2011 Primus Ikaalinen World Acoustic Accordion Championship
Primus Ikaalinen
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 BullF1 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.
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]
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.
