at Queen's University, adding duties at the University of Toronto to his teaching activities in 1972 and at Wilfrid Laurier University in 1987.

Macerollo has performed often on CBC radio and TV. In public appearances with the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, the Chamber Players of Toronto, the Hart House Orchestra, the NACO, Nexus, the Orford String Quartet, and the Purcell String Quartet, as well as in solo recitals, he has performed, and frequently premiered free-bass accordion works by Milton Barnes, Luciano Berio, Walter Buczynski, Michael Colgrass, Samuel Dolin, George Fiala, James Hiscott, Lothar Klein, Hope Lee, Alexina Louie, Phil Nimmons, Barbara Pentland, R. Murray Schafer, Timothy Sullivan, Morris Surdin, and Gerhard Wuensch. He has performed with most major Canadian orchestras, at the Guelph Spring Festival, and at the Festival of the Sound. In 1981 he co-ordinated and performed in Soundstage Canada '81, a group of Canadian musicians who toured Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Rumania as part of the festival Muzicki Biennale Zagreb. In 1987 and 1988 he performed in Peterborough, Ont, in R. Murray Schafer's The Greatest Show on Earth, part of the Patria cycle. In 1988 he organized Lumina, a multimedia event exploring the confluence of music and light as experienced in the medieval cathedral.

In 1972 Macerollo composed and performed the music for a production of Chekhov's The Three Sisters at the St Lawrence Centre. His performances for film or TV scores include "The Taming of the Canadian West" (CTV 1970), "The National Dream" (CBC 1978), The New Canadians (Neilson Films 1980), Without a Clue (1988), "Onassis: The Richest Man" (ABC-TV 1988), "The Private Capital" (CBC 1989), and Brown Bread Sandwiches (Brown Bread Sandwiches Inc 1989).

He has been vice-president 1970-4 of the Confédération internationale des accordéonistes and president 1974-7 of the Canadian Accordion Teachers' Association. While president 1972-6 of the Contemporary Showcase, he organized the first International Free-Bass Accordion Symposium (1975) as part of his sustained effort to establish the instrument in the concert field. In 1976 he founded and became first president of the Group of Six, which incorporated in 1979 and became the Classical Accordion Society of Canada, and in 1980 he became president of the Pro Arte Orchestra. He was a founding member of the Mississauga Arts Council 1981-5, chaired its grants subcommittee 1985-9, and was the 1987 Mississauga Musician of the Year. In 1989 he became president of NMC.

Writings

"The unexplored instrument," Mcan, 28, Apr 1970

"Accordion in transition," JM Chronicle, vol 15, Jun 1970

- and Meyer, Otto. C.I.A. International List of Original Works for Solo Accordion (Waterloo, Ont, 1970)

"Musicians once laughed at the accordion," Canadian Music Teacher, vol 25, May 1971

"Not another new music group," Recorder, vol 17, Sep 1974

Student's Guide to the Accordion (Agincourt, Ont, 1979)

Accordion Resource Manual (Toronto 1980)

"Oh, no! More about Schafer?" Current Event, 1, Jun 1989

Discography

Interaccodinotesta: Pentland - Krenek - Nordheim - Schafer. Morrison soprano, Purcell Str Quart. 1977, 1978. Mel SMLP-4034/(Pentland) 6-ACM 25

Surdin Concerto for accordion and strings. Hart House Orchestra, Neel conductor. 1967. CBC EXPO-15/RCI 238

Surdin - Wuensch - Dolin - Fiala. 1973. McGill Chamb O, Brott conductor. RCI 385/(Fiala) 5-ACM 27