Michael Bridge Performs Final Doctoral Lecture-Recital

June 1st 2021
Rita Davidson Barnea, Editor Accordion USA News
Michael Bridge

Video: “Tsaghkats Baleni (Avetisyan)” – Michael Bridge

Michael Bridge shares, “In May 2021, I performed my final doctoral lecture-recital… to an empty hall at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. The video coming in two weeks.” Please check this article again in two weeks for the video of Michael’s recital. “Now that more live events are being scheduled,” Michael said, “I’m looking forward to performing live again starting this fall in Ontario & Quebec, and across the USA (with Bridge & Wolak) starting in January 2022.”

Please enjoy the above video, expressive and lyrical, photos and performance. Michael explains its conception: “Tonight, April 18, 2021, I biked past the cherry blossoms on the University of Toronto campus, and was reminded of this a piece I arranged and recorded, “Tsaghkats Baleni”, which means “White Cherry Blossom Trees” in Armenian. I took a few slow motion videos of the blossoms with my phone, and added the recording from my album, Overture. I hope it will bring you some pensive late night reflection & inspiration. If you’d like to purchase the album, please email: Michael@michaelbridgemusic.com

Excerpts from his website: Michael Bridge’s mother arrived home one afternoon in 1998 with a $5 mini-accordion she had purchased at a garage sale. Soon Michael proclaimed it did not have enough notes, and a long journey began…By age 10, Michael was performing frequently in retirement homes in his native Calgary. Seduced by earning $30 in an afternoon, he would soon perform 75 events annually playing folk music, and learn to host a show. A technology tinkerer, Michael constantly bought keyboards, microphones and recorders. He produced a half-dozen albums from his family’s basement by age 15.

Two transformations then took place: Diving into classical accordion repertoire, and encountering the digital accordion. To play classical music, Michael bought a free-bass button ‘concert’ accordion, which required re-learning where all the notes were. He entered and won the Canadian Digital Accordion Championships twice, receiving digital accordions as the prize and allowing him to finally “play all the instruments at once,” blending his love for technology and his musical abilities.

Already touring internationally, Michael enrolled at the University of Toronto in 2011, where he is completing his doctorate (the first Canadian to do so). His professor, Joseph Macerollo, emphasized working with other instruments and with composers to create new music — leading to over 50 world premieres and a keen interest in new music.

In 2021, he was awarded a prestigious Rebanks Fellowship at the Glenn Gould School where he will pursue post-doctoral studies. As an orchestral soloist, Bridge has appeared with the Boston Pops, National Orchestra of Brazil, Edmonton Symphony, Ontario Philharmonic, and his hometown Regina Symphony, among others.

With his duo partner, clarinetist Kornel Wolak, Bridge & Wolak have toured extensively in Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, France, Ecuador, in many US states and in every Canadian province. Among the most active Canadian groups during Covid-19, Bridge & Wolak’s virtual concerts (pre-recorded), virtual school shows (live), and Music Mentorship Program for high school students are reaching communities in new ways. Touring as a member of Ladom Ensemble since 2015, the quartet has risen to national acclaim, giving over 200 concerts in nearly every province and creating their own unique brand of classical-world music fusion.

Invested in music education, Bridge plans to eventually scale back from touring half the year and teach accordion at the university level. He gives masterclasses at every opportunity, including at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Kiev, Krakow and Łódź Academies in Poland, Princeton University, and the Universities of Colorado Boulder, Alberta, Lethbridge, Western Ontario, and Queen’s.

Bridge’s work has received many accolades from national and international media. He was awarded the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Career Development Award, the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Medal, and a Massey College Junior Fellowship. He has gratefully received funding to supporting his performances, recordings, and research from SSHRC, the Canada & Ontario Arts Councils, and the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation.

Michael lives in Toronto near a natural valley, and has never owned a car. He dances salsa, engineers guacamole, shoots espresso, nurses scotch, and knows by heart (and by stomach) the best vegan restaurants from Kiev to São Paul

Future 2021 performances include:
Kansas City, KS
June 3, 2021 / 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Bridge & Wolak – Virtual Concert and Q&A with John County Community College

Ottawa Chamberfest
August 1 – 3, 2021 / Times TBA
Ladom Ensemble – Outdoor Performances with Ottawa Chamberfest

Bolton, NY
August 7, 2021 / 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Outdoor Lawn Concert at the Sembrich Opera Museum

Montmagny, QC
September 3 – 5, 2021 / Times TBA
Performances and Masterclasses at the Carrefour Mondiale De L’Accordeon

AWW extends a sincere congratulations to Michael Bridge for all his many accomplishments.

For further information: Michael@michaelbridgemusic.com