Video 1: Michael Bridge Profile
Video 2: Oblivion (Piazzolla) on Digital Accordion – Michael Bridge

Michael Bridge is at home with jazz, folk and classical music. Michael has premiered 53 new works. If pushed, he’ll say he likes Baroque music best because of its unforgiving demand for clarity of intent and execution.

He began playing when he was 5 and growing up in Calgary. His mom bought an accordion at a garage sale for $5. A family friend started teaching him to play by ear. Formal lessons began at 7. At 15 he attended the World Accordion Championship as a spectator. For the first time he heard classical accordion and fell in love with it. He started all over again, mastering a completely different kind of accordion and a whole new technique. He was soon offering a hundred community concerts a year as a soloist with orchestra or string quartet or with his two ensembles.

He’s also a serious academic having received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Toronto studying with Joseph Macerollo (the first Canadian to do so), and is a Rebanks Fellows at the Glenn Gould School. Bridge (along with his clarinet partner Kornel Wolak) performs on a digital accordion – essentially a computer housed in a conventional accordion case. This extraordinary piece of technological wizardry imitates the sound of just about any instrument you can imagine. He can single-handedly shake the rafters with a convincing “1812 Overture”, canons and bells included. Bridge & Wolak concerts capture the energy and panache of stadium rock with the discipline and finesse of chamber music. Think Bach on steroids. 

He’s also mastered the more familiar acoustic accordion, a soulful, highly expressive instrument, essential to the music of Toronto-based Ladom Ensemble. Along with cello, piano and percussion, the Ladom quartet creates a sophisticated blend of everything from traditional Persian melodies, to Bach and Piazzolla, to Radiohead.

Upcoming 2023 Performances include:
Cobourg, ON: October 21, 2023 @ 2:25 PM
Vintage Film Festival
Michael will accompany “Phantom of the Opera” (1925) silent film on digital accordion.

Brockville, ON: October 28, 2023 @ 7:PM
TANGORIUM: Bridge & Wolak and the Queen’s University Symphony Orchestra
Brockville Concert Association 75th Anniversary Season Opener (Brockille Arts Centre)

Toronto, ON: November 11-18, 2023
National Ballet of Canada: Emma Bovary

Edmontonn, AB: November 27 – December 9, 2023
University of Alberta – Dept. of Music, Distinguished Visitors masterclasses
University of Alberta – Dept. of Theatre, production of “Indecent”
On-stage musician with Kornel Wolak and Guillaume Tardif

ATG TeachTalk (online): November 19, 2023, 3pm Central Time
An open discussion for accordion teachers (free). Info: www.atgaccordions.com

For further information: Michael@michaelbridgemusic.com