Seventeen year-old Canadian accordionist, Michael Bridge, performed with the highly-regarded Boston Pops Orchestra on June 8, 2010 as part of the 10th anniversary special of the popular National Public Radio show “From the Top.” Michael shares his experience with us below.
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I had the true honor of being one of six young musicians featured on a special program recorded to celebrate the 10th anniversary of “From the Top,” an NPR show which promotes classical music in pre-collegiate students from across North-America.
Several months ago, I received a phone call from Gerald Slavet, Executive Producer and CEO of “From the Top”, and he explained that his radio show was doing a special tenth anniversary concert and he had hired “a local backup band” to help.
As we continued talking, I realized that he was completely serious about having me come to Boston to play one song. Having kept me in the dark for long enough, he explained who this “backup band” was and asked if I would be interested, and I said, “Absolutely!!”
A month later, in Boston, I had one of the greatest pleasures of my life – working with world-class conductor Keith Lockhart to perform Vittorio Monti’s “Czardaz”. I had decided that it would be better if I played the solo violin part with both hands rather than add in Stradella bass chords that the orchestra would not be expecting.
That much worked well, but it soon became apparent that the orchestra’s arrangement was too busy and did not allow the melody to sing, whether it was me or even the first violins.
So during the rehearsal, we completely changed the parts distribution. Though this was only slightly last minute (as in, concert in three hours), it worked beautifully and the performance was received with wonderful enthusiasm from the audience. I was so honored to perform with an orchestra of that caliber in such a beautiful concert hall.
I was also interviewed on-stage by “From the Top” host, concert pianist Christopher O’Riley, and had the chance to explain to an essentially non-accordionist audience about free bass as well as my right hand chromatic keyboard and the many possibilities it offered. I also had the opportunity to emphasize that the accordion is a complete instrument that is fully capable of playing all types of music.
It is of course incredibly important for the public to realize that our instrument, though it is excellent for polka music, is also the perfect instrument to play jazz, classical… everything! For that reason, I felt like the experience was not just a success for me, but also for the instrument!
The show will be broadcast on an estimated 250 radio stations to 700,000 listeners in September as the new season opener. Keep watching www.fromthetop.org for details on the dates and times in your area. After the broadcast date, the show will also be available online from the “From the Top” website.
I have already had a busy year of musical studies: I completed my grade 10 Royal Conservatory of Music Piano exam in June under my long-time piano teacher Donna Holoboff and I plan to complete my grade 10 RCM free bass accordion exam in January.
I have also been occupied with RCM theory courses including analysis, counterpoint, history, and harmony classes and, of course, regular lessons with my accordion teacher in Calgary, Beverley Fess. I have also greatly appreciated some internet coaching from accordion master Peter Soave.
In October, I am looking forward to representing Canada at the CIA Junior Coupe Mondiale in Croatia and also appearing at the Las Vegas International Accordion Convention in early November.
I am going into my final year of high school and plan to study classical accordion at university. I also have two CD’s available of my own compositions for accordion as well as my music book.
For further information, email: michael@michaelbridgemusic.com
