International honours

Akkordeon-Orchester Bayer Uerdingen 1950

The Bayer Uerdingen Accordion Orchestra was founded in 1950 and currently has 20 musicians. They play pieces ranging from popular to classical music. The orchestra has won several awards.

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The Bayer Uerdingen 1950 Accordion Orchestra

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The Bayer Uerdingen 1950 Accordion Orchestra

The Bayer Uerdingen Accordion Orchestra currently has 20 active accordionists aged between 31 and 73 years old. Their repertoire includes popular music, modern interpretations and complex classical works.

The Accordion Orchestra has chalked up numerous successes at national and international competitions and has won several awards, including First Prize in the “Upper Level” category at the International Accordion Festival in Lucerne, in 1975, First Prize in the “Upper Level” category at the International Accordion and Harmonica Festival in Innsbruck, in 1989 and Third Prize in the “Highest Level” category at the North Rhine-Westphalian Music Festival of the German Harmonica Association in 2003.

The annual concert at the BayTreff in Uerdingen has long since become an institution for the Bayer Uerdingen Accordion Orchestra.

History
The Accordion Orchestra was founded in 1950 by Helmut Kaumanns. Twelve years later he handed over his conductor's baton to Guido Wagner, who is still the orchestra's musical director. Wagner was a lecturer at various universities and is a juror on the panel of Germany's young musician competition "Jugend musiziert". In 2002 Wagner was presented with the Hugo Hermann Medal, the highest distinction that the German Association of Accordion Teachers can award.