Shelia has officially ANNOUNCED the opening of her NEW ACCORDION studio in Houston, Texas - Heritage Arts Productions, Inc. (HAPI) and is currently accepting students for the summer session that begins June 2009. There will be beginner group lessons for adults and youth - that FURNISHES the keyboard or button accordion. They will sell exclusively the Houston based accordion - Gabanneli. The first classes will have a limited enrollment of 18 button accordions and 12 keyboard - so call fast. Teachers will be well known accordionists from the Houston latino and ethnic communities as well as former students of Palmer and Hughes. 281-780-8656.
Also look for her LIVE Video ON-LINE accordion lessons, her new DVD, and new accordion back tracks linked from her website - www.shelialee.comShelia has played the accordion since she was 5 years old. She and her younger sister would duet every occasion that arose – Rotary, Kiwanis, LionsClubs, Ethnic picnics and even the Ted Mac Amateur Hour. Shelia studied with Bill Palmer and was a member of the Palmer and Hughes Accordion Symphony at the University of Houston until 1965.At the age of 16 – Shelia started her solo professional career - strolling at Doyles Italian restaurant in the Oak Forest area of Houston. She opened Shelia’s Conservatory of Music in Dayton, Ohio at the age of 21. There were over 300 accordion students and her most advanced 20 (ages 13 to 18) were in a performing group called the Spitfires. Shelia arranged classical as well as pop and movie themes for them to perform. They won many national titles for Showband, Classical, and Open Pop. They even made a record!Shelia performed for over 22 years with a small combo that played standards, ethnic & a little county for weddings, ethnic picnics, and clubs. Returning to Texas in 1992, she continues to perform solo or with a guitarist or violinist at many restaurants and events in the Houston and Galveston area.Most recently, Shelia has performed:The Friesenhaus Restaurant in New BraunfelsTomball German Heritage Festival
The Splendour of the Sea & Galaxy – Cruise ships & Galveston Cruise Terminal
Galveston Italian Festival, Moody Gardens, San Luis Resort, Houston International Festival, Viking Fest (Waco), UTMB Festivals and Shriners Children's Hospital
Courtyard Café, Mario’s, Franca's, Domonics, Private dinner parties and Weddings
Galveston Parks & Recreation & Galveston Historic Preservation Board activities
Currently, Shelia is recently laid off from UTMB in Galveston - so she is cashing in on her free time to develop more music arrangements and prepare a NEW instruction book for the diatonic accordion.
In 2005 - she played in the streets of Rome, and aboard the transatlantic cruise aboard the Celebrity's Galaxy. This trip was “ONCE IN A LIFE-TIMEâ€. Shelia had never left the continent before.