Circucs Renz (Belion)

I began accordion lessons at age 8 and have performed in numerous recitals, festivals, competitions, and concerts since age 10. Four of those years I studied classical guitar and four years after at Poltava Music College on the xylophone and drums. I am an accompanist at numerous recitals for singers, and as an instrumentalist. I has performed a broad range of early and modern music as a xylophonist/drummer and on the pianica since age 14 for Bands, Trio, Duo. I was a wedding pianist for 5 years.

BIO Born in The Ukraine on August 9th, 1963 Andrey taught himself to play harmonica and guitar at around the age of 9. At 14 he began playing drums and two years later decided to study music at a University in Poltava. From that time onward he played and worked as a professional with local pop, jazz, folk groups and classical orchestras. After finishing University at the age 21 he went on to work with the professional pop group Vodograi and, shortly thereafter, with the well known jazz guitarist Alexander Lubchenko in his Jazz trio.

One year later, Andrey left the group in order to develop his own musical style and broaden his experience. In 1987 he performed a solo concert on xylophone and drums in the Philharmonic Concert Hall. In January 1995 he presented ''One Evening With Andrey Butorin'', a 3 hour non-stop show at The National Theatre. At this time he was also a member of his city's symphony orchestra and teaching at the University Of Music in Poltava. Andrey has since gone on to record and produce several of his own albums: ''The Woman'', ''Circus Renz'', ''When The Lyrics Swing'', ''The Most Wanted Pianica Music'', ''BLN Records Present'', and ''Portrait'' on his own label BLN Records. Essentially, his musical thinking includes the dialogue between computers and traditional instruments, and focuses on the musical sound.

He says, ''It is my goal to inspire as many people as possible with the best music we have today. I have listened to, and continued playing, music created by Rondo Veneziano, Dave Weckl, Gino Vanelli, Frank Zappa, Deep Purple and some other great artists - you could say that they are all my teachers.''

Besides keeping up with his busy performance schedule, Andrey is also very involved with other aspects of the music business. He has written a book on drumming techniques, hosted his own daily radio programme on radio FM, currently runs a music service, has his own recording studio and web-project. His primary activity, however, is performing in concert.