Cory Pesaturo

Cory Pesaturo is an American musician from Cumberland, Rhode Island. Pesaturo is an accordion player, who also plays the piano, clarinet, and saxophone. He began playing at the age of nine, and in 2002, became the youngest person to win the National Accordion Championship.[1] In 2009, he won the Coupe Mondiale World Digital Accordion Championship in Auckland, New Zealand, and became the first American to win a World Accordion Championship since Peter Soave 25 years earlier.[2] In 2011, Pesaturo who had previously stopped playing acoustic accordion, won the Primus Ikaalinen World Acoustic Accordion Championship, while additionally being its first ever American contestant.[3] Furthermore on the world titles, Pesaturo used his own arrangements for the band, improvised most of the performances, and played on borrowed accordions; all of which were unheard of in world accordion championships. In 2017, he broke the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous playing of the accordion, which was sponsored by Red Bull from his relationship with the Red Bull F1 Team.[4] In 2009, Cory won the Leavenworth International Championship, and International Jazz Championship, along with performing in 5 different continents which included the countries of Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Tunisia and Japan. Pesaturo is one of only four accordionists in history to win a World Championship on both acoustic and electronic accordion, and is the only person to also win a world championship in jazz.

Cory Pesaturo and one of his modern electric accordions. This particular accordion has a full vinyl skin, and midi-sequenced LED's in the grill connected to the keys in a symmetric pattern.
Cory Pesaturo
At a Festival in 2012
At a Festival in 2012
Background information
OriginRhode Island, United States
GenresVarious
Instrument(s)Accordion, Piano, Clarinet, Saxophone
Years active1996–present
Websitewww.CoryPesaturo.com
Medal record
Accordion Championships
National Championships
Gold medal – first place2002 US National Accordion ChampionshipsUS Open Solo National Championship
Silver medal – second place2004 US National Accordion ChampionshipsUS Open Solo National Championship
Gold medal – first place2009 US National Accordion ChampionshipsUS Open Solo Digital Accordion Championship
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2009 Coupe Mondiale World Accordion ChampionshipsDigital Category
Gold medal – first place2010 World Jazz Accordion ChampionshipsJazz Category
Gold medal – first place2011 Primus Ikaalinen World Acoustic Accordion ChampionshipPrimus Ikaalinen

Life and career

Pesaturo got his start filling in for an ill Myron Floren at the former Warwick Music Theater in Rhode Island at age 11. Starting at the age of 12, he performed at the White House on four occasions, including at six other public and private functions for President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. In June 1999, he performed at a State Dinner held for the President of Hungary[5] becoming the youngest person to perform for a State Dinner.

He was accepted on the accordion at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA[6] where he studied Contemporary Improvisation and a variety of music styles. Pesaturo became the second person to major in and graduate as an accordionist at the New England Conservatory.[7] In 2008, Roland named Pesaturo as part of their team of four American accordionists which will promote Roland's V-Accordion.[8] Pesaturo performed for Roland at the NAMM Show in 2009 and was featured with Eddie Montiero in a Concert for international press and NAMM dignitaries. He has also performed with different symphony orchestras around the country, including soloing the Brockton Symphony Orchestra at 15.[9]

Today he performs genres ranging from Italian music festivals across the United States,[10] playing mainstream music with DJ's, folk genres from French to Bulgarian and Jewish music, Classical music performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra,[11] and Jazz which is he most known for.

His music has been played for various Formula 1 races on SPEED TV and now NBC Sports starting in 2007, on the Velocity program "Chasing Classic Cars", and also at various Concours around the United States such as the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Pesaturo has also combined his interest in statistics and sports with his collaborations on 98.5 The Sports Hub, and his appearance on the "100 Year Anniversary of Fenway Park" album in 2012, with current and past Boston Red Sox players, and journalists.[12] Cory's interest in weather prompted him to write the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season records list, later seasons of note, and other meteorological topics. Pesaturo was a featured contestant on CBS's Let's Make a Deal[13] in 2021, performer on NBC's That's My Jam[14] with Jimmy Fallon in 2022, and was chosen to be the featured accordionist on "Weird Al" Yankovic's biographical movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. Additionally, he has given 4 TEDx Talks, and a host of other talks at known conferences, including 2 Talks at Google.

Discography

Albums
  • Zulu Time (2011)
  • Change in the Weather (2007)
  • Crosswinds (2007)

Collaborative albums
  • The Outrospectives LIVE! (2020)
  • Unscripted with Mari Black (2020)
  • The Outrospectives: Dancing Light (2019)
  • 100 Year Anniversary of Fenway Park (2012)
  • Tiny Orchestra (2008)
  • A Pennywhistle Christmas (2004)

Soundtracks

Conferences / Talks

TED Talks

Talks at Google

References
  1. "Pesaturo squeezes cool jazz from 'polka box'". The Providence Journal. September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
  2. "Cory Pesaturo Wins 1st Place at the Coupe Mondiale". Accordions USA News. August 20, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  3. "Cory Pesaturo Wins Prrimus 2011". Primus Ikallinen World Championship. July 1, 2011. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  4. "Pesaturo powers to world record". Valley Breeze. August 9, 2017. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  5. Clinton, Hillary Rodham (2000). An Invitation to the White House. Simon & Schuster. pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-0-684-85799-2.
  6. Greenlee, Steve (October 18, 2007). "He brings accordion into jazz's fold". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
  7. "On The Fringe". The Providence Phoenix. April 2, 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  8. "Accordions are more than a punchline". Entrepreneur.com. November 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  9. "Brockton Symphony's Cohler a maestro for a new era" (PDF). The Sunday Enterprise. April 23, 2006. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
  10. "Festa Italiana Salutes Dick Contino July 23 with Special Memorial and Tribute Concert". Urban Milwaukee. July 19, 2017. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  11. "Cory Pesaturo Performances". Accordion USA News. October 1, 2021. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  12. "Fenway Park 100 Years Album". redsox.com. April 20, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
  13. Let's Make a Deal Performance June 4th, 2021
  14. That's My Jam Performance January 31, 2022
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