Christopher Gorton

A New V-Accordion Star is Born: Christopher Gorton, Winner of the 2010 Roland U.S. V-Accordion Festival

Christopher Gorton (Photo)

On September 18, 2010, Roland U.S. hosted a competition of America’s most talented accordionists at the 3rd Annual V-Accordion Festival. Taking home top honors in the Adult Division that evening was Christopher Gorton of Providence, Rhode Island. An accordion player of 18 years, Christopher began studying at the age of seven. He’s participated in many competitions since, including the prestigious Coupe Mondiale festival in 2003, and he won the U.S. Accordion Championship in the classical music category in both 2002 and 2003.

As the U.S. V-Accordion Festival winner in September, Christopher went on to represent the United States at the 4th Annual V-Accordion Festival in Rome, Italy, in October 2010, where he competed with the finest accordionists from around the globe. While he didn’t win at that event, he made many new friends and got to perform for an enthusiastic audience of over 1000 at the festival’s evening gala.

I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Christopher shortly after his return from Europe. We discussed his background and how he uses the V-Accordion, and he shared his thoughts about winning the U.S. V-Accordion Festival and competing on the world stage in Italy.

When did you start playing the accordion?

I first started taking lessons when I was seven years old. They passed out a flyer in school that asked, “Do you want to learn how to play music?” I thought it was something like the piano or the violin, but when I got there, it was the accordion. I started playing it, and I started competing in the local competitions, and I did pretty well. That’s what made me have an early interest in it. After that, I kept on competing and getting better and better.

Did you start on a piano or button accordion?

I’ve always played the regular piano accordion right up until the time of the Roland competition in L.A. Before that, I never played an electronic accordion.

How do you compare playing the V-Accordion with the experience of playing the acoustic accordion?

I’ve always played the acoustic accordion, so that’s kind of special to me. But the Roland won me over because I was very impressed with all the things you can do with it. It makes it a lot more interesting. With the regular accordion, no matter [what you do], it always sounds like a regular accordion.

With the Roland, you can make it sound like so many different things. It’s so versatile, and there’s so much you can do with it. You can play drum tracks with it, and it’s really cool. I go back and play some of the songs I’ve played so long on the standard accordion, and I take a new look at them. I can approach them in a new and interesting way with the digital accordion because of the orchestration that you can use with it. It makes it a lot more fun, a lot more interesting.

Can you give me some examples of songs where that’s occurred?

I did two pieces by Astor Piazzolla at the competition in Italy. The original arrangements were for a regular accordion. But when Piazzolla did them with his band, he had a guitar, a violin, and his bandoneón, of course. Basically, at the end of the first half and the end of the song, I made it sound like a mini band instead of just an accordion playing. And on the jazz song I played, I walked the bass. It sounds nice on a regular accordion, but on the V-Accordion you can use a fretless or acoustic bass, and it actually sounds like a bass player. It’s really cool.

How did you become involved with the U.S. V-Accordion Festival?

I heard a demonstration that [jazz accordionist and Roland clinician] Don McMahon gave in Boston back in April, and he talked about the V-Accordion and the competition. That was the first time I heard the V-Accordion in person; I’d heard about it before, but that was the first time I actually saw it and heard it live. After that, I thought it would be cool. The [dealer] said they’d loan me a V-Accordion for a month [to check it out]. And when I got it, I was very impressed.

You got involved in the contest through Falcetti Music, correct?

Yeah. Sam Falcetti. I had talked about entering it. I competed in the American Accordionists Association competition. It was in July in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and I did well over there—I won. Linda Reed, the president of the organization, told me I should really go for the Roland festival because I probably had a good shot to win. So I said, “Hey, I’ll give it a shot. What’s the worst that’ll happen?”

And you won.
Christopher Gorton (Photo)

Yeah. And I won! [Laughs.] It’s fun, because I really enjoy competing. But there was some stiff competition there. In these nationwide competitions, it’s a gamble. You could be going up against anybody. These people are good. There are a lot of good accordion players out there.

What did you play at the U.S. contest?

I played four songs: the first was a jazz piece by Miles Davis called “Four,” arranged for the accordion by my teacher, Bob Paolo. The second two were Astor Piazzolla pieces that I arranged. The last piece was a medley of popular Latin songs: “Tico Tico,” “La Muchacha de Fuego,” and “Brazil.”

How did you feel when you won?

It was awesome! I jumped in the air. I was so excited. It was fantastic because it was suspenseful; there were five contestants, and when they announced second place, you didn’t know who was first. It was great. And then after that, I knew I was going to be going off to Italy, and I would have a brand new FR-7x V-Accordion to practice on, so it was a lot of fun. It was fantastic.

After you won the U.S. contest, the pressure was on to represent the U.S. at the international V-Accordion Festival in Rome. What did you do to prepare?

I knew it was on. I knew I had to represent us well and play well. So, I was practicing like crazy. I was practicing six, seven, eight hours a day. Just practicing, practicing, practicing, working on the presentation, my delivery, the notes, all of that stuff. I was just trying to make it perfect, so I could play as well as I possibly could in Italy. Unfortunately, I didn’t win.

What did you choose to play for the international competition?

For the first round, it was the same songs I played at the U.S. finals. For the second round, I played the first movement from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” That was the one I played for the show over there. That was something else. The whole show they had over there, that was insane. I was so excited to play, and I was nervous. They had this huge auditorium, and there were over 1000 people there. I never played in front of that many people before. It was on national TV in Italy, and they had the radio station broadcasting it. It was online, and there were tons of people there…it was crazy. With a few hundred people, I won’t get too rattled, but at over 1000, that was the biggest audience I’d ever played for.

It sounds like it was fun, but intense at the same time.

Yeah, it was really intense, because there were so many good players there—the best from all over the world. You’re trying to represent the United States and there’s a lot riding on it. You practice all this time, fly all the way over to Italy, and have so many hours and hours of preparation that go into a five- or 10-minute performance over there. The pressure’s on to really get it right. It’s pretty nerve-wracking, especially the second round, when I was onstage at the big show. There were 14 contestants, and I was number 12, so I had to sit and wait the whole show. It was torturous until after I got done playing, and then it was okay.

You got to meet and be exposed to a lot of players from all over the world that use the V-Accordion.

Yes. Fortunately, just about everybody spoke English, which was nice, so we could all talk together. They’re really good, and they take it a lot more seriously than we do in the United States with the accordion. They put a lot more time and effort into it, and they all play really well. They love American jazz, too. The first thing they ask is, “Are you from America? Do you play jazz?”

How has your experience playing the V-Accordion broadened your perception of the accordion in general? Has it opened you up to new ways of playing or approaching the accordion?

Yeah. Definitely. It presents a different way to approach my music. [First], you have to learn songs like you would on a normal accordion. That’s how I do it; I get everything down, and then I apply all the sounds and stuff. But when I apply the sounds, I actually change my playing technique and try to mimic the instrument that I’m using. And the way I arrange things has changed. Now, when I’m starting to arrange my new songs with the V-Accordion’s orchestration, I can do a whole lot more with it. I can make it sound a lot fuller; there are a lot more little things I can add. I can really make it a lot more exciting.

What words of advice do you have for players that might want to enter the next U.S. V-Accordion Festival competition?

I would say make sure you have some avant-garde classical pieces to play for Europe, because that’s what they’re looking for. And have some nice regular stuff to play here in the U.S. The judging is a little different [in Europe]; they’re looking for different things. But be prepared, because if you win in the United States, you’re going to have a whole lot of work ahead of you, and things are going to start getting pretty hectic. Don’t enter if you’re not prepared to take it all the way.

To keep track of Christopher, visit him on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/csgorton