 Edmund
Cifani, along with his wife Gilda [DeStafanis] Cifani
is one of the most dedicated and productive accordion composers and arrangers
JANPress has seen for our instrument. "Ed" was one of the first people
published by JANPress and he continues to offer top notch selections to
the JANPress catalog. We cannot say enough good things about the quality
and effectiveness of all his musical offerings. Ed and his wife Gilda
both have had a long love affair with the accordion and each other, since
the met at a large Cleveland Christmas show in 1940 performing on the same
program. Well, JANPress will let Ed tell you about his life and career
in his own words.
"I started my musical life in 1937. I was almost 14 years old. I studied accordion with Mr. Don Spirito. After studying with him, I studied harmony and theory with Professor Clarence Viozak. Then I also studied sight-reading and musical expression with Alberto Ravagniani, member of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. In 1940, I was asked to play a solo at the annual Cleveland Press Christmas Show. It was quite an honor because it was a big thing in town at the public auditorium. It was attended by 15,000 people with Errol Flynn as master of ceremonies. This is where I was to meet my future wife, Gilda DeStefanis, who also was selected to play an accordion solo on the program. I played the 'William Tell Overture' and Gilda played Frosini’s 'Carnival of Venice.' In 1943, I left for the U.S. Army. World War II was going strong. I joined the Army Military Band. I did have some training on the clarinet earlier. When we did war band tours, I played with the band and played solos on the accordion. While in Europe, I performed with a 14-piece swing orchestra, playing for Army dances. I played the guitar and piano parts on the accordion. As soon as I returned home, I opened my own music studio. In the meantime Gilda was teaching accordion at the Wurlitzer Co. in downtown Cleveland. Our music school did well for quite a few years. We were married in 1949. Our music school did well for quite a few years. We have three children, two boys and a girl! During those years we appeared with our orchestra on television station Channel 5 [in Cleveland]. We were on quite often for over 20 years. We played a lot of Italian music. Gilda sang Italian songs and also played the drums. We also did some accordion duets. Right now we are still active playing private affairs and playing ballroom music, specializing in many Latin tempos. I still take some students for advanced instructions." |