Henry Doktorski

Henry Doktorski, c. 1992

Henry Doktorski III (b. January 30, 1956) is one of America's premier concert accordionists. He has performed on accordion with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, violinists Gil Shaham and Itzak Perlman during concerts and recording sessions with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under conductors Lorin Maazel, John Williams, Mariss Jansons, and Howard Shore, to name a few.

Doktorski is also a former resident of the New Vrindaban Hare Krishna Community in Marshall County, West Virginia, where he lived from 1978 until 1994. He is currently completing a book on the history of the community.

Since 1994 he has lived in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania environs working primarily as a classical accordionist, church organist, pianist, recording artist, composer, conductor, author, educator, chess instructor, and more recently as an eBay seller.

Early life

Henry Doktorski with accordion, c. 1966

Henry Doktorski III was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Polish-American parents Henry A. Doktorski and Theresa Maria Czartowicz, and grew up in East Brunswick. At the age of seven he began studying accordion and early on was considered a prodigy. As a pre-teenager during the mid-1960s he played ethnic music and jazz standards (inspired by Myron Floren from the Lawrence Welk television show), but as a teenager during the late 1960s and early 1970s his musical tastes changed, and he began playing the accordion in a rock band which performed the music of The Beatles, Grand Funk Railroad, Carlos Santana and Black Sabbath.

However, after a few performances he quickly concluded that his instrument was not "stylistically correct" for that electric genre of music, and so he abandoned the accordion for a Farfisa electronic organ.

On June 7, 1971, he was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America (Troop 28 in East Brunswick), and received a Good Citizen Award from The American Legion.

Discovering classical music

Henry Doktorski playing the piano at Park College, Parkville, Missouri, 1978

At Saint Peters High School in New Brunswick, Doktorski discovered classical music after joining the school choir, and his life's direction became more clear. He began studying classical piano at the age of 16 and became proficient enough to win a scholarship as a piano major at Park College (today Park University) in Parkville, Missouri (near North Kansas City). There Doktorski studied piano with Robert C. Anderson, acted in and served as music director for several musicals (The Good Woman of Setzuan, Godspell, Scarpino Bambino, Damn Yankees, and Jacques Brel), sang as a chorus member with the Kansas City Lyric Opera and the Independence (Missouri) Messiah Choir, and performed piano, harpsichord and celesta with the Northland Symphony Orchestra.

He was elected to Who's Who Among Students at American Universities and Colleges from 1976-1978, and was nominated as a candidate for the post of 1977 Harvest Festival King. Doktorski graduated summa cum laude from Park College in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Music Performance and Music Education.

Life with the Hare Krishnas

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Henry Doktorski: before and after, illustration by Krishna Katha from "Prelude to Perfection" by Henry Doktorski published in Brijabasi Spirit, February 1982

In August 1978, hardly three months after finishing college, Doktorski's life changed dramatically when he joined the Hare Krishna movement at the rural New Vrindaban Community in Marshall County, West Virginia. He explained that he was unhappy with his life, and wanted to develop his spiritual side: "In college, I discovered music; the answer to my search for happiness. . . . But I was miserable. . . . If I wanted to compose, conduct and perform music which would awaken suffering humanity to the platform of love of God, first I would have to become a pure devotee. Only then would my talent have any value."

Doktorski began following the principles and practices of Gaudiya Vaishnavism as delineated by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), the Indian guru and Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He accepted initiation on March 13, 1979 from Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada (b. 1937), the ISKCON guru and founder of New Vrindaban, and was awarded the Sanskrit name "Hrishikesh dasa" ("Servant of Krishna, who is master of the senses").

Doktorski served the New Vrindaban Community in various capacities. He helped build Prabhupada's Palace of Gold and briefly taught at the gurukula (grade school). He served for several months as the president of the Pittsburgh ISKCON temple during January-March 1980, and then raised funds for the community on the road as a party leader for nearly six years. He was instrumental in revolutionizing the "pick" by introducing and developing the "citation line" (he once coaxed sports announcer Howard Cosell to give him a $5 donation by flattering Cosell's wife at the Kentucky Derby) and became New Vrindaban's top men's collector. One year he raised $150,000 for the community by collecting 30,000 five-dollar donations in parking lots and shopping malls throughout the United States.

In 1985 he helped establish the first office for the publication and distribution for Bhaktipada's books (Bhakti Books, later to be known as Palace Publishing), and traveled to India four times, including one trip to ISKCON Mayapur, near Navadvipa in West Bengal, for the 1986 festival commemorating the quincentennial of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's appearance, where he represented New Vrindaban and Palace Publishing. In June 1986 on the order of his guru he reluctantly accepted an arranged marriage with a 20-year-old Indian woman; the daughter of one of Bhaktipada's most influential Bombay disciples, and had two children with her.

Returning to the accordion

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City of God Accordion Ensemble, from "Accordion Ensemble at Lights Fest," Wheeling News-Register, November 12, 1989

Later Doktorski served as the Minister of Music (principal organist, choirmaster, orchestra director and composer-in-residence) during the New Vrindaban "City of God" interfaith era from 1986 until 1993. He composed music and performed for the three daily temple services (5 a.m., noon, and 7 p.m.) During this time, at the request of his guru, he picked up his accordion again after many years, and began playing it during the evening services. The accordion was a hit and several monks asked him to teach them how to play.

He formed and directed an accordion orchestra which gave their debut performance at the Wheeling City of Lights parade on November 17, 1989. This accordion ensemble won trophies at the American Accordion Musicological Society convention (King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, March 1990), the American Accordionists Association convention (Washington D.C., July 1990), and the Accordion Teacher's Guild 50th Anniversary Celebration (Kansas City, Missouri, August 1990).

In 1990, the American composer Alan Hovhaness composed a brief work entitled Hymn for Doktorski, which Doktorski recorded on his 2002 CD California Accordion Recitals.

In October 1993, Doktorski abandoned his service at the New Vrindaban Community when he became convinced that his guru had been having secret sexual relations with boys and young men. Doktorski participated in the grassroots movement which questioned Bhaktipada's qualifications for leadership, and eventually recommended returning New Vrindaban to the temple worship style as advocated by the ISKCON founder and acharya, Swami Prabhupada.

After rejecting the authority of his so-called spiritual master, Doktorski's marriage lost its foundation, and so he left the community in April 1994, moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and filed for divorce. In Pittsburgh he was awarded a Graduate Assistantship at Duquesne University and received a Master of Music degree with a major in composition in 1997.

Concert accordionist

Henry Doktorski, 2003 self-portrait

After moving to Pittsburgh, Doktorski attempted to capitalize on his classical accordion expertise, with some success. Between 1995 and 2005 he performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra forty times (on accordion, piano, harpsichord, organ, and celesta) and appeared as guest accordionist with the Tanglewood Music Festival Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the New Philharmonic Orchestra (Glen Ellyn, Illinois), the Northwest Indiana Symphony (Merrillville, Indiana), the Loudoun County Symphony (Leesburg, Virginia), the Butler County Symphony (Pennsylvania), the Wartburg Community Symphony (Waverly, Iowa), the McKeesport Symphony (Pennsylvania), the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, the Duquesne University Contemporary Ensemble, the River City Brass Band (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.

Since 1997 Doktorski has served as Instructor of Accordion on the faculty of The City Music Center at Duquesne University. He also served for two seasons as Instructor of Accordion at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

In 1997, Doktorski founded The Classical Free-Reed, Inc.—a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the accordion and classical music. He has presented concerts and workshops at national and regional accordion conventions including the Coupe Mondiale (World Cup) for accordionists during August 2007 in Alexandria, Virginia. He has performed in Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Duluth, Fairbanks, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New York City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Waverly, Iowa.

Doktorski is featured as accordion soloist in six compact discs: Ave Maria: Hymns to Mary (2007 solo album), Celebrated Polkas by Pietro Deiro (2006 solo album), Classical Accordion Recital (2005 solo album), Vaudeville Accordion Classics (2003 solo album), Music by George Gershwin with the Duquesne Chamber Players (1998), and A Classical Christmas with the Pittsburgh Chamber Orchestra (1993).

The Washington Post reported that Doktorski's A Classical Christmas was "the most interesting instrumental collection of Christmas music this year."

Gramophone magazine reported highly of his two-disc album of historic original works for accordion from the 1910s and 1920s released by Bridge Records—Vaudeville Accordion Classics: "It takes only a few tracks—impeccably performed by Henry Doktorski and, just as importantly, superbly engineered to Bridge's standards—to show the visceral appeal to audiences of its day."

Author

Doktorski has had articles and letters printed in diverse publications ranging from the scholarly journal Music Theory—Explorations and Applications to Rolling Stone; from the new-age journal Uzubuh to the Danish accordion magazine Harmonikacentret; from The Pittsburgh Catholic to Playboy.

He has written over 130 reviews as well as dozens of articles which can be read on The Classical Free-Reed, Inc. website. His pioneering research work, The Classical Squeezebox—A Short History of the Accordion in Classical Music was published by the British international journal Musical Performance. His book, The Brothers Deiro and Their Accordions, is the first published biography of those two early accordion pioneers: Guido and Pietro Deiro. His How To Play Diatonic Button Accordion Method Book & CD was published by Santorella Publications. He has also written CD booklet notes for Bridge Records and Archeophone Records. His Complete Works of Guido Deiro Printed Music Anthology is scheduled to by published by Mel Bay Publications sometime in 2008. He is still involved somewhat in the Hare Krishna movement, and has had articles published in the Brijabasi Spirit and Sampradaya Sun.

Doktorski is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the academic honor society in the field of music, and is a member of the advisory and editorial board for The Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York.

Today Doktorski serves as organist for Grace Lutheran Church in Rochester, Pennsylvania (he was awarded the title of Colleague by the American Guild of Organists), conductor for the Alcoa Singers of Pittsburgh, and also as a chess instructor and tournament director for Silver Knights Chess.

Doktorski married Mary Kay Welter in June 2001; both are members of Saint Columbkille Roman Catholic Church in Imperial, Pennsylvania. His favorite hobby is scuba diving.

External links

• Henry Doktorski official site
• City Music Center faculty page
• Henry Doktorski biography at JanPress Publications
• "The Brothers Deiro as Composers," article published on United States National Accordion News website
• "The Accordionist as Accompanist," article published on United States National Accordion News website
• Vaudeville Accordion Classics: The Complete Works of Guido Deiro CD, Bridge Records
• Guido Deiro: Complete Recorded Works, Volume 1 CD, Archeophone Records
• Concert review, Harrington Arts Center, Superior, Wisconsin, April 3, 2005
• "The Brothers Deiro: Virtuoso Vaudeville Accordionists of the Early 20th Century," summary of presentation given for The Society of American Music and Music Library Association 2007 Joint Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• "Accordion Registrations", article published by New Music Box, February 1, 2005
• Photographs from performance for school children at Solon Robinson Elementary School in Crown Point, Indiana (September 2005)