Show will Celebrate theTenth Anniversary of Texas Folklife’s Big Squeeze Program and Showcase past winners of the Statewide Accordion Contest 

Show details including final lineup will be announced soon!

Texas Folklife is pleased to announce the Big Squeeze Tenth Anniversary Extravaganza Concert, to be held on Saturday May 7 at the Bullock Texas State History Museum.  The concert will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Texas Folklife’s Big Squeeze statewide youth accordion contest, and feature past contest winners who will showcase a variety of Texas-based accordion genres including conjunto, polka, Cajun, and zydeco. 

In this important anniversary year, Texas Folklife is focusing its resources on celebrating the successful fruition of the program and showcasing the past winners of the Big Squeeze.  These young accordion players have become stars and leaders in their communities.  Following this year of celebration, the Big Squeeze will be back on the road to look for exceptional young accordion players across the state. In addition, with the recent rekindling of the Apprenticeship Program, Texas Folklife is helping to nurture young accordion talent by pairing young apprentices with mentors throughout the state.   

Since its launch in 2007, the Big Squeeze has helped Texas Folklife carry out its mission to preserve and promote Texas’s diverse cultural heritage. Through the Big Squeeze program, Texas Folklife has built a reputation as a champion of Texas accordion music genres, and supported over 200 young, talented players in their efforts to carry on these community-based accordion music traditions. In order to better nurture the young talent throughout the state, Texas Folklife restructured thepopular contest in 2014 to include three Grand Prize Winners, each from one of three main accordiongenres—polka, zydeco, and conjunto. The polka genre included German, Czech, and Polishtraditions, while Cajun/zydeco included Creole and Cajun musical traditions, and conjunto includednorteño and Tejano. As a result of these efforts, the Big Squeeze welcomed a diverse class of six total champions in 2014 and 2015, including the first-ever female contest winner, Elisabeth Kelley (Cajun). TheTenth Anniversary Extravaganza Concert will reflect the array of unique Texas accordion music traditions by featuring a diverse lineup of past Big Squeeze champions.

The Big Squeeze is supported by Hohner, Inc., and by grants from Texas Commission on the Arts, the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division, the City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board, the Houston Endowment, and The Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation.